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....

Pergamon, 8th September The forecast was for a few degrees cooler (only low 30's) so we decided to do the day trip to Turkey to visit Pergamon, one of the notable ancient sites. We caught the 9am ferry to Ayvalik for the 1 ½ hr crossing. En-route, we encountered yet another RIB filled to bursting with migrants heading for the Greek shore - unusual to see it in daylight, normally it's a night crossing to avoid detection.We had ordered (and paid for) a hire car o...

Escape to Istanbul 14th-20th June We have always wanted to go to Istanbul. We did not want to take too long and fight the 5kn+ currents, nor dodge the hundreds of tankers that ply the Dardanelles and Sea of Marmara. So we hopped on the 9am ferry from Mytilini on Lesbos for the 1 ½ hr ferry trip to Ayvalik in Turkey. From there it was a taxi 8km up to the Otogar (coach station) to catch the 8 hr bus to Istanbul. It took over 10 ½ hrs (including another ferry)...

More Markets, Thursday, 25th September It's been a hot and sunny week in the Gulf of Fethiye. We missed the market days in Fethiye itself (Mon & Wed) but there is a daily covered fish market and fruit & veg market. The fresh produce is fabulous. Since then we have pootled about the bays (Seagull Bay, Ragged Bay, Wall Bay, etc), coves and islets of this sheltered sea area: anchoring, swimming & snorkelling and climbing up to visit ruins where we can. F...

Puffers and Pictures Sunday, 14th September 2014 In Kekova Roads, Richard caught a fish. It puffed up like a frog. Oh Oh. It was put back in the water before you could say "gloves out". Next catch - similar fish - this time not puffed out. R took a quick picture or two (see photo album) and we then looked it up. As R suspected, it was a Puffer Fish (known here as Rabbit Head). It is highly poisonous, allegedly the 2nd most poisonous vertebrate in the world (altho...