Bisou de partout: Travels in Turkey Part 1 (Marmaris and Heading South)

We departed Rhodes for Marmaris on 31^st July and the weather was forecast for a lovely crossing from Greece to Turkey – this passage can often be fraught with high winds and seas and had been up until today. Hence the reason for picking today as our crossing date!

Once again we were having trouble with our starboard engine which Tad tried to ‘fix’ enroute by bleeding the air from the fuel line – it worked well enough after that to be able to use both engines.

We crossed into Turkish waters about 3 hours after leaving our anchorage and raised the yellow Q flag as well as the Turkish flag for the first time this year (also the first time that the Greek flag, now rather shredded from the strong winds all summer, was lowered). We marveled at the greenery that met us from the cliffs and valleys as we approached Marmaris and headed directly for the main wharf where we were to clear customs formalities.

Time for our Turkish flag!

I had contacted the Marmaris Yacht Marine (where we had booked to stay for a few days) for assistance with checking in to Turkey – this could occupy a whole blog on its own, but suffice to say that one can no longer check oneself into and out of Turkey. It MUST be done through an agent for which a fee is payable – it’s not a standard fee, it’s whatever the agent wishes to charge and I have heard anything from 50 Euros to 200 Euros depending upon the port of entry/exit. Why payable in Euros I hear you ask? Turkey is not part of EU Europe and has its own currency, the Turkish lira – yes, all true, but they will charge in euro where they can and convert to TL (Turkish Lira) at the most favourable bank rate they can find on the internet! So, be warned!

We arrived at the wharf about 3pm, just in time for the afternoon southerly breeze (actually quite strong) to kick in and almost slam us onto the ship-sized wharf. Our ‘agent’ met us with the papers we had emailed him (boat registration, e-visas, passport copies, insurance, etc.) and led us to the customs area of the port. Very shortly thereafter we could see that there was a problem – in my haste to organize our e-visas, I had inadvertently labeled Tad’s passport as Australian (he is a USA passport holder) from the drop-down menu! I was very embarrassed and offered to re-do it on the spot (for an additional USD $60 mind you) but the immigration official simply asked from where we would be departing Turkey and when – we told him in about 2 months and probably from Bodrum or Turgutreis. He was kind enough to say that it wouldn’t matter and that was the end of it! Phew! I am not sure if some extra TL changed hands that day but it worked! We were in Turkey!

Our next challenge was to get off the wharf with the wind blowing us onto it (which Tad skillfully managed) and we motored over to the marina.

Marmaris Yacht Marine (henceforth shortened to MYM) is at some distance from Marmaris proper (about 7km) – close enough by car but really too far to walk. There is a public shuttle service (known in Turkey as a ‘dolmush’) which are shared mini-vans for which you pay about TL 3.50 (about AUD $1) per person and takes about 20 minutes to the centre of Marmaris. The nice thing about the location is that there is always a breeze and it’s quiet because it is far enough from the noisy nightclubs in town (see Netsel Marina which is right beside the loudest clubs in town!).

We were greeted at the marina and shown a spot alongside on Lima pontoon near the big motor yachts – also fairly close to toilets and laundry which was perfect. We were fortunate because it wasn’t busy at that time and they had space for us there – normally we would have been put on Alpha pontoon (see later blogs) which was more exposed and not as convenient.

After getting tied up and somewhat settled I headed over to the office to get checked in and sorted with the agent. I was charged Eur 160 (in TL) for the check in assistance, and a Blue Card (which included a 95L pump out pre-loaded; more on this ridiculous system to follow). I then checked us into the marina with an extremely friendly and well-spoken young lady named Lale (pronounced Lahlay) who told me all I needed to know about the facilities available. Laundry is by token (15TL for 10kg do it yourself) and the ladies are incredibly helpful (they actually pretty much do it for you). We always dry our laundry on the boat (having a catamaran and the extra space makes a huge difference here) so no need to pay for dryers!. There is a restaurant which serves really very good food – the highlight is the delicious ‘lavash’ bread they offer as a starter and which is made freshly from the oven when you order. They have very good steaks as well (unusual for Turkey) which although expensive are worth it if you have a ‘beef craving’! The best part of the marina is the “Bora Bora Beach Bar” which is on one of the pontoons and offers a great place to ‘chill’ with a book and drop over the edge for a swim – yes it is in the marina water but very clean and lovely for a swim.

It was lovely to relax, have a delicious meal and a quiet night on the pontoon for our first night in Turkey.

The next day we ventured into Marmaris proper – Tad wanted to find a Volvo mechanic to have yet another look at why our starboard engine kept losing power, as well as shop for assorted boat parts. We took the local shuttle into town and parted company as I wanted to buy a local SIM card for the internet and phone capability, as well as find a good supermarket. It was very HOT weather-wise and we soon understood why many Australians as well as Europeans choose to ‘park’ their boats from mid-July until early September; both to avoid the charter boat crowds but also because it’s very hot along the Turkish coastline at this time of the year. Luckily for us (but not the locals) due to the failed ‘coup’ attempt on the Turkish government just a couple of weeks prior to our arrival, there were very few foreign visitors. The flotilla of ‘gulets’ (large wooden ships which carry anywhere from 6-20 passengers for both day trips and week-long charters) were still on the wharf in the main town with only a few going out each day (apparently they are usually all out and crowd the nice anchorages during the day!). It was fun wandering through Marmaris bazaar (very touristy) with few people about and I also found a great fresh fruit and veggie stand which was wonderful.

Downtown Marmaris

Later that day the mechanic FINALLY discovered the reason for our air leak (we already knew that’s what it was) when he captured the tiny bubbles in our Racor fuel filter on his phone camera! He simply tightened the filter and we’ve had no problem since! Amazing that something so minor could cause such an issue over such an extended period of time.

Another day of relaxation and a little shopping in the afternoon (I had ordered some cushions for the cockpit area to be made – they do amazingly quick and inexpensive work in Turkey) and we were ready to leave Marmaris to make our way south. By now we were getting used to the wind pattern along this coast which was light WNW breezes in the morning with the wind building from the S-SE by 3pm and so we planned our next day’s itinerary.

Before leaving the marina the next morning, we decided to ‘pump out’ our holding tanks even though there was basically nothing in them (see Blue Card blog) – so we filled all three tanks with sea water and headed over to the pump out station. Amazingly, in spite of the fact that the combined volume of our holding tanks is about 120L, the electronics of the pump out station measured 180L! I paid for the Blue Card to be updated and we headed out. We had a short motor south to Ciftlik Bay about 13nm south of the marina where we anchored in clear water with a lovely sandy bottom for the night.

Stunning Ciftlik Bay

Many of the small bays along the Turkish coastline have a small restaurant offering local fare – they have often built a pontoon/wharf of sorts where they encourage yachties to tie up for the night (with the understanding that said yachties will also dine at their establishment). The owners of the restaurants (because sometimes there are several if the bay is large enough) come to the end of the pontoon as yachts enter the bay and wave a brightly coloured flag (the colour is distinctive to the restaurant) to encourage you to come and tie up to their pontoon. We prefer to anchor but wanted to check out one of these restaurants and so after a swim and an explore, we took the dinghy into “Rafet Baba” restaurant to have some dinner. It was rather morose as we were pretty much the only people there until quite late when a few other Turkish visitors came to eat (they eat dinner very late). The choice of food was fairly limited and very expensive for what you got. This of course is relative – we found Greek food both in the islands and the mainland to be of very good quality and value in comparison. In addition, due to various taxes, alcohol is also very pricey – a 500mL beer on tap (or bottle) was usually around TL15 whereas in Greece you could regularly get a 500mL beer for E 2.50.