We often hear of people who’ve wanted to up-anchor but there’s been a yacht sitting on top of their anchor. Apart from a couple of close calls, that hasn’t happened to us before and when we wanted to leave Datça, the yacht in front of us looked as if it was right over where our anchor was dug in.
It was quite early (8am) and there was no sign of the boat owner, but just to be sure there wasn’t any difficulty or danger of boat touching boat when we left, Baz went over on the dinghy and woke the guy up. He didn’t relocate but did the next best thing; as we raised A B Sea’s anchor, he pulled up some of his anchor chain. By the time we were over our anchor, the other yacht was well out of the way. Good thing we’d told him because it turned out he had been sitting right over our Mantus! As we went past, he said “Sorry”, and we both called back, “Tamam! It’s okay!”
I spent most of the journey to Bodrum down below, editing the next video. Because there was little wind much of the way, the sea was calm enough for me to work at the computer. If there’s too much movement I can’t do that for long because the only view I have is out of the side hatch. All I can see are the waves rolling by and with no stabilising view of the horizon, I can start to feel the beginnings of sea sickness. But that day was a good day in the office and I got the job done, heading up only once to assist Baz bring out the head sail.
Good job!
I had finished my work by the time we arrived at the busy Bodrum anchorage that’s situated east of the fort. Baz did an expert job finding a spot. The difficulty in this bay is that some boats are at anchor while some are attached to buoys, and these latter swing differently to the rest of us. So Baz had to take that into consideration as well as finding a sandy spot in the right depth. Good job Baz!
That’s too high!
After we put the boat to bed we lowered the dinghy and went to shore for provisions. There’s a place on the harbour wall where all the fishing boats tie up and that’s also the best place to park the dinghy. However, it was super busy. As I went to tie up at the first empty spot we found, I decided it would be too much of a risk getting in and out of the dinghy. The harbour wall towered over us by almost a metre and the dinghy was bouncing due to the choppy water.
The next place we tried at the beach end, was too shallow and there were far too many lines (ropes) from fishing boats in the water. Baz backed out of there and as he did so, I spotted some steps in the harbour wall. They were behind some of the larger fishing boats but they did look more ideal. I suggested we try and get in close to them.
We found a tiny gap between two boats and Baz slowly eased the dinghy towards the wall. I tied us off to the ring in the wall and was pleased to only have to contort slightly to get around the corner and up the steps.
We followed google who took us to the nearest Migros Jet (a small supermarket) and got the provisions we needed. On the way out we spotted a guy leaning against the back of his van. At his feet were trays of fresh stone fruit. We bought a kilogram (2.2 lbs) of peaches, apricots and cherries. The whole lot only cost 20 TL which at today’s rate is only AU$3.25. They were super juicy, sweet and delicious. What a bargain!
A yummy Asian meal thanks to new friends
Well, I say “new”. Barry has been emailing back and forth with Franko for about six months, so it was wonderful to eventually meet both Franko and Anna who’d come to Turkey from Asia. As it turned out, we had anchored immediately in front of their boat and so when they invited us over for dinner as a ‘thank you’ we didn’t have far to go! We were also very interested to see their motor yacht and were super impressed by what we saw. They allowed us to film it and Baz has included lots of technical details in this week’s video for anyone interested in this model.
More impressive than their boat was the delicious meal that Anna cooked. It was a Tom Yum style soup and they had lots of ingredients which they added. You can see some of them in these photos, but you’ll get the full ‘flavour’ when you watch the video.
Minor but important boat jobs
There’s always something to do on a boat to keep it in tip top condition. We tackled two small jobs this week.
The first was removing the shackle that we had attaching the painter (another name for a different rope) to the dinghy. One day while I was swimming I noticed that the hole where the shackle was attached wasn’t its original circle shape any more, it was a tear drop shape. That wasn’t good. If we left it too long, the steel of the shackle would completely wear away the aluminium and we’d lose the dinghy. It was a simple fix. Baz removed the shackle and I threaded the painter through a short piece of garden hose pipe (to stop the painter from chaffing against the metal). I rethreaded it through the hole and fixed it with a bowline knot. Job done.
Job #2 was also fairly simple but equally important. There is one metal link in one of the two the steering chains (attached to port helm wheel) that is rusted and doesn’t sit in line with the other links. This makes it clunk when we turn the wheel hard to port or starboard. Baz has greased it before but it’s only been a temporary fix. This time he used *Permatex Fast Break Super Penetrant spray.
The most fiddly part of this job was removing the compass to gain access to the chain. Once we found the two ‘hidden’ screws, Baz removed the compass very easily. Then it was a matter of giving it a good spray while turning the wheel back and forth. The link still sticks out a tad but after a few turns, the clunking stopped. Another job done.
Join us next week as we take you around Bodrum and explore the very impressive 15th century castle that is home to the award-winning Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology. We also move onwards to beautiful Kissebükü Koyu where we meet up with Kev and Dee from Sailing Kjestral.
To watch this week’s YouTube episode that accompanies this blog just click here.
Until next week, I wish you health, wealth and courage, as you take the actions to bring your dreams to life.
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