Meltemi Blues (and Images of Leros) 11th July 2017 It was forecast for the Meltemi to start blowing: we just didn't know how long for. We made our escape from Turkey, foregoing the delights of the islands of Symi, Tilos, or Nisyros, and worked our way west and north, past Kos to Pserimos in one hop. And the next day we headed straight for Leros, to the main port of Lakki, which we knew would be well sheltered and where there are the delights of the local shops an...

Lots of Lazing About, Saturday 1st July The last fortnight has been hotting up. I had a lovely birthday (thanks to all for cards stashed away, presents, emails and messages ). In the previous blog I mentioned that we were in Ortisim Bükü or Laundry Bay, on account of its fresh water spring. After opening presents, we took the boat and anchored as close to the "spring" beach as possible. There were two Turkish boats there (as well as the little Russian family fr...

It's a Hard Choice Wednesday 21st June First difficult choice: which beautiful bit of coastline to explore next? We left the Gulf of Fethiye to go around the corner to the Gemiler area for a few days. Here there are craggy reefs and coves - we stopped the first night in a reef strewn, but picturesque setting around the corner from a busy "restaurant bay", Karacaören, that had a flotilla in. It was a bit rolly, but stunning. We carried on to visit Ölü Deniz,...

The Wrong Red 12th June 2017 The sun's been out and it is hotting up - low 30's now at midday. We duly went over to Datça, mainly because it had the most fabulous market the last time we were here - fruit, veg & spices daily, then the full Monty on Saturdays with all the rugs and leather, bras & pants and pots & pans. We arrived on a Wednesday, hoping to go to the food market on Thursday. Sadly, either our memories failed us completely (not...

If it's Tuesday, it must be Turkey. Tuesday 30th May Unbelievably, we are sitting under cover in the rain, in a fjord-like inlet in Turkey. Not that the location is unbelievable, but the rain is. Normally, around early May there is a storm: after that the weather clears and it is hot, sunny and cloudless from then on. A very strange year and we are hearing tales of thunder & lightning storms from fellow sailors all over Britain, France and the rest of Europe....