Dolphins, but No Goats

The trip between Kusadasi and Ayvalik is all a blur at this point. 

We stopped at an anchorage called Kirkdilim Limani and there was literally nothing there except for another sail boat – no lights, no internet connection, no goats.  Then we continued through the entire next day and night to get to Ayvalik. 

The 21 hour sail was fairly uneventful.  We sailed some (with the help of the motor), had favorable wind, no wind, wind on the nose, the usual formula for being on the Mediterranean.  When we were passing Izmir we did get the opportunity to see 5 military war ships a few miles in front of us which is always exciting to see on the open water.  We also saw a pod of dolphins and were debating whether they were Turkish or Greek dolphins since we were sailing between mainland Turkey and the Greek Islands that border it.  There was a little ship traffic at night, and a ferry almost ran us over from behind when Dad was on watch, but it corrected just enough to give us a nice sized wake and continue on its way.  I was on watch at around 4:00am when the temperature began to drastically drop.  It got cold.  I refrained from putting more clothes on, thinking the sun would come up soon, but when the sun did come up it was shielded by a nice bank of clouds that kept it from spreading any warmth on the boaters below.

When we arrived in the Ayvalik “lake” we had a few options.  We could’ve gone into a marina or just anchored out in the one of the bays.  We considered our options and since we had spent the first 2 hours of daylight going in circles, waiting for it to get bright enough to see outside, we were beat and voted on simply anchoring out and sleeping it off.  There was no use in going through the stress of getting to a marina and then paying to be tied up in order to sleep.  We were the only ones anchored and slept like logs.  By the time we woke up, showered, and checked our e-mails it was time for dinner. 

We moved to the marina the next morning and decided to stop and get fuel before we went into a slip.  Dad filled the tanks up and went to start the engine, and only got the click of the key turning.  The engine would not start, at all.  The “dock hand” helped us move the boat up the fuel dock and we went to the office to pay for a night and inquire about what it would cost to stay longer, have parts shipped in, and where the bus was to get to Pergamum.  By the time we walked back to the boat, Dad was able to start the engine with some coaxing and we moved into a slip which seemed to be a lot more work than it should have been.  We decided to take advantage of good weather and go see the ruins at Pergamum that day and deal with the engine and other responsibilities the next morning. 

(see next post for photos from our trip to Bergama to see Pergamum)

Dad got up early the next day and took the starter apart in search of anything that would be broken or clearly wrong.  Of course nothing stood out, but it was filthy so Dad did a minor clean (you never want to clean all of the grease out, who knows what it’s holding together) and I helped him put it back together.  We showered and filled the boat up with water before going to Migros and stocking up on necessary supplies like chicken, beef, and potato chips. 

The engine started up without any hesitation and it started to rain.  Sporting our heavy weather gear, we left the marina at around noon, not wanting to pay for another day, and went back to the anchorage we had stayed at before to spend the remainder of the day and night.  As Dad was navigating through the “lake” he commented on how it was just like going through Harris Lake (a lake in Wisconsin our family has cottages on) but in the big boat.  When the weather calmed down that night I saw exactly what he meant and was waiting for a loon to pop his head up and say “Hello”.

Now I know it sounds like we don’t like to spend money to stay in marinas, but this one really wasn’t worth the 51 they were charging per night.  The bathrooms were clean enough, but the locks on the stall doors didn’t quite line up so it was tricky maintaining privacy.  Everything else at the marina was being torn up and I’m hoping remodeled?  We couldn’t quite figure out why everything was in pieces or in piles, but I think we were a little early for the season this far north.  There were no other cruisers at the marina, which was eerie, and most of the boats were local Turkish boats that advertise being registered in Delaware, yes the US state (it has something to do with taxes).  I’m hoping this was just a marina in transition from winter to spring and they were gearing up for the season, but not holding my breath at this point.