Bodrum Turkey June 2012 – report by Becky Goddard

Skipper: Bob Buchanan 

Crew: Becky Goddard  , Hugh Hayward  , Carrie Boyland  , David Winks  and Michael Mahady 

We flew from Bristol on Thursday June 7th  and got a taxi to our hotel in Bodrum overlooking the marina but just far enough away from the really busy streets for a quiet night’s sleep! The hotel was lovely (about £50 pp per night including a magnificent breakfast found on Expedia) and had a secluded courtyard with a deliciously cool swimming pool!

On the Saturday we took charge of our boat a Bavaria 44 “Dost  ” and managed despite delays to leave for Akyar Koyu south of Turgetreis where we dropped anchor for the night. We had had all our provisions delivered to the yacht (shopping in the heat would have been horrid) and we ate on board.

On the Sunday we sailed with gentle winds to Yalikavak and again we voted for an anchorage overnight – this gave us the freedom to swim before supper and have some music as loud as we liked!

On Monday we had aimed to reach a small fishing village called Torba which the pilot book described as only suitable for a “lunchtime” (ie no facilities) stop but despite it being very tiny we found one stern-to mooring into which we squoze after tangling with some lazy lines (know the feeling Bob!) and discovered that although the harbour looked still under construction there was water and electricity. This was a delightful place with quite a lot of smart but empty houses (no hotels or apartments) and restaurants at the water’s edge on the other side of the harbour. We had a delicious meal and wandered back to the boat. The next morning we visited the local shop for fresh fruit and veg and paid the mooring fees - 30 Tlira about £10!!

There are a lot of anchorages and marinas in this area although there were very few boats around and we had decided to go into the marina in Yalikavak for the Tuesday night; as this was only a short trip we anchored in the bay for a late lunch and swim before going in to the marina. (This was huge with wide fairways between pontoons – about £60 for the night.) Every marina we visited sent a RIB out to help manoeuvre our boat into moorings without damage – an odd feeling when you’re on the wheel but very helpful in the smaller spaces!

The next day we motorsailed to Turgetreis marina but anchored by a small uninhabited island Catalada for a lunch and swim. We were visited by a tinnie (small metal dinghy!) with a freezer filled with loads of ice creams! Very welcome as the temperatures were hitting 100 F! We wandered into the town and found a cafe/restaurant who served us a princely 7 course meal for about £25 each including lots of beers and beautiful local fish!

The next day having been told we didn’t need to get the boat back til Saturday afternoon we sailed back towards Bodrum bay but anchored off another small island Kara Ada which had day trippers visiting for the mineral hot springs but only had a bar run by the one inhabitant of the island! When all the tripper boats had left for the day we moored stern to on the jetty and cooked a meal which we took ashore to eat with our host – a magical night away from the bustle of a large town!

Our final aim was Kos Island (Greek) on the last day – this day gave us the best wind of the trip and with a short stop in Kargicik Baku bay for a late swim/lunch stop (and restock with beers!) we reached Kos about 9pm and found the marina full! As we had no chart plotter or charts for Kos we crept into an old small harbour and tied up in a very windy place even using the dinghy as a large fender to keep us off the alongside quay wall! The reception we received from the local customs man was very unfriendly and despite all holding British passports and being on a Dutch registered boat he refused to let us land except for essential supplies (beer and food for supper). The next morning he had a much better head on and only asked us to leave by 8.30 as a ferry was coming in! We were happy to leave and made a gentle sail back to Bodrum and our home port. Again the RIB came out to help moor after we had refueled.

We had booked a final night at the Marina Vista hotel and the pool and air conditioned rooms were very welcome after the heat of the marina! We had a final meal at a local café which served large draught beers (8Tlira each compared with the hotel serving small bottles for the same money!) and excellent food for under about £20 per head!

We were all sorry to leave Bodrum and had enjoyed a superb sailing holiday covering 148 miles, met some lovely friendly people, and eaten some delicious food and drunk lots of cooling beers!

We will return!