Marmaris/Orhaniye, Turkey, October 2011

This holiday fortnight was a game of two halves, because the Graham family were only able to join us for the second week (their half-term). We chose a 39-foot yacht for their benefit since we were assured by Sunscape that the extra saving of having a smaller yacht for the first week would not be great and would be outweighed by other considerations (such as switching boats at Orhaniye).

Conversely I hatched the plan of inviting another sailor, with whom I have sailed for two decades at least (including June this year), to join us for the first week. Although he (Bob) lives in France and thus would have complex travel arrangements, he agreed to join us.

We were warned via phone by Sunscape that the weather would at least initially be wet and were therefore advised to take suitable gear. Of course we had also been monitoring forecasts ourselves and had already complied. I even packed my sailing wellies!

The first week duly started with two days of squally thunderstorms. The marina was described as being in “lockdown” with light warps set between pontoons to prevent boats leaving. The flotilla would not set out until the Tuesday at the earliest and thus the itinerary had to be adjusted with some longer legs and fewer stops so we would arrive in Orhaniye for our crew switch the next Saturday.

We had some exciting sails, and learnt to use the two-line reefing system on the mainsail to keep two reefs. Bob treated us to some French cuisine home-cooking for our lunches.

Unfortunately we also became aware that our sewage holding tank was not draining out and was full. This was not as dire as it would have been if it was the only one; we had two heads with two tanks – the other was OK. The blockage was sorted out on arrival in Orhaniye at the pump-out station, just in time for Mr and Mrs Graham to have the forward en-suite heads to themselves! (Zooming into our track at Orhaniye in Google Earth shows the detour to the new pump-out station SE of the marina before returning to our separate pontoon in the NW.)

Bob left us in Orhaniye and Brian, his wife Diane and son Jamie arrived. However the weather was now more settled, which meant less wind and more need to motor. Other families also arrived for the half-term holiday on other yachts. Some of them can be seen in the dinghy race photo below.

Google Earth "KML" multi-coloured path files first week (15Kb); second week (18Kb). The colours go brown, red, orange, yellow for the first week and then brown, red, orange, yellow, green and blue for the second returning week.

Below are collages of photos taken on the two weeks (none of Jamie this year!). Click to view in Picasa web.

Back to the list of my yachting trips.