We arrived back in Kas Marina on 3rd November and just over two weeks later Turkey went back into a shutdown with bars and restaurants closed except for takeaways and the weekend curfews began again, this pesky virus still with us. There seems to be a pattern emerging here, we arrived back at the end of February 2020 and three weeks later Turkey went into lockdown.
We had a trip by car to Fethiye to get some things and took the upper road and the views of Kas are amazing.
On our drive we see the contrasts of Turkey with the snow on the mountains and the air conditioning blasting out in the car because it’s so hot. Turkey is quite green which is not what you would expect but when it rains, it’s absolutely torrential.
We were going back to the UK for Christmas. Just as we were about to board the plane we got the announcement to say England was going back into lockdown from Midnight that night. Oh well we were going into quarantine for 10 days to start with anyway. As you all know the Kent Variant had been discovered and like dominoes, countries began banning flights from the UK. As time went on it looked like our age group would begin being vaccinated sometime in March and we were fortunate to have our first jab on 19th March. We were thankful that we were in the UK as having lost my father in December 2019 my dear Mum decided to join him on Mother’s Day, 14th March. They were only parted for a mere 15 months.
After our lockdown in the UK we finally flew back to Kas. It was a bit of a convoluted trip. Staying at Heathrow airport, the early morning flight to Amsterdam, then connecting flight to Istanbul. Another over night stay at Istanbul airport this time and then a flight to Dalaman the following morning and a taxi back. Eventually arriving back 48 hours later. England just on the verge of reopening and Turkey the day after our arrival going back into lockdown. We then had to quarantine on the boat when we got back.
We couldn’t go anywhere so we spent time doing jobs on the boat, as there is always maintenance to do on a boat!
Our Mahe Mates, Karen and Ronnie, were coming to the end of their adventure and they were due to fly back to the UK at the end of May. However, we had to say goodbye to them a little earlier than anticipated as Turkey was put on the red list from 4am on Wednesday 12th May, so they dashed off so they could quarantine at home rather than have to do the hotel quarantine. We were sad to see them go as they were the first fellow sailors we met in 2017 in Santander, that’s Northern Spain not the bank, and they will be missed. We’ve had some good times with them.
May 2021
Cuffysark Adventures 