Pölemos Bükü, Kekova Roads

An ancient tomb looking slightly out of
place in the carpark in Kaş    

On Monday 28 September Nicky and I walked to the outskirts of Kaş so that we could shop for food. The public holidays for the Feast of the Sacrifice had just finished so deliveries to the shops had restarted and we were able to get everything that we needed. We made our way back to the marina and found that several yachts had already left for Kekova. We got BV ready, preferring a later when the wind had built up as it usually does by late morning.

Overtaking the interestingly named Una Vida Solamente …       

… and Songster     

We slipped our lines at 11am and motored out of the long inlet. All the while the wind was slowly increasing such that when we turned east, with all sails flying we made 7.5 knots. We maintained that speed as we turned further downwind, rolling away the staysail but poling out the genoa which allowed us to catch up a couple of yachts.

Approaching Pölemos Bükü   

Three hours later, having logged a passage of 19 miles, we had dropped our anchor in Pölemos Bükü, a bay at the very western end of Kekova Roads.

The bay was already half full with rally members and the 2 other yachts there, probably hoping for a quiet night, must have wondered what was happening. As it turned out one of them was owned by Michael Burke, of BBC News journalist fame. He is also a Cruising Association member and so he came over with his wife and joined our party in the restaurant later in the evening.

Pölemos Bükü had been chosen by the rally organisers because of the small Aperlae restaurant situated at its head. The restaurant does not normally cater for such large groups but Suzie and Robin have known the restaurant owner for many years and he had agreed to our taking over the restaurant for the night. All of the supplies for the restaurant are brought in by boat and so, having arrived, one of our first tasks was to radio in our dinner orders. That allowed the restaurant owner to zip off in his boat and negotiate with the local fishermen for the right amount of fresh calamari and fish.

Some yachts were able to moor to the end of the restaurant's jetty but the head of the bay is silting up and it was too shallow for BV. We inflated our dinghy and, along with a few other members of the rally, we ran a taxi service from the anchored yachts to get everyone to the party. 

The restaurant is on wooden decking partially covered by a roof to keep off the heat of the sun. At one end are open cooking fires and there was just space for 2 long lines of tables to seat us. The food was simple but very well prepared and cooked and the venue provided a fantastic atmosphere for a very lively party. It was great fun in excellent company and the evening passed by all to quickly.

Dawn in Pölemos Bükü

In the morning we all rose early to walk across the isthmus at the head of the bay. On the other side are the ruins of the ancient city of Aperlae.

Sarcophagi and an old well at the edge of ancient Aperlae   

The hillside is covered in the ruins of the city walls and fortifications as well as lots of sarcophagi. We did scramble over them but the main attraction was that some of the ruins are now underwater.

All of the rally members took swimming gear and we spent the early morning snorkelling over the sunken ruins.

Snorkelling over the sunken ruins of ancient Aperlea

It was a remarkable experience with tiled floors, ruined walls and decoratively carved stonework all to be found.

For return route we decided to climb much higher which allowed us to clamber amongst the ruins and get a much better view of the old walls.

We were also rewarded with a great view down onto the sunken area of the ruins.

Pölemos Bükü, Turkey