It was late when we arrived in Ciftlik on Saturday evening and I had a bit of difficulty spotting a jetty as, anyone who knows me will tell you, I can’t see in the dark. Fortunately the guys from Rafet Baba’s Restaurant came out and swung their torches to and fro and guided us in. We picked up a lazy line and were soon seated at a water front table ordering dinner.
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| Ducks in Ciftlik |
Next morning Mel made us one of her famous Turkish breakfast feasts and, as we were now in holiday mode, we were a bit late departing. We did a drive round Gerbekse Bay (rightly not to be missed as according to the guide), then had the jib in and out a few times to sort out the lines fouling on the dingy stowed on the fore deck. Once we’d sorted out the halyard hooked round the nav light on the mast we got the mainsail out and reached a pleasant 5.7 knots in a force 3 tacking across towards Rhodes and back. The day’s sailing satisfied thoughts turned towards supper. The entrance to Serce is quite well hidden and in 1977 an 11th Century ship wrecked there was excavated and found to be carrying a load of Islamic glass, which is thought to be strange for a Byzantine trading ship. A very thin glass beaker with lions chasing each other is now on show in the Bodrum museum. Fortunately we made it in without getting wrecked.
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| Honu on The Loryma Restaurant jetty |
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| Mel and Chazz at The Loryma Restaurant |
Serce is quite remote and Captain Nemo’s is the only restaurant. There was music and merriment with several crews of Germans and Russians enjoying themselves. The food was good and plentiful but my crew found it expensive, being used to Istanbul prices, but it seemed reasonable enough to me especially considering where we were! The combined foreigners partied late into the night back on one of the boats but I slept peacefully through it all.
We didn’t have fresh bread and eggs delivered to the boat for breakfast as the crew had declined to pay the exorbitant prices! After making do with nevertheless delicious left-overs, in little wind we motored into Bozuk Buku and moored at the far end of the bay on the Loryma Restaurant jetty. It was so nice and peaceful I could have stayed there all day. However, after coffee and a swim we motored on round the Karaburun headland then got the sails up and headed for Sogut. Which was where we discovered The Octopus.
The clouds were gathering threatening a mighty thunderstorm but in the event we only experienced a few drops of rain. The clouds however created a magnificent sunset. Following a circuit of the bay we decided on The Octopus Restaurant jetty where once again we were given assistance in picking up their lazy line and mooring.
Despite several days of backing on stern-to I simply wasn’t getting the hang of reversing this boat. I blame the twin steering wheels. Then I watched a woman bring a boat in standing facing rearwards with a hand on each wheel just gently nudging this way and that, it looked good, so I thought that’s the way to do it!
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| Mosaic at The Octopus |
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| Sunset at Sogut |
Mel slipped up to the restaurant to make sure we would get a waterside table for dinner and then we all availed ourselves of the excellent facilities in the shower block. By the time I got there Chazz had found how to turn on the ambient background music so it was a shower to die for. We had the most delicious dinner yet and all for 142 Turkish lira (64 euro) including starters and drinks.
Everyone was blissfully happy.
