We next returned to Ayvalik, we had hoped to leave the boat here for a week whilst we travelled back to the UK.  Unfortunately, the marina was full and the only way we could stay here was to be lifted out.  We didn’t see this as too much of an issue as we needed to lift the boat out.  We still had a week though before heading home so we left the marina to have a mooch around the bay.  In the meantime we contacted Cesme marina, who also had no room at the inn but Kusadasi did so we had a change of plan and thought we’d spend the next week sailing down. 

We decided to go to a place called Foca. We arrived about 1.30, a lovely harbour with bars and restaurants surrounding it.  Having been there all afternoon we decided to go ashore that evening.  We sat down ordered our food and drinks, had a gulp eachof our beer, a couple of mouthfuls of the bread and dip and Ian said “the boat’s moving”!!!!  It definitely was.  We quickly handed some money to the restaurant and left.  We were like Olympic sprinters we belted round the harbour, back in the dinghy and back on the boat.  The wind had gusted and thankfully the anchor had caught again.  We lifted the anchor and tried resetting it, not once, not twice but three times in different parts of the bay, but it wasn’t to be.  It was now 8.30 and starting to get dark, so we made the decision we had to leave.  We hoped to head to a bay about 30 miles away.  The wind which wasn’t forecast, picked up and we had 35 knots behind us.  We didn’t want to go into a bay in the dark.  Oh and did I mention our starboard engine was playing up too.  So, we made the decision we would sail overnight to Kusadasi.  We slowed the boat down so that we would come out into more open water in daylight.  After 19 hours we arrived in Kusadasi.

We flew home from here and on our return we had arranged to have the boat lifted out of the water so that we could do some maintenance and clean off the bottom.  The locals on the pleasure boats moored up behind us were really helpful, sorting out gas for us.  The guy we hired a car from, http://www.romeorentacar.com, sourced us some oil too.  We used him for a transfer from the airport as well so would definitely recommend him.  They are on the main street about 10 min walk from the marina. 

We eventually left Kusadasi and sailed down to Kuruerik, which is near Didem where we met up with Clare and Andy on Ula.  After all the work on the boat we were ready for some chill time which is what we did for five nights. 

We next visited a bay called “Paradise Bay” and it was paradise.  We tied back to the rocks here.  From here we went to Antolia Garden which was very sheltered.  There was a restaurant ashore that had tables that could be pulled out to see whilst eating your food.  Ian and I had been ashore to sit on the beach and on the way back there was a table out in the sea and we were serenaded with “Row, Row, Row your boat, merrily down the stream, ……” some Brits having a nice time.

We next visited a small fishing village called Akbuk.  Clare on Ula found a steak restaurant, called Olaa, where we had a kilo of filet steak, sauces, two litres of wine, salad and chips between four us and it only came to £11 a head.  Ian negotiated with the waiter on the wine, as he always did and he managed to get a reduction but we weren’t expecting litre bottles.  The steak was lovely.  It was a nice change from Turkish cuisine. 

August 2020