The trip from Rhodes to Kemer was pretty easy.
We left Rhodes at around 2:00pm. We weren’t sure what we would run into when we lifted the anchor as usual, but we got out of there without a problem. I am proud to say that I not only let loose the stern lines, but managed to work the helm on the way out too. Something I haven’t done leaving a marina to date. I had a crash course in what to do, since I have even less knowledge of how the anchor works and problems up there generally happen when it’s being lifted out Dad decided it would be better if he were up there and I was working the back. So I got my helms-woman graduation certificate and got us out of the marina. It was a pretty straight shot out and to the left until we got to the entrance where the Colossus used to stand, then it took a little more actual steering and gear control, but nothing bad at all.
We were headed for Kas which was the first port in Turkey that we could officially enter with a customs office etc. Well after we plotted the course with the auto pilot, we realized we would be put in there at around 3:00am because we left a little earlier than we should have. Then we decided to head for Finike which was the next port we could’ve entered the country. That got scratched too. We had some favorable wind, no weather to speak of, and weren’t really all that tired. So Kemer it was. Well we sort of miscalculated when we would arrive there by about 4 hours. So instead of getting in at 4:00pm when it was still light out, we arrived at around 8:00pm instead… not light.
The sail itself was nice. Overnight we got some wind and were doing almost 6 knots easy with the motor running. It was cool enough for a light sweater, but not cold and there was next to no traffic. The traffic we saw was big ships that were at least 2 or 3 miles away and that were just going parallel with us so no chance of running into each other. What made it really pleasant was that there was a nice big moon up. It lit up the sky and felt like a friend watching over us along the way. I was up for the sunset, where I finished “A is for Alibi” the Sue Grafton book I decided to read between Harry Potter, and Dad came up at around 8:00pm to start his watch. I then had the 11:00pm – 3:00am shift where I proceeded to use Dad’s iPod to stay awake watching “Dave” and then jamming to the music on my own once his died. I then had the 7:00am – 10:00am shift, watching “Dr. Hollywood” and a couple episodes of “Boston Legal”, when Dad got up and made us Oatmeal. It was really good. He made it with green apples and we put a lot of cinnamon on it. When I got up we decided to keep going and as the day went on we realized the wind was dying and it was a bit farther than we had originally calculated. Oops.
As the sun set we were passing by one of the bays of Turkey and I decided I was going to like the country. I saw a dolphin right off the bow of the boat and then got to see a couple more in the area. We figured they were the welcoming committee. We haven’t seen as many dolphins as I thought we would, so it was a nice treat to see them and so close. Then the smells starting being blown our way. The smells of grilling meat and some sort of plant on land wafted over and made me close my eyes and smile. It was great.
The approach to Kemer has a whole list of things to watch out for in the Turkish Waters and Cyprus Pilot. Things like a shipwreck and big rocks, neither of which we would want to encounter… especially at night. The city was lit up, but thanks to the amazing charts Dad has on the chart plotter we could get an idea of where to look for the red and green and sure enough they were big and bright enough for us to see and navigate to. Isn’t it great when that happens?
Now as you can imagine and have read, docking at night isn’t fun. It’s a very nerve racking experience. So on the approach when I was smelling Heaven and I saw the line of hotels and parks along the water I was smiling and then I saw the marina and that excitement turned into a pain in my stomach and panic. You go past the rest light and hook around to the left into the entrance of the marina. It’s well lit, we found out, on the dock, but they don’t have a bunch of overhead lights so the water and mooring lines protruding from the boats are pretty dark at night. We called the marina though and they sent out the guy in the dingy to lead us to our spot which was quite a zig zag through the marina. We only had one scare when we didn’t see a mooring line and Dad felt the keel hit it under water, much better than the propeller finding it. A little adjustment and fancy steering by Dad avoided that danger and we followed the dingy guy to our slip. There was close to no wind so Dad was able to back it in nicely and it turned out there were two men on the dock to help and the guy in the dingy had the mooring line ready to attach to the bow of the boat. They practically docked the boat for us. It was so amazing and smooth. Dad and I were both standing there with our mouths open still not believing the help we got and how nice the place looked just at night.
Our slip is right by the main office and bathrooms which is awesome, the restaurant is far enough that we don’t hear the noise if we don’t want, but we can walk to it in about 3 minutes. We are a little close to our right hand neighbor, but we think they are trying to keep space open for another small boat on the left. We’ll see if that happens.
Overall my initial impression of Turkey was disbelief and happiness.
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