Greece 25 July to 11 August 2014

Greece

                                   25 July ® 11 August 2014            

Kalimera ( good morning in Greek ) everyone

25 July

When the Fullers left on the 25^th July we relaxed in Turgetreis Marina in Turkey. Suddenly there was a lot of space on board. Now sadly we had to start doing schoolwork. My mom wanted to fit in as much as possible before our next guests arrived on the 8^th August. Every morning we would try to do two hours of work. I find it hard to concentrate as there are always beautiful boats whizzing past, Islands to look at and blue blue water to swim in.

We planned to leave Turkey soon to cruise the Greek Islands. This meant that my dad had to show my mom and I over the boat as we were now his only crew members. He showed me how to do some navigation and I helped him plan the passage to Greece. I was very sad to say goodbye to the beautiful country of Turkey.

On the 29^th July we left at sunrise to go to our first Greek Island of Patmos.

As we sighted the beautiful whitewashed houses of Patmos we could smell the ‘souvlaki gyros’ cooking. This is our favourite Greek food made of pork, tomatoes, lettuce, chips, tsatsiki rolled in a toasted pita bread. We of course had to have this for dinner that evening followed by a delicious Italian icecream.

The next morning we caught the local bus up to the monastery of St John which is high up on the hill above the harbour. From there we walked the old cobbled path down to the cave where St John wrote the ‘apocalypse’. I found this very interesting and I loved seeing all the ancient paintings, books, clothing, jewellery and other things all dating back to the early BC times.

 Our next stop was the Island of Naxos. My dad got a really good weather forecast as we were sailing into an area where the wind is called the ‘meltemi’ and it blows from the North and can be very strong. Luckily we had a very smooth sail. When we arrived in Naxos we were surprised to find the small harbour packed with boats and very big ferries coming in and out. There was nowhere for us to park or anchor. We changed plan and quickly headed off to Paros our favourite Greek Island where my mom had her 50^th birthday two years ago.

1^st August Happy Birthday dad! What a beautiful day. We whizzed off to our favourite beach where the water is turquoise for an early morning swim and a game of beach bats.

 That evening we had a delicious meal ashore to celebrate his special day followed by an Italian icecream from ‘ S Cream’. I really enjoyed being back in Paros it felt like coming home. It was relaxing to be in one spot for a while. Here we would wait for our friends the Orzechowskis to arrive. We anchored at our favourite bay in Paros, Kolimbythres. One day whilst having lunch outside my mom noticed a nice sized fish floating by. Since we had not caught any fish this was very exciting! My dad jumped into the water, got the fish and put it in a bucket on the back steps. We carried on eating. My dad was ecstatic, he had plans to cook it for us that night. Suddenly a jet ski came past and a few minutes later my mom noticed the empty bucket floating away in the water. My dad raced off in the dinghy in search of his fish which he thought was floating away. Meanwhile I noticed something silver on the sea bed below the boat. We called my dad back and he jumped into the water and caught his fish again! He put it back on deck but realized very quickly it was stinky and rotten. All the excitement of having fresh fish for dinner was rapidly lost. It was hilarious my mom and I could not stop laughing.

We were flying along with my schoolwork in the mornings and in the afternoons we would go snorkelling, walking or exploring. I loved going into Naoussa town with all its narrow alleys, stunning restaurants and shops with beautiful clothing.

There are so many Greek cats relaxing on the pavements and shop fronts. I wanted to photograph them all. I miss my cat Naartjie.

Before we left Cape Town my mom and I bought lots of good books which I now found time to read and many I could not put down. I have read eight books so far.

On Friday 8^th August we woke up and saw a massive 300 ft powerboat with a huge waterslide coming from the top deck down into the sea. I drove my mom and dad there in the dinghy and we saw that behind the boat there were two sailing dinghys, four jetskis, four tubes, two kayaks and two huge hard bottomed rubber ducks. We think the boat was on charter so all the ‘toys’ were for the guests to use. I dreamed of sliding down that waterslide into the warm sea.

Later we went ashore and I helped my mom and dad to do a big food shop as Blossom, Wojtek and Tadji were arriving the next day. We prepared their cabins, scrubbed and cleaned the boat so that it was ship shape for their arrival. I was so excited to have them all on board with us. They were our original crew members from Madagascar cruising days.

The next day my dad put on his funny Greek ship captains hat to go ashore and fetch the Orzechowskis. It was a wonderful reunion for us to all be together again like old times.

Within seconds all the laughing began. The following day friends of ours who live on the Island offered to take us for a walk from the mountainous town of Lefkes down to the coastal port of Piso Livadi. The cobbled path took us through olive groves, farmland and a little village. By the time we reached the coast we were boiling hot. We had a refreshing swim , drank some cold drinks and then took the local bus back to our friends car in Lefkes. The highlight of the day was going to their stunning big home overlooking the sea. Tadji and I spend hours playing with an aqua jet.

This is a little machine with a propeller. You hold onto it and it pulls you along under water. It was such fun! Divers use them to go down deep.

I am ending my blog on Monday 11 th August there is just too much action on board now. It is non stop. I have done no schoolwork since our friends arrived!

Chat soon

Andio (goodbye in Greek)   

Turkey

» Turkey «

Merhaba ( it means hello in Turkish ) .

We left cold and miserable Cape Town on the 3^rd of July and headed to Dubai where we connected to Istanbul in Turkey and then straight to Didim on the West Coast . I was super excited to see my dad who had arrived one week before us to get the boat ready and to see my new ‘ home ‘ for the next 3 months ( a 38 ft catamaran which we charted from a friend ) . I had a lot of fun unpacking and exploring the new boat . Two days later the Fullers ( Paul, Annie, Abigail and Romy ) , our friends from Cape Town , arrived to join us for three weeks . The following day we all went to a huge supermarket to stock up for our cruise . When we got back to the boat we found it very hard to find places to unpack about 40 bags of shopping ! Finally we were ready to set sail to our first stop – the little town of Gumusluk . We dropped our anchor in crystal clear blue water and immediately started swimming . That evening we explored the quaint town which was full of restaurants on the beach , tables and chairs in the water and handmade calabash lights . As we upped anchor I saw two local fishermen smashing an octopus on the rocks , it was really weird ! We had a slow sail to the town of Bodrum with its famous St Peters Castle over looking the bay . We anchored here for the evening and did not get any sleep . This was because Bodrum is known as the party town and we had put our anchor down right next to a boat called the Club Catamaran which goes out at midnight and comes back at 04:00 and it plays such loud music . We went ashore the next day and I had a Turkish ice cream which is made of goats milk , sugar and sahlep . It was really cool when the man selling the ice cream plays tricks on you using the ice cream and the cone . My new favourite food , which I first tried in Bodrum , is a doner kabob which is pieces of thinly sliced lamb , tomato and lettuce in either a pita bread or a wrap . It was extremely hot that day so whilst we were eating our kabobs they were spraying us with a thin mist , to cool us down . Our next stop was the ancient town of Knidos dating back to 400 BC . We bought tickets to look at the ruins and explored for about 2 hours . We saw a 5000 seat amphitheatre and a 4^th Century BC sundial .    We then headed to the beautiful town of Bozburun with its silver domed mosque . We loved hearing the Imman calling 5 times a day, his voice would echo across the bay . We found it really interesting when a guy came in his little boat and tried to sell us sarongs , clothing and jewellery . After dinner we went ashore to watch the Fifa World Cup final ( Germany vs Argentina ) , luckily on our dinghy ride back to the boat it was full moon so we could see perfectly without using a torch . Our next stop was Ekincik , a beautiful bay with big luscious trees and blue , blue water . But then whilst Paul was cooking us lamb for dinner a huge swarm of hornets came and took over our boat , they only left when the sun set ( about 9 pm ) , it ruined such a great dish . My dad organised a boat to come and fetch us the next day and take us to Caunos an ancient town up the Dalyan River . We saw locals feeding turtles for all the tourists to see. We took a tractor ride up to see the ruins. Here we walked around in extremely hot conditions with the midday sun beating down on us . The highlight was seeing the rock tombs in the cliffside above the river. They were built by the Carian people for the Lycian King and his family.  We then sailed to Kapi Creek where we tied alongside a small jetty as our water pump had broken and one of our two engines was not working. This was a truly beautiful spot with crystal clear water and surrounded by olive and pine trees. We went for dinner at the only restaurant in the bay and ate ‘meze’ and delicious calamari. I loved this special spot ! The next day we motored to Gocek Marina and on the way we slowed down so that all of us kids could drag behind the boat , which was really fun. I just can’t get enough of this warm, clear water. Here in the Marina we were extremely excited because we could have our first, long fresh water shower in ten days. We do not have big water tanks on the yacht so in the evenings we bath in salt water and rinse very quickly with a tiny bit of fresh water. We then headed to the anchorage of Balik Kayasi  and as we were anchoring we saw a huge yellowfin tuna jump out of the water next to us. My Dad and Paul quickly grabbed their fishing rods and cast off the side of the boat but no such luck. We were so surprised to see a family of grey rabbits ashore. It seems that the day charter boats feed them with their scraps of fruit and vegetables. That evening we had our first ‘braai’ on the boat. Paul cooked once again , he is the most amazing chef. We woke up to super calm water as usual so my dad offered to tow us behind the dinghy on surfboards. It was such fun. We motored to the old town of Fethiye and went ashore in the blistering hot sun. My mom and I visited a traditional 16^th century ‘hamman’ this is a Turkish bath house. It was so hot in there it was like a sauna. Us kids bought lots of local bracelets in the town for our friends back home. The Turkish currency is the Lira and 1 Lira is equivalent to 5 Rand . Here in Turkey everything is about the ‘good eye’ . It is a glass eye generally in the colour blue which protects you from the ‘evil eye’ of someone else and their ‘evil’ thoughts.  Later that afternoon we anchored for the evening in a bay just round the corner from Fethiye Town. It was probably one of the most beautiful anchorages we have been to with high cliffs, thick green vegetation and blue, blue water. Later that afternoon we all went for a swim but got sidetracked by a local Turkish wedding on the beach. I will never forget watching the bride walk down the dock in her wedding dress with music playing in the background .  At sunset I spent an awesome time with Romy and Abigail making an iMovie on the foredeck. It was a lovely way to end a beautiful day.  Before we left the next morning we all had a tow behind the boat.  Next stop was Kizilkuyruk Koyu which was a perfect anchorage. Here we all went for the most beautiful snorkel in crystal clear water. The rocks and caves were amazing and I loved seeing lots of  pipe fish. Sadly there is very little sea life left in the Mediterranean. I can’t believe the difference in the sea life compared to our unbelievable snorkelling in Madagascar which was like being in an aquarium. We moved on to Serce Limani which we loved. It was a magical bay. We anchored really close to the rocks and cliffs in our own private turquoise pool of water. My dad spent time teaching me to drive the dinghy on my own , I love it , it feels like I am driving my own car , freedom ! We went ashore that evening to Captain Nemo’s restaurant . We motored to Knidos, Gumusluk and our final destination Turgetreis where we had to sadly drop off our crewmembers, the Fullers. Now this means I have to start my school work ! I have to fit in a lot before our next guests arrive on the 8^th August.

 We shall soon be leaving Turkey and heading to Greece .  I have incredible memories of our time in Turkey . I have loved all the friendly Turkish people ,  the most delicious plump cherries , Turkish delight , baklava , blue water and the sailing gulets ( traditional Turkish boats ) .

 

Hoscakal Turkey ( goodbye Turkey ) .