Sailing Calista7 August 2024 – 10 August 2024
Another beautiful morning in the anchorage and we decided an early morning swim was necessary before breakfast as we were intending to leave shortly after and head on down into Gocek.
Not long after having had a swim we noticed a strong smell of sewerage and looked out to see that the gullet next to us had blackwater waste swirling around their boat. Surely they hadn’t done this intentionaly … surely someone must have accidentally opened the wrong valve???
We decided that there was no need to hang around any longer and got ready to leave. I swam ashore and freed the floating lines. Luckily there was a slight current taking the waste in the opposite direction away from us.
The seas were flat and glassy as we motored in the direction of Gocek. We arrived in Gocek and found the anchorage crowded but there was still plenty of room between boats and we dropped anchor in about 20-25 meters.
Once we were confident that the anchor was holding, we put the dingy into the water and dingied the short distance to shore leaving the dingy tied up against the fence railing beside “Nena’s” restaurant. The restaurant was busy and it had a nice outlook so we found a table where we were able to keep an eye on the dingy. The pool was free to use between 9.00 – 7.00 pm, you just had to bring your own towel.
It was very hot, 34 degrees and we found a table with a large portable refrigerated cooling fan nearby.
We ordered garlic prawns and a yummy mince pide (like a thin pizza) to share together with a nice cool beer. The little green peppers were extremely hot and Paul’s mouth was on fire after taking a small bite. Need to say, we left the rest of them on the plate untouched.
The streets were pedestrian friendly with the occassional trade vehicle delivering goods or tending to the gardens and rubbish collection. We found a very well stocked chandlier where we able to buy a new in-line blower fan to replace our burnt-out one.
We walked around the town, it was very colourful and with lots of palm trees.
The following day we went ashore, this time we left the dingy at Skopea Marina where they keep an eye on the dingies for a fee of 250,00 TL. There was a Migros supermarket next door which was handy for us.
We called into the offices of Channel R where Emek Marine is located. They are the Amel Agents for Turkey. We were greeted by Riza, and had a lovely chat under the pergola. His wife bought out some freshly picked figs from their tree out the back and they were very succulent and tasty. Just as we were leaving we got introduced to his brother Kivanc who is the technical Manager. They had a spare in-line blower put aside for us, now we have two. We arranged for them to send the technical team out to Calista and check out the other fan in the engine room and our batteries as the voltage seemed lower than usual.
When we returned to Calista later that afternoon Paul fitted the new in-line blower fan and it worked. Yay.
We were due to get a pump out of our black waste as it was now 15 days, instead of lifting anchor and manuevering into the fuel dock we decided to stay put and get the boat come to us. We were happy to pay the 1000,00 TL to save us going into the dock.
We went ashore to in the afternoon and waited for Michael to arrive by taxi. We hadn’t been sitting for long enjoying an iced chocolate drink at Gloria Jean’s Coffee when Michael turned up. We greeted Michael then loaded his suitcase in the dingy and went back to Calista.
We gave Michael a tour of Calista then we sat down and enjoyed a nice cool beer together.
We went back into Gocek for dinner at the Caesar-Et Lounge as the boys wanted a nice steak.
The steaks were cooked to perfection, and I enjoyed my lamb chops while we also enjoyed a chap playing the pianio.
The next morning we went back into town and got some provisioning then it was back to Calista for lunch. Michael had bought Paul a new mobile phone, so Michael was busy for a few hours downloading apps, email, etc, to set up the new phone. He had alot of patience.
Around 3.00 pm we lifted anchor and motored out of the anchorage.
As we got away from the anchorage and out in the open there was a little breeze, enough to furl the sails out and sail. Michael was enjoying being on the boat and being in a warmer climate.
