I’ve lost all concept of time. I don’t know the day of the week. I don’t know the date. The only thing I do know is the time so I can subtract the seven hour time difference and know the time back home. This is what happens when I’m off for the summer and traveling in some faraway place. It’s especially true when I’m sailing and have no schedule to keep to.
Anyway, since we left Olu Deniz we had a vigorous sail to Kalkan. We had winds of 25 a 30 knots and seas of 6 feet with occasional 10 foot swells. That’s how John would describe it. As for me, the seas were rocking and rolling…uuugghh. Needless to say, I was not a happy camper. At some point I decided I’d be better off putting on a Scopolamine patch. I decided on half, which seemed to do the trick…once it kicked in. Maybe it was a combination of the patch and John setting the whisker pole which helped the motion of the boat.
When we finally arrived in Kalkan, it was immediately evident that it was worth the rocking and rolling. It was a beautiful Turkish town, albeit very touristy. It seemed to be a haven for Brits. John amd I met a Brit as I was ogling his Turkish Gulet. I have this idea that a Gulet would work well on the French canals. Anyway my curiosity got us an invitation to step aboard and have a look. Not sure if it’s well suited for the canals, but it certainly was beautiful.
The next day we proceeded to Kas. Here we anchored in the bay. As convenient as it is to be in a marina, the lack of breeze makes it scorching hot. The bay was beautiful. The waters were crystal clear and cool which allowed for some much needed swimming. Barclay was kind enough to bring me his kayak and let me use it. Luckily, I’m much better at kayaking than rowing a dinghy.
We took the water taxi into town and John tipped the driver generously, a little too much I thought as I didn’t hesitate to point out to him. We needed to get some diesel so John brought along a five gallon fuel jug. We walked into town and went to the gas station. The water taxi driver pulled up on his moped and was doing the same as us…filling a jug with diesel. He offered to carry our jug on his moped back to the water taxi stand. Now it was John’s turn. He didn’t hesitate to point out that the tip he gave the driver was well worth it. He relished in the moment with an “I told you so” smirk.
John also got a Turkish haircut. You might be wondering what’s different about a Turkish haircut as opposed to an American haircut. Well, this not only included a haircut, but trimming of hairs growing out of other orifices. The best part was that the barber singed his ear hair with a lighter. Then he went on to give him a full scalp and upper back massage. As exciting as this was, I decided to take advantage of John being occupied to do a little shopping. Shocker, huh? Actually, haven’t bought anything for myself, only a gift for my mom and for my niece.
The following afternoon we motored a total of two miles to the south to the Greek island of Kastellorizo (Megisti as it’s known to the Turks). There was only one thing on my mind…Greek food. I didn’t care about grains, dairy, calories or fat. I was going to be gluttonous. We started with some Greek mezes, calamari, saganki (fried cheese) and stuffed grape leaves, which were almost as good as the ones my friend Larissa makes, but not quite. Later that evening, I had lamb chops and Greek salad. The next morning before we left I headed to the bakery and picked up some freshly baked spanakopita (spinach and feta pastries). As we sailed off, I savoured the taste of Greece in my spanakopita.
From Kastellorizo we sailed to where we’re currently anchored, Kekova. We went in search of the sunken city, but couldn’t see much. We’ve just been hanging out here as John gets some writing finished. We did find a beautiful little cove and went for a swim and I was able to finish my reading The Glass Palace by Amitav Gosh.
