Turkish Delight

Giles Fraser didn’t mean to go to Turkey, but an invitation to join a cruising rally provided an opportunity he did not regret

- Giles Fraser

We really had no plan to visit Turkey when we left our winter mooring in Cartagena, Spain. We had just completed a minor refit that took longer than planned and the plan was to head to Greece and spend the summer visiting all the islands that had been recommended by fellow cruisers. It was early June by the time we escaped Cartagena and headed for our favourite anchorage in Formentera.

Some fellow liveaboards from the winter in Cartagena were following the same route, and one morning I got an email from them to say that they had got some information on a sailing rally along the coast of Turkey, and thought it looked interesting. This looked like a good way to visit Turkey and have a bit of company along the way. We had a look at the rally organizers’ website and decided that, as the fee seemed reasonable and the itinerary was very interesting, it might be a great opportunity to do and see something different. So we signed up and hurried through the remaining Greek Islands heading for the Turkish coast. We checked out of Greece in Simi and checked in to Turkey in the lively town of Bozburun, where a man called Salih from Lodos Yachting sorted our paperwork out very rapidly, explaining every step carefully before heading off, soon returning with our transit log and other papers. The company vehicle was a fine tricycle, complete with sunshade to keep off the burning midday sun.

Even though it was nearly September, the weather was still very hot and the evenings long and warm. Lying stern-to at the town quay was a great place to watch the world go by so we stayed a couple of nights enjoying the busy town quay with its shops and restaurants stuffing ourselves with excellent local fare of salads, roast meats and cool Efes beer.

Pleasant surprises