The time had come to leave Turkey so we left Marmaris heading for Bozburun which should have been our last port of call. Unfortunately although we had good winds to start with it soon changed to head winds (20-29 k) that we battled against as well as stormy seas so we halted for the night in Serce Bay. We anchored with line ashore but after a while moved to try to find calmer spot as the wind was not dropping. In the end we copied the gullets and ended up with line ashore from bow so lined up with shore facing into wind. The wind eventually dropped at midnight.
We left early the next morning to head for Bozburun to check out and this time we had calm seas and head winds no matter which direction we headed. We anchored outside the harbour and after lunch and a snooze for Svein we went ashore. Caryn caught up on emails whilst Svein checked out the checking out procedures. We discovered that if we wanted to reclaim VAT it can only be done in Marmaris, Datca or Bodrum so we shall now make our way to Datca over the next few days. We went ashore for dinner at Osman’s and also changed some books . The temperatures are definitely rising.
We decided to stay in Bozburun another day and in the evening we were invited to dinner by the owner of Osman where we dined with the staff and ate a very tasty local fish.
In order to try and beat the head winds we left Bozburun early and although we managed to unfurl the genoa for a short time we motored most of the way and eventually anchored outside the new Datca harbour that has been completely refurbished. We explored the town a little but must now go to Bodrum as the customs office does not have the right stamps!
We continued down the coast line but stopped for the night in the anchorage of Knidos because of the strong winds.
In the morning we left the bay under engine and again had very strong gusts heading for Bodrum that increased as we rounded head and crossed the bay. We managed to unfurl the genoa for a time. Arriving at Bodrum we entered the marina and refuelled at the fuel quay and then treated! (being the operative word) ourselves to a night in the marina as we thought it would be our last night in Turkey. It turned out to be very expensive with staff that were not very pleasant and the marina was like an oven. Fortunately we did have the shower block to hand and made very good use of its excellent facilities although it worked out that each shower was very costly taking into account the cost of the night (€77). We tried to find an agent to check us out – one wanted 120€ and another 170€ – and we were told that the VAT could not be reclaimed as we had dealt with companies that were not recognised for non VAT products!!! We had a lunch in town and wandered round it again in the evening when it had cooled down. During the day we had read 40+ in the cockpit in the shade. We surfed the web for most of the day and caught up on emails. It is a very busy town and crawling with tourists. The choice of gullets available for hire was incredible. Certainly not our favourite town and we sincerely doubt that we will return there.
Hopefully our final day in Turkey so after a shower we sorted out the marina and left heading for Turgutreis. The forecast had suggested supposedly lesser winds but it was not to be. We battled against them for 3 hours but then anchored outside Turgutreis harbour. This is a very nice harbour with very nice and helpful staff. We took the dinghy in and started the checking out procedure. It was very simple. We paid a small agent’s fee to the marina who prepared the papers and then took them to the customs building within the marina complex and went from one guichet to the next getting the stamps and removing a page of the transit log each time. It took 15 minutes and that was because one of the officers had to be woken from his nap and he was sleeping soundly and it cost 55 Turkish Lire (25€). Once the check out done we went to do some last minute shopping for vegetables and Caryn then left Svein at the pool and went to spend the remaining lire at the hairdresser with a pedicure, manicure and haircut.She still did not manage to spend everything so there will be some in the kitty for the next trip but the sour taste of Bodrum was removed and we were left with a pleasant memory of our last day in Turkey. Back on the boat decided to open a bottle of champagne to celebrate our Turkish trip and dined on local lamb with potatoes and squash cooked in the Cobb. There was a classical concert in the harbour but unfortunately it was sold out and we were not able to hear much from the boat.