Datça

Friday 11 September had no wind at all. Rather than head off straight away from Ova Bükü we spent a couple of hours in the flat calm in the bay going through some motoring and boathandling skills with Alex and Lucy. Having got a feel for steering BV forwards and backwards we threw in a fender tied to a bucket to act as a marker so that they could practice reversing up to a simulated quay and stopping beside a person or object in the water. We also simulated going down a dead end in a marina, turning the boat through 180 degrees in its own length and then coming back out again. As a last task we let all of the chain out of the anchor locker onto the shallow sandy seabed and then put it all back into the anchor locker. We haven't done that since July and so it was worth doing again to make sure that the chain runs out freely. Especially when we are mooring stern-to on a quay it's a real pain if there is a snag in the chain running out because it normally means you have to recover the anchor, reposition and start the whole mooring process from the beginning.

Kargi Köyü    

Our evening destination was Datça which was about 13 miles away from Ova Bükü. We set off in that direction at 1230 pm still under engine because there was still no wind. An hour and a half later we rounded the Ince Burun peninsula and headed north for the final few miles to Datça. About a mile short of the town we spotted a nice bay, Kargi Köyü, and decided to divert into it, dropping anchor at 2 pm.

The water was very clear making for good snorkelling and swimming. We also found lots of small very warm areas in the water, so the game was to find one of those and gently bob about in it.

Approaching Datça    

By half past three we felt it was time to move on, mainly because we knew that Datça was likely to be busy and finding a mooring space on the quay would be unlikely much later on.

Datça    

It only took half an hour to get into the harbour at Datça and we were lucky enough to get one of the last 3 mooring spaces. 

Datça’s modern outdoor theatre    

Typically, the wind started building as we finished mooring and it turned out to be quite a windy night. The shelter in Datça was, however, very good and we spent a very pleasant evening exploring the town, including the modern outdoor theatre, before picking a restaurant for dinner. The one we chose had a rooftop terrace which was delightfully cool with the evening breeze. 

Datça also has a fantastic Saturday morning market. Unusually for us we were actually in port on market day (we normally seem to arrive the day after the excellent market has taken place) so that became the morning's entertainment.

We got the fresh vegetables we'd need, a variety of nuts for sundowners, including a large bag of almonds which are a Datça peninsula speciality, as well as some fresh fruit. Figs are very much in season now and so we got some which were absolutely ready to eat to go with honey and yoghurt for breakfast. Our shopping list had been quite short but somehow we ended up bringing bags of stuff back to BV. Fresh sweetcorn on the cob, herb mixes to go with olive oil for marinating olives and just dunking bread into, bunches of parsley, mint and dill, and we even got 2 beautifully woven throws that we'll use as table cloths for the cockpit table.

After such a busy morning shopping we relaxed in a café both to enjoy the drinks but also to hook up to the internet and check e-mails. Walking back to BV we briefly met Henry and Linda, the crew of Alibi, who will also be taking part in the Cruising Association cruise in company along the Lycian coast.

Late morning it was time to slip our lines and head off again. This we did very successfully for about 2 seconds before the end of our mooring line got jammed in the wooden decking of the jetty we were tied to. I was about to dive over the stern to clear it when a helpful fisherman came over and released it for us and let us get on our way.

Datça, Turkey