Didim Marina

It was an absolute flat calm on 26 April when we left Asin Limani so we didn’t even take the sail cover off for the motor out past Güllük and then west-northwest towards Altınkum.

The Gulf of Körfezi that we were motoring though is full of fish and mussel farms with  associated vessels zipping all around them. Whilst we had been at Asin Limani, convoys of trucks had turned up with tanks on their trailers full of little fish. These had been transferred into the large service vessel moored to the quay. It had left just before us on its way to transfer the small fish to the floating pens that we motoring past. It is certainly a big business here but with the penalty that the water is much greener and murkier in this gulf in comparison with the deep blue, clear water that we have become used to in Turkey.

Our destination was the large Didim marina just west of Altinkum. This sprawling mass of a town is described in our guide book as the Blackpool of Turkey; not the attraction we were seeking. We were much more interested in the ancient Gulf of Latmos, just to the north, and the ruins of the ancient and prosperous cities on its shores. The only issue for us was that the Meander River, which feeds into the gulf, has silted it up significantly over the last few thousand years so the ancient port cities are now about 15 miles inland. Didim marina would, we hoped, provide a good base from which we could hire a car and visit 3 of the significant ancient cities; Priene, Herakleia and Miletus as well as the temple of Apollo in ancient Didyma (now, modern-day Didim).

As we approached the marina we radioed ahead and were met at the entrance by the docking staff in their RiB. Whether it is because they don’t trust anyone to be able to manoeuvre their yachts properly, or because they just provide an excellent service, nothing happens in the way of boat movements in Turkish marinas without these guys standing by to help. We were shown to the refuelling station where we squeezed in a few litres of diesel and got the holding tanks pumped out. Then, we were escorted to our visitors’ berth with the docking staff working the pick-up lines for us. All that help does make for a very stress-free arrival.

As well as the routine business of trying to exchange an empty Camping Gaz bottle for a full one (we failed), buy food, and doing the laundry (success there), Nicky also got a work-out winching me up to the top of the mast. The reason was that our wind indicator had stated to play up. At times it was showing the wind direction at up to 30 degrees out from where it should have. Fortunately, we had packed a spare one and my trip to the masthead allowed me to unplug the old one and replace it. Hopefully the new one will solve the problem.

The trip up the mast also gave me a great vantage point from which to look at the armada of large motoryachts which live here.

Didim Marina, Turkey