Travels in Turkey - Southbound to Finike

By the next morning, having raised the anchor twice without incident, we decided to push on southwards.  The winds were in our favour (even though they were very light) so we motor-sailed to Kalkan, about 40nm to the south.  We did not enter the rather small harbour, but anchored to the west in a large bay surrounded by high cliffs.  There were a couple of other small cruising yachts, but a good many ‘gulets’ which disappeared around sunset.  We had a lovely quiet evening with steady winds all night which gave us a cooling breeze.  There are no facilities at this anchorage but lovely clear water and a combination of sand and weed – the sand was good holding.

Moving on the next day, we made our way to Kaş – we had intended to anchor near the marina, but then changed our minds and entered the marina as we wished to have a day trip to Kastellorizo the next day and didn’t feel comfortable leaving the boat at anchor.  The wind funnels down the long entrance to the marina and while the holding is good, we would not have trusted that all would be well in our absence.  It was quiet in the marina and we were able to get a reasonable price for mooring Bisou – the facilities were excellent, including a bar, a restaurant, a spa (complete with hammam), a Migros supermarket and facilities for hauling boats as well as mechanics and electricians.  We had originally thought to winter our boat here and found the place to be quite lovely but decided against leaving Bisou here over winter after the attempted coup on the President and the general feeling of unsettledness in the country.  Many British and other European boat-owners leave their boats here quite happily, but distance and length of time we would be away made up our minds against it.

The marina is about a 15-20 minute walk into town and we were fortunate to arrive on market day (Friday) – the open air market is wonderful and is halfway between the marina and town so very convenient. We stocked up on fresh fruit and veggies for next to nothing and walked on into Kaş proper.  Both Kalkan and Kaş have been extremely popular with tourists from the UK over the years – many have purchased time-share units in the area and as a result, the restaurants and shops reflect the tastes of the tourists.  It’s a cute town, with a busy harbour (friends tied up here but there was no way we would fit, and nor would we want to!) with gulets and day-tripper boats zooming in and out all day every day!

We returned to Bisou for a quiet evening aboard.

Kastellorizo is an island just off the Turkish coast (about 10nm) from Kaş and which is serviced by ferry on a daily basis.  Kastellorizo is Greek and so we took the opportunity to get out of Turkey for a day by buying tickets on the ferry.  Once upon a time (before the political problems in Turkey and the refugee crisis) yachties regularly went in and out of Turkey/Greece to this island and back into Turkey without issues.  We were not game to try this however, since we both saw and heard (on the VHF radio) the Turkish coast guard sitting and watching all boats moving up and down the coastline and reprimanding anyone straying across the invisible border in the water!  So we had fun taking the ferry (about  30 minutes) and then walking around the town; we found a great place to have a swim, a raised citadel-type area for views and of course the souvlaki lunch complete with a frosty beer.  All too soon it was time to head back across to Turkey collect some laundry from the marina laundry lady and have an early night.

The Greek Island of Kastellorizo from Kaş Harbour

The comfortable seats on the ferry

Kastellorizo harbour

View of Kastellorizo harbour from the citadel

Our next stop was Kekova Roads – this destination had been highly recommended to us by a number of  people because of the unusual nature of the waterways and how protected the waters are.  This part of the Turkish coast, also known as the Lycian coast, has a marked walking route which takes in some of the more interesting historical sites (most of which are rock tombs as well as sarcophagi) and you can travel a considerable distance on foot if you wish.  In a boat, you are at the whim of the coastline, the depths and the weather, but Kekova Roads is lovely.  There are areas of crystal clear blue water, underwater remains of houses, wharves and towns, but also lots of turtles to entertain you.  In addition there are the ubiquitous restaurants with their piers one can tie to (we never did as we felt that Bisou would rip the pier out of the water).  There is also the magnificent fortress/castle above which is worth a visit just for the views.  We also walked to an ancient site known as Aperlae (about 30 minutes but flat and easy in spite of the heat) where we snorkeled on underwater remains of a port and walked among walls and sarcophagi – really rather eerie.  The water was warm, the air warmer and it was a very pleasant place to spend a few days.

Tad hiding behind one of the many sarcophagi at Aperlae

The view of the inlet at Aperlae from on top of the hill

A view from the citadel at Kekova Roads

One of the many beautiful anchorages at Kekova Roads

We had originally planned to sail all  the way to Antalya, but time and problems with my back (which had been plaguing me for some time), changed our minds to stop at the marina in Finike where good friends had spent the winter, and rent a car to drive to Antalya.  What was the attraction?  Some wonderful Greek and Roman ruins at Perge and Aspendos, including a magnificent (restored) amphitheatre still in use!  In the end, we motor-sailed to Finike, about as far south as you can go before turning north to enter the Gulf of Antalya, and parked at the very pleasant marina there for a few days.