Gümüşlük

The Bodrum racing fleet had cancelled racing because it was too windy but a strong southeasterly was good for us to make some progress north so we left Bodrum marina at 11am on 19 April.

Braveheart of Sark

However, before we could head north we had to sail 9nm to the southwest to round the tip of the Bodrum peninsula. As we rounded the point, motoring in the opposite direction, was a lovely, very large, van de Hoek yacht called Braveheart of Sark. We waved as they passed, wondering what the odds were on getting 2 ‘of Sark’ yachts in such close proximity this far east in the Med.

Approaching Gümüşlük

Our destination was a small bay beside the village of Gümüşlük. We had a brisk and exhilarating 8-9knot sail around from Bodrum aided by the stiff wind, before dropping sails and motoring in through the narrow gap into the bay. The bay is wider but the sunken remains of the harbour wall for the ancient port of Myndos restricts the access a little.

Once inside the bay we found it to be much busier than we had expected with quite a few yachts swinging on mooring buoys. It had a little bit of the feel of a quiet backwater in the Solent which was nice but it made picking a spot to anchor a little more difficult. With the wind set to swing around to the north and stay strong we had to anchor in the middle of the bay in deeper water than we really wanted to (15 metres) so we had quite a big swinging circle and not the best shelter from any waves or swell refracted into the harbour.

The village ashore looked very picturesque...

... and to our south was ‘rabbit island’ which had some ruined ancient buildings we could see, as well a causeway to it with sunken remains of the ancient Myndos harbour.

Ashore the village was delightful; touristy but somehow unspoilt. The beach was largely empty this early in the season and so too were the restaurants which were being repainted in preparation. One restaurant even had tables and chairs out in the water so that you could enjoy your meal or drink whilst cooling your feet in the sea.

We enjoyed a few drinks ashore...

but ate back on board. Nicky had found some yufka (Turkish filo pastry) when she had been shopping in Bodrum so we experimented with that to make up a vegetable, egg and Turkish ‘feta’ cheese crispy pie for dinner (ie what we had in the fridge that would work). Next time we’ll be organised and get the other ingredients to make the more authentic Turkish Boreks (herby potato or spicy meat parcels).

Gümüşlük , Turkey