Major change in plans

Well, the biopsy results are in and it is bad news that puts our sailing plans on hold for 6 months or longer.  Bill has been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer.  Additional tests must be performed to determine if the cancer has spread to surrounding tissue or into bones.  After those tests are performed the doctors will decide which surgical procedure will be best.  Of course, we are anxious to complete the tests as quickly as possible since this is the aggressive form rather than the slow-growing form of prostate cancer.  At this point it appears that the earliest Bill can have surgery will be late February.  Then there will be several months of recovery before he will be able to travel internationally.

So, under the best scenario of the cancer being confined strictly to the prostate it looks like we will be in Houston at least until June.

We are so thankful to have met Riza a couple of months ago.  He is the Amel representative in Turkey and is located in Gocek.  We hope to engage him to handle receipt of our new sails which should be delivered within a month.  And he should be able to handle moving BeBe from Fethiye to Gocek when our berthing contract ends in mid-April.  BeBe can be hauled and stored on-the-hard until we can return to Turkey.

We are keeping positive thoughts and hoping for successful surgery and full recovery so we can return to our life on the water in a few months.

Christmas 2012 trip home to Houston

 On 5 December we stepped out of Customs in the Houston airport exactly 30 hours from the time we had stepped off the stern of our boat in Fethiye.  Whew!  That was a long travel time.  Turkish Airlines had canceled our original flight from Dalaman Airport and we had to fly from Antalya instead.  Driving time to Dalaman from Fethiye is only about 1 1/2 hours.  Driving to Antalya airport  is closer to 3 1/2 to 4 hours.  The only other alternative would have been to get a hotel in Istanbul both outbound and return for this trip.  We opted for the longer drive to Antalya and continuous travel.  As much as we enjoy Istanbul, our trips home involve a lot of luggage and we did not want to deal with lugging those heavy duffel bags to taxis and hotels. Best to check the bags once and be done with it until arrival at final destination.

Our son, Aaron, was kind enough to loan us an old 1992 Mustang convertible that he plans to fix up for our granddaughter to drive once she turns 16.  She is only 11 so he has plenty of time to finish this car.  Right now it is mechanically sound but cosmetically challenged.  So what.  As long as it runs good it isn't important what it looks like.  We appreciated the loan of this vehicle as it saved us from having to rent a car for 6 weeks.  As all cruisers and retirees will attest, saving money is always a good thing.

Christmas Day 2012

Bill had several doctor appointments at the VA Hospital the following day and more to follow early the next week.  One of the lab tests indicated he needed another biopsy, the results of which would not be available until 9 January.  I had some very minor surgery to remove painful scar tissue from an earlier surgery.  Could have done this in Turkey but felt it might be better to have the scar tissue removal performed by the same surgeon who did the original surgery.  Recovery from that was a breeze and it is wonderful not to have that nagging little pain anymore.

The first night in town we got to attend our granddaughter's Christmas choir concert at the Episcopal school she attends.  Elisabeth, a/k/a BeBe, is in the second-from-top row.  This school choir always selects the most obscure Christmas songs.  

The next night we got to attend our grandson's concert.  Zach is now in the 6th grade and this is his first year playing the viola.  We forgot the bring the camera so don't have a sample of their performance, but can say that it was much better than we had anticipated.

Zachary before guests
arrived.  His stack of gifts.

Relaxing before the crowd.

Christmas Day was enjoyed at Trey and Kristina's house......again.  I know they must be tired of everyone gathering at their home each Christmas.  This year the family gathering was scaled back considerably.  Bill's sister and her adult children chose to stay in Northern Texas for Christmas this year. Good decision, as it snowed up there and they did not need to be out driving the highways in the ice and snow. 

Wazzzuuupp?

 My brother and his wife chose to spend this holiday with her family.  But Kristina's mom and her sister and family joined us for the day.  Total of only 19 of us gathered to celebrate Christmas this year.

Damien got his Thomas motorized train.

Highlights of the day were all the children, of course.  Our 3-year-old grandson Damien was so exuberant opening each gift that one could not help but smile.  His hand gestures of excitement and "Oh! Wow!" exclamations made the day.  The older kids are into electronics and more subdued in their Christmas joy, so having one small kid to enjoy trains and dinosaurs just made the day for all us adults.  Won't be very many more Christmases and all the kids will be too old for the little kid excitement of this day.

Keena and her granddaughter Abigail

Aaron didn't stray far from the wine

Sebastian, our eldest grandson

Teresa and her daughters Lauren & Kristin

Kristina & her sister Krystal

One day we met Mark and Cindy, owners of an Amel named Cream Puff.  They treated us to lunch at Chuy's, where we discussed some of the idiosyncrasies of  Amel Super Maramu model boats.  Cream Puff sounds like she really is a cream puff.  They could not have bought a better boat.  The previous owner had installed every redundancy imaginable and also left probably 50k worth of spares on the boat.  Mark and Cindy plan to begin cruising full-time in the next year or so.  We enjoyed visiting with them.

Donna in her beautiful kitchen

Bruce grilling steaks

New Year's Eve was again enjoyed with friends, Donna and Bruce, at their beautiful country home.  Donna out-did herself yet again this year -- producing a fabulous meal with many appetizers and 2 great desserts.  Donna had a very productive garden this year and many of the dishes she cooked incorporated her fresh grown produce and herbs.  She has the most spectacular kitchen one could imagine and enjoys cooking.  Lucky us!

Trey's desk in the computer room in his house.
Can you tell he is a gamer?

Bill's bother, John, went to Dallas for 5 days and we stayed at his townhouse during his absence.  That was especially nice to have the place all to ourselves and not feel like we were imposing on anyone.  We are very fortunate to have so many family members living in the Houston area.  This saves us from having to stay in hotels for the entire 6 weeks or so that we are in Houston each year.  An enormous savings in our budget.  But we did give everyone a break and spent several nights in a hotel; sort of hiding out and quietly enjoying a bit of luxury.  As usual, I was ready to return to the boat about 2 weeks after we arrived in Houston.  I love Houston and enjoy visiting with the family, but the boat is 'home' now and I get homesick after 2 weeks anywhere.

Trey sitting at Zach's desk in the computer room at his
house.  One monitor for games while using the other
for whatever needs doing.  The kid takes after his dad.

On 9 January Bill will get his biopsy results and we will know if we are returning to the boat on 16 January or if we will be in Houston for several months while he has surgery or radiation seeding and recuperates. 

Turkey Day in Turkey........November doings

BeBe at fuel dock in Ece Saray Marina in Fethiye
topping off fuel tank for winter to prevent condensation.
That's me by the boat loading up Bill's cases of beer.

National holidays or special days of our home country often get ignored when outside the shores of the USA because those holidays are not celebrated elsewhere.   Memorial Day, Fourth of July and Labor Day this year all passed as regular days as we made no notice of these holidays.  And Halloween also passed with no notice whatsoever.  Here in Turkey I don't think anyone knows about Halloween.  Since we have no small children aboard, that was fine by us.  Have never really been into dressing up in costume for Halloween.  It is just an evening for kids to trick-or-treat and indulge in mountains of candy.  Thanksgiving, on the other hand, is a holiday that we have always celebrated regardless of where we have been any given year.  There have always been a few fellow Americans nearby and we have gathered for a meal as traditional as could be prepared with whatever ingredients we each had aboard.  I think we all tucked away a can of pumpkin or yams or cranberry sauce or something associated with Thanksgiving whenever we found such a thing in any market wherever.

This year I had nothing of that kind on the boat.  And none of those things available for purchase in the local markets.  And no Americans in the vicinity.  Therefore, I planned to simply ignore Thanksgiving this year, especially since we will be flying home on Dec 5.  The last thing I wanted was a lot of food on the boat just a week or two before needing to shut down the fridge and freezer.  We would either take the bus to Marmaris and join the Thanksgiving dinner that is held at Pineapple's restaurant for the very large cruising community in that area, or we would ignore Thanksgiving altogether this year. 

Judy, Jean and Harvey at Thanksgiving

Ah, but there turned out to be a third alternative!  An unexpected invitation to someone's home!

Harvey and Jean are the owners of S/V Guitar, the boat docked next to us here in Fethiye.  They lived in the United States many years and learned to celebrate Thanksgiving.  They own a very nice apartment nearby; where they have based for the past 7 years, wintering in Fethiye and living in their apartment and sailing the Med during spring, summer and fall.  Harvey and Jean very graciously extended an invitation for Thanksgiving dinner in their flat.  And it was sumptuous!  A real turkey roasted to perfection and all the trimmings. 

Harvey, Julie, Jerry, Jean & Bill at Thanksgiving

I provided Texas style cornbread dressing and giblet gravy and an apple pie.  Through a mutual friend (Banu, the manager of the hotel marina where we are berthed), Jean had met another American couple, Jerry and Julie, who are visiting Fethiye for a few months; and she invited them to join the celebration.  Jerry is a professor at a university in Florida and is in Fethiye doing research for a book he is writing; Julie is a holistic therapist.  The evening was filled with interesting conversation and wonderful food and reflections of people and things for which to be thankful.  A perfectly lovely evening.  Many thanks to Harvey and Jean.

Jean serving desert.  She is more comfortable sitting
on the floor than on the sofa.  That would kill my hip.

A side note:  Harvey and Jean are in their 70s and are in amazing physical condition for people even half their ages.  Harvey is a runner and very fit.  Jean has the body and agility of a 25-yr-old.......thanks to yoga.  Oh, to have that kind of flexibility and muscle tone!  Color me green with envy.

Building retaining wall at hotel marina

About 2 weeks ago Yacht Classic Hotel began construction of the expansion of facilities for yachts.  Banu had warned us when we wrote the contract for our winter berthing that it is possible that we will have to leave the dock a week or 2 early next April because the hotel will be expanding the docks as soon as spring weather permits work to begin.  That is fine with us because if the weather is good enough for that construction then the weather is good enough for us to get moving.  We have a lot of miles to cover next year.  But, Banu did not mention that the hotel was also building new land facilities for yachts.  That part of the construction is underway now.  They are building a new swimming pool just for visiting yachts; so that the hotel pool can be for the exclusive use of hotel guests.  There will also be shops and showers and the normal things one might expect at a marina.  Then next April they will begin the water side of this expansion and will extend the dock where we are currently berthed and build additional docks on the western side in front of the new yachtie swimming pool and other buildings.

Breakfast buffet at the hotel.  Very different selections
than you will find at home

Before all that construction can get underway, the first thing that had to be done was to clear the land and build a retaining wall.  That is what men have been working on this month.  And what a retaining wall it is!  Bill has been like a little boy looking through a hole in the baseball park fence.  Several times a day he walks up the hill to check on the progress.  This will sound racist to some folks but will be totally understood by friends back in Texas.  Bill says these guys are working like Mexicans on steroids.  That is not meant to be racist.  The Mexicans we have known in Texas work harder than any of the rednecks or city boys.  These Turks could give the heartiest and most fit Mexican workers in Texas a real run for their money.  They do hard physical labor all day long, moving large rocks by hand and building that very tall wall and are in constant motion.  Bill has been fascinated by what he calls the Egyptian method of building this 40-ft tall wall.  As the men complete a 4-ft high section, then dirt is piled alongside the wall they have just finished and they start on another 4-ft high section; row after row of this until they reach the top of the hill where the road and sidewalk form the top of the wall.  The dirt is then removed and they move down another 100-ft and start the process all over again.  Bill will enjoy watching this project progress over the winter.  Yacht Classic Hotel should be capable of handling a lot more visiting yachts next year.

Our little dock is not full for this winter.  I don't think the hotel did anything at all to market available berths for the winter season.  The only reason we knew about this hotel is that friends on a boat just like ours stopped here in early May and sent us an email about the place because they knew we were shopping for a place for this winter.  There are only 4 boats at this dock which are occupied for the winter, us and 3 French boats.  Plus 4 unoccupied boats that are berthed here whose owners have returned to their respective home countries for the winter.  Plus 1 boat our size that is occupied by a paid captain, and 2 large Turkish yachts occupied by crew.  That is it.  And we very much enjoy our tiny community or lack thereof.  We like the town of Fethiye much, much better than Marmaris.  The lack of fellow cruisers is fine with us.  The large Ece Saray Marina is next door, and we have met the owners of 2 boats docked there who will be living aboard all winter.  We prefer our small dock rather than the larger marina.  The hotel showers and restrooms here are well-heated and the hotel restaurant remains open all winter.  The restaurant and bar beside the dock closed last week for the season; the swimming pool is being drained today.  The large supermarket is about a 1 mile walk (each way) into the main part of town.  The city-run dolmus (small bus) picks up and drops off right at the front door of our hotel; so in inclement weather there is alternate transportation rather than hoofing it.

Rainbow on a hazy day in Fethiye

In early December we will fly home to Texas for the annual visit.  Nothing else planned at the moment.  Bill has been shopping for new sails.  He has whittled down the list of possible sailmakers to 2 and we hope to rent a car this week and drive to Izmir and Marmaris to check out the lofts of those 2 manufacturers.  Bill is nervous about having new sails made because of our friend's experience in Thailand where his new mainsail was constructed wrong in every way possible and would not even fit on his mast.  This is becoming an agonizing decision and I will be glad when it is over.  The sails will be produced during the winter and we will take delivery in March so that we can get VAT refund when depart Turkey.  Great; that means months of worrying about these new sails.  

Barnacle encrusted deflated fender that attached
itself to our anchor chain

One last thing I meant to mention in a prior posting.  We had anchored in the western side of the huge bay here in Fethiye for 17 days before moving to this dock.  When we raised the anchor there was something entangled with our anchor chain.  It was a deflated fender with a very long line attached.  Somehow the bitter end of that long line had managed to thread itself through our chain.  We don't know how this was possible because the rope thickness was exactly the diameter of the chain link opening.  It would be hard to force that rope through that chain if you tried to do it.  But it did.  And then twisted the line round and round our chain.  A nasty barnacle covered mess.  When we first pulled it up we thought it was going to be a major hassle to get it free off our chain.  But when Bill found the bitter end of the rope and cut it, the rest fell away effortlessly.  The sea can do some strange things.

As always, click on any image for larger view.

Our first Hash

Hash House Harriers.  Ever heard of this group?  Many cruisers are familiar with this  organization whose members or participants are called hashers.  We have seen hash groups in Grenada and across the globe in Malaysia; it is world round, even in Hanoi.

Borrowing from Wikipedia, here is a explanation (I have removed the usual Wikipedia links):

"Hashing originated in December 1938 in Kula Lumpur, then in the Federated Malay States  (now Malaysia), when a group of British colonial officers and expatriates began meeting on Monday evenings to run, in a fashion patterned after the traditional British Paper Chase or "Hare and Hounds", to rid themselves of the excesses of the previous weekend. The original members included, Albert Stephen (A.S.) Ignatius "G" Gispert, Cecil Lee, Frederick "Horse" Thomson, Ronald "Torch" Bennett and John Woodrow. A. S. Gispert suggested the name "Hash House Harriers" after theSelangor Club Annex, where several of the original hashers happened to live, known as the "Hash House" where they also dined.

After the end of World War II in an attempt to organize the city of Kuala Lumpur, they were informed by the Registrar of Societies that as a "group," they would require a Constitution. Apart from the excitement of chasing the hare and finding the trail, harriers reaching the end of the trail would partake of beer, ginger beer and cigarettes.

The objectives of the Hash House Harriers as recorded on the club registration card dated 1950:

• To promote physical fitness among our members
• To get rid of weekend hangovers
• To acquire a good thirst and to satisfy it in beer
• To persuade the older members that they are not as old as they feel

Hashing died out during World War II shortly after the invasion of Malaya, but was restarted in 1946 after the war by several of the original group, minus A. S. Gispert, who was killed on 11 February 1942 in the Japanese invasion of Singapore, an event commemorated by many chapters by an annual Gispert Memorial Run.

The second hash group to form was by Gus Mackey on the Italian Riviera, named the Bordighera H3.  In 1962, Ian Cumming founded the third chapter in Singapore. The idea eventually spread through the Far East and the South Pacific, Europe, North America, and rapidly expanding during the mid-1970s.

At present, there are almost two thousand chapters in all parts of the world, with members distributing newsletters, directories, and magazines and organizing regional and world Hashing events. As of 2003, there are even two organized chapters operating in Antarctica."

Jean, Judy & Harvey

So, in a nutshell, this is a running/walking group that likes to drink beer and have fun.  We participated in the Oludeniz Hash House Harrier group at the invitation of our port side dock neighbors, Harvey and Jean aboard S/V Guitar.  Harvey and Jean own a flat nearby and winter in Fethiye, sailing the Med the rest of the year.  They have sailed over 90,000 miles in Guitar, circumnavigating twice.  And they are a lovely, friendly couple.   

When we arrived at the appointed location for this particular 'hash' at the entry there was a banner sign in Turkish which translated "Farm of the Sacrificial Goat."  Jean said when we finished the hash maybe all us old goats were going to have our throats symbolically slashed.  Soon about 60 people had gathered and instructions were provided for the course to be followed.  It sounded pretty straightforward -- follow the splashes of white flour on the ground that marked the direction to proceed.  We would encounter a circle of flour when paths converged.  There usually are several false paths to confuse the runners in the front of the pack.  Once determining the correct path, a runner is supposed to mark the circle of flour (kick up a space in the dirt) so that people following will know which direction to go.

I knew from the day this invitation to participate was extended that I would not be doing any running.  I do not run.  Ever. Under any circumstances. Period.  Even when I was young and very fit I hated running.  Absolutely out of the question today in my old age.  So, as I would be bringing up the rear, the path would be clear to me.....just follow the butts in front.  Bill opted to walk with me.  He used to be a runner and might have enjoyed a little bit of running this day, but I think he was happy to walk with me.  That spring is no longer in his knees.  This group was mostly old people like us and most people walked.  There were only 4 runners going uphill and 6 runners downhill.  We started out in the middle of the group but soon dropped back near the rear.  Only a half-dozen or so people were behind us walking up the hill.

Sad to admit, but I never made it to the top of the hill.  Supposedly there was a beautiful view from up there but we missed it.  The path was flat for a short distance and then began a continual incline of probably only 15 to 20 degrees.  That was enough to get my heart to pumping (and backwashing because of the prolapsed mytral valve).  Soon I was completely out of breath and stopping for rest breaks.  Guess I made it maybe 2/3 of the way before the route circled back.  This prolapsed mytral valve has never given me any trouble except for getting out of breath on any inclines.  When climbing castle steps high on the mountain in Cyprus last spring, I felt chest pains for the first time and decided to stop the exertion.  Walking up this incline for 45 minutes caused those same chest pains, so I again stopped the exertion.  My new self-imposed rule is that I can do any physical activity (even when it causes all the huffing and puffing) until chest pains start.  Then I stop and rest, whatever the activity.

I stopped and said it was time for me to turn around a few minutes before one of the runners from the front of the pack passed by on his return.  He said the last part was extremely steep, so I am glad I had decided to stop at that point.  If I couldn't handle a 15 - 20 degree incline that the runners considered nothing, there was no way I could make it up an incline that they considered extremely steep.  I wasn't the only one who didn't make it to the top of the hill.  Four others stopped in the same spot and we all turned back together.

The level where we turned around.  That is Fethiye in the distance on the left by the water.

Going back downhill was a breeze for me and painful for Bill.  The angle of the incline caused his hip to hurt.  Once finally back on the level path, the pain subsided.  Gosh, we are falling apart in our old age!

After everyone had returned to the starting point, they gathered in a circle and made a few announcements and a few awards for various things.  One guy was given his new name.  That is another of the hashers traditions.....members are given fake names.  For example, Jean is known as Sea Hag.  Theory being that you can act bad when being a hasher and not be known for your bad behavior under your real name.  Sort of like, if it happens in Vegas, it stays in Vegas.

Then about half of us went to a nearby restaurant for beer and pide (Turkish pizza).

A nice day.  We will do it again if invited.

Antalya and Duden Waterfall

Tuesday and Wednesday, 23 and 24 October 2012
5th and 6th days of our group tour
As always, click on any image for larger view.
After a leisurely breakfast we checked out of the hotel and boarded the bus for 09:00 departure.  Today would be a very full day of driving.  Rather than return to Fethiye via the route by which we had arrived in Cappadocia we would be driving to Antalya on the coast.

Cave at Duden Waterfall

Several comfort stops and 8 hours later we arrived in Antalya to find rain.  Glad the rest of the trip had been clear weather; could not have been any more perfect.  We were supposed to go see a waterfall late this afternoon, but the rain changed those plans.  After the long drive I think we were all quite happy to have comfortable hotel rooms.  Kick back and watch a little more propaganda on CCTV -- Central China TV.  





Dinner was in the hotel restaurant, thank goodness.  We did not feel like going out and were happy to stay inside the hotel and make it an early night.

Bill inside cave at Duden Waterfall

The next morning dawned sunny and bright once again.  After breakfast buffet we loaded back into the bus and soon were at the Duden Waterfall, the site we missed the previous afternoon due to the rain.  


It was muddy and wet but not too bad.  There were stone pathways almost everywhere we went in this park and no rain fell on our little noggin heads, so all was good.

Stream at Duden Waterfall

This was not a big waterfall but we could easily see this being a very popular spot during the hot summer months.  We walked around and down to a cave of sorts that overlooks a large stream that was flowing quickly due to yesterday's rain.  We walked down one side of the water, over a bridge and back to the bus.  Pretty place, even with mud puddles.

Yivli Minare Camii (Fluted Minaret Mosque)
built in 1230 and is 125 feet high

We loaded back into the bus for the short drive down to the old harbor area of Antalya.  About half of the group accompanied Tas down to the old harbor.  I was done walking up and done hills and Bill was glad to hear me say that I was not participating in this venture down just to turn around and huff and puff back up that hill.  I have seen enough old harbors and Hadrian's Arches.  Didn't feel that I would be missing anything.  Bill was relieved and stayed with me.  He didn't want to do it either.

Look closely to find the old harbor wall just left of center

We walked around the old bazaar district of Antalya for an hour while the others did their thing.  And we enjoyed this a lot.  It was hot and we found a McDonald's for a cold drink.  Tas had warned us that we would not be stopping for lunch this day, so we bought a couple of apple pies at McDonald's to save for a snack during the comfort stop en route to Fethiye.  

A spice shop in the bazaar

Brass knuckles for sale outside a shop

It was funny walking through It 



 It was fun walking around the bazaar.  The merchants standing outside their shops would speak to us in German or Russian.  When we did not respond, they would switch to Turkish.  When we did not respond to that, they would switch to English spoken with a British accent.  When we responded in our Texas twang drawl they were really confused.  Not an accent with which they are familiar.  But when asked where we are from and we replied "Texas" every single one of them knew about Texas.

A  real sidewalk sale

At a corner near the entrance to the bazaar someone arrived and placed a bunch of stacks of clothes on the sidewalk in front of a business.  Within minutes a crowd of people built up.  They were selling clothing.  Looked like there were some real bargains going down and the clothing looked first class new.  But since we don't speak Turkish we stayed away.....sort of stood 50-ft away and watched.  Sure enough, within 10 minutes the police arrived and shut it down.  Wonder if this sort of thing happens frequently.

Really?  Viagra comes in a tea now?

Soon we met up with the group at the appointed location and once again boarded the bus.  Three and a half hours later we were in Fethiye, home sweet home aboard BeBe.

This was a really good trip.  I would recommend Koral Tourism to anyone planning such a trip.  They do know how to put together a good tour with good accommodations.  Thanks very much to Gwen on the yacht K.W. in Marmaris for arranging it .