Sunbathing Cows

We always try to have an “emergency” anchorage planned in case of rough weather.  In this case Gumusluk was the anchorage and while it wasn’t an emergency we felt more comfortable stopping and not arriving at the next place at night.  As had been the pattern since we’d left Kemer, there was some chop and the wind was right on our nose.  The forecast predicted it to pick up at around 3:00pm and we didn’t want to test the forecast.

The town isn’t very big or impressive, there are lots of fishing boats and there was a sailboat that called the anchorage home while its people were who knows where.  We managed to find a place where the anchor dug in, and had lunch on deck just to make sure.  At around 3:00pm, just like clockwork, the wind picked up and was blowing gusts of 38 knots until midnight.  Our original plan was to spend the night and leave at daybreak the next morning but because it was still blowing at around 6:00am we slept in.  When we got back up at 9:30am the wind had died down to a nice 13 knots and we decided to make a run for it.  As Dad was pulling up the anchor chain I saw the wind gauge go up to 20 knots and after some waffling we chose to just spend the day at anchor.  We wussed out, but what a pleasant day it turned out to be, and what winds we got that night again.  More sail boats came into the anchorage as the day went on and when we saw them in full weather gear we were pleased with our decision and enjoyed Easter just hanging out.

This was one of the coolest things about the anchorage – there was a herd of cows that came down to the beach to hang out and sun bath.  If I were a cow, I think this would be the ultimate place to live.

The cows were content just lying around and chewing.  Some of them would get up and eat the grass around the beach, but most of them just sat and stared.  I came up with all sorts of stories about how they were on vacation and some of them were there on dates.  It doesn’t take much to amuse me…

There was a road that the other cows took when it was time to go home, but this cow took the water route.  There is a line that is keeping those boats close to shore and the cow seemed to get confused and tangled when he was walking.  He should’ve gone with the others…

We happened to be at the anchorage on Easter Sunday.  I was tempted to launch the dingy and go ashore to see if there were any hidden eggs, but seeing as Easter isn’t celebrated in Turkey I didn’t think the odds were in my favor.

This island is Tavsan Adasi, which translates to Rabbit Island.  So for Easter we anchored in front of Rabbit Island. (We were in Turkey for Thanksgiving… we are rocking the holidays this year)  There were a few small ruins on the island but we didn’t feel like launching the dingy just to go see small ruins and walk through the town that didn’t seem to offer much.

On a personal note, I created an anchorage workout that I can do on the boat.  It’s somewhat of a challenge to work out on the boat because there isn’t a whole lot of space, it moves, and when I’m at an anchorage I can’t just hop onto land to walk or run.  I have a space down below about the size of a yoga mat with lots of corners around it to hit and then the stern deck of the boat has some space, but it’s got a curve to it and a window in the middle which makes balancing a bit of a challenge.  So I constructed a routine that I can do in the small space I have to work with – pushups, jumping jacks, sit ups, lunges, things like that and it incorporates the 5 step ladder to get in and out of the boat.  It’s not much, but it’s better than nothing and got my heart rate up a bit which felt good.