Stopped in Gocek for a few more improvements

Fethiye Bay way in background.  Goodbye!!!

We have finally left Fethiye...for the final time.  It would be so easy to allow ourselves to be sucked into staying here much longer as we love this place, but unless we are going to live out retirement here in Turkey then it is time for us to get moving again.

Native poppy

Bright flowers of spring

On our final weekend we took a short walk with with Rick and Robin on S/V Endangered Species and Frank & Barbara on S/V Destiny over to the boatyard area to have lunch at a roadside vendor.  What we would call a roach-coach in Houston.  The setting was beautiful; again making us question why we are leaving here.

Lamb sandwich on roadside

Cooking lamb

Bill and I normally do not care for lamb but these sandwiches were great.  The man cooks the lamb on a horizontal rotating spit in front of a wood burning fire.  Makes the meat taste really good.  Then he chops the meat up fairly fine and heats on a grill for a few minutes before serving in a large chunk of freshly baked bread, along with lettuce and pickles and a few other condiments. 

The women dress like this year-round.  Even in the
110F heat of August!

 Large bottles of pickled carrots and hot peppers and pickled red cabbage sit atop each table to add to the sandwiches as desired.  Great lunch in a beautiful setting for about $2.75.  Hard to beat that.

L-R: Rick, Robin, Frank, Bill, Barbara

How they haul boats

And how they launch boats

The boatyard was busy as could be with the sailing/tourist season rapidly approaching.  The skids were out and boats were being launched and hauled.  It is something to see those large gulets moved around on these skids.  I would be a nervous wreck watching our boat being handled on those things!

Note they use tree trunks to support the boats

Public pet watering stations are placed all over town

Flowers were in bloom along the sidewalks on the hillside.  The public exercise stations were in use as we walked toward the lunch vendor.  But by the time we walked back towards the hotel marina dock all the exercisers had finished for the day.  I do not know why we do not have public exercise stations like this back in the USA.  I think it is a good idea.  

Public exercise stations

On our final evening docked at Yacht Classic Hotel marina we joined Rick, Robin, Frank and Barbara for a nice dinner in the hotel restaurant.  We each ordered the delicious braised lamb shanks which are so good at this restaurant.  For 2 people who do not eat lamb, this was the second time in 3 days that we willingly chose to eat it.  And enjoyed it immensely!

Public exercise stations

This was a farewell celebratory dinner as we were leaving the next day, heading to Goçek for a few days and then up to Datça to clear out of Turkey. Rick and Robin will be leaving YC at month end, heading down to Kaş to haulout and then beginning heading west soon as they will be crossing the Atlantic late this year.  Frank and Barbara also will be leaving YC at month end, heading to Greece where they will meet up with friends to sail the Aegean before returning to Turkey for another winter.  Likely all thee boats will again meet up somewhere in the Caribbean in a few years.  As I said on Facebook, cruising is a constant series of hellos and goodbyes and may we meet again someday.

Goodbye to Fethiye!  5 porpoises played in our wake

On Tuesday 15 April we motored over to Goçek and berthed at Skopea Limani Marina.  That afternoon the workers from Emek Marin arrived to start all the various bits of work we wanted done.  One of the things we wanted was 90 meters of new anchor chain to replace our 11-year-old chain.  The old chain still looked fine but we felt it was time to replace it.  The original chain was 100 meters of HT ISO 10mm chain original from Amel when the boat left the factory on 23 January 2003.  We had ordered 90 meters of DIN 766 chain as replacement.  Figured we did not need 100 meters anymore as we will not be returning to the deep anchorages in the South Pacific, so 90 meters should be enough.  We also had ordered a new gypsy to fit the pitch of the links of the new chain.  Unfortunately, when the chain was delivered there were only 76 meters.  And upon close inspection Bill discovered that this was actually re-galvanized used chain.  Bill requested that a couple of other people inspect the chain and they also confirmed that it was re-galvanized and not new.  That is 2 strikes against that supplier; we were not willing to give him the option of strike 3. 

Bill went to another supplier in Goçek and was told they would deliver 90 meters of new chain the next morning.  When the truck arrived Bill inspected it and it also was re-galvanized used chain rather than new.  What the heck is going on here!  He told them not to even unload that used chain and he returned to the supplier's office where he was told that the men had made a mistake, and that 90 meters of new chain would be delivered Thursday at 5pm.  

Bill then spoke with Riza at Emek Marine and learned that after that first supplier had tried to pass off the used chain to us that Riza had ordered 100 meters of new chain from Alti in Istanbul and that it also would arrive Thursday at 5pm.  Alti is the oldest chain manufacturing company in Turkey.  We would prefer to deal with Riza, so Bill again returned to the second supplier in Goçek and told them not to bother to deliver their *new* chain because we did not trust them after they attempted to give us used chain that morning.  Finally, right on schedule at 5pm on Thursday we received 100 meters of beautiful new chain!  Man, what an ordeal!   I relate this story as a warning to always double and triple check anchor chain when purchasing.  It is so important to have proper ground tackle.

Our rebuilt AFMA (Reya) fresh water pump.  Nice!

Bill had emailed a project list to Emek Marine several weeks before we arrived.  The workers knocked out each item in short order -- until they were rained out and work had to stop until tomorrow.  No major projects but several small things:  gelcoat nicks, new gypsy, anchor chain, rebuild the fresh water pump, replace watermaker membranes, replace the generator exhaust sensor, new batteries, add several pieces of stainless steel in various places, and replace expired flares.  They had come to Fethiye and done some of this work while we were still docked at Yacht Classic.  The rest of the list would be finished here.  It was a good thing that Bill decided to have our fresh water pump rebuilt!  When they took it apart the parts inside looked like that pump had only days left!  This pump costs over 600 Euro plus shipping.  It is a great pump and we have had no trouble with it at all.  But it is over 11 years old so was time for a thorough servicing and rebuilding.

We had several more cleats added to the stainless steel arch and a couple pieces of SS added at the bow to protect the rub rail from those Med-Moor lazy lines.  They also are supposed to add a couple pieces of stainless as protection at the bow where the anchor chain sometimes clangs and chips the gelcoat.  That is the only thing that did not get finished before the rain started.  We are hoping that can be finished tomorrow.  If not, we probably will leave without those 2 pieces of stainless protectors.

The flares are supposed to arrive tomorrow too.  Those we do need before we can leave.  We also have purchased a 20-liter container of Micron 77 anti-foul paint for our next haulout, which likely will be either in Italy or Spain next year.  We have been told by sailing friends going ahead of us that it is best to bring your own paint because it is impossible to find good anti-fouling in most places.  Now we are prepared.

We will be slowly working our way up to Datça this week.  Weather is predicted to be beautiful.