May 2011
Cue to Move
By April spring growth was returning and so were the tortoises, coming back down to the valley and right on cue for April 25 the symbolic red poppy was blooming in the wild everywhere. Sogut was looking a picture with her new spring growth.......so here's a small selection
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| Wild Turkish Poppy in April |
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| B snapping pics in field of spring blooms |
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| Goats among blooms under olive tree |
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| Traditional house Sogut |
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| Pathway to sea |
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| Under spring sunshine |
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| Road through village (note cellphone tower) |
It was the cue for us too. First week of May we departed Sogut refreshed and enthused about the ports and passages ahead…. but first we have to do some hardyards in the boatyard at Yat Marin Bodrum. This requires a 35 miles repositioning passage east to Bodrum where we are currently ‘on the hard’ doing out of water maintenance for the first time in two years.
A few pics of Musketelle on the hard at YatLift, Bodrum.
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| We were parked right beside the Aegean with the Greek Island of Kos in the distance |
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| Underwater antifoul with 'Hempel Olympic' after 2 years in the water |
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| We came to this yard because they use steel props whereas many Turkish yards use wooden props |
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| Looking the other way |
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| B and washday beside the Aegean.......not a bad backdrop and the natural drying was good too ! |
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| In the Travel Lift slings splashing resplendent with new blue water line |
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| Backing into the drink |
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| Relieved its all over until next time.......owners with WiFi in her Burberry cat bag |
A planned 10 days on the hard has as normal ballooned into 30 days as we discovered or created new jobs that were not on the initial worklist. But at last we are about to splash and start heading west through the Mediterranean to reach Gibraltar by October before heading out to the Canary Islands and onward across the Atlantic in January.
As usual our route and plans are very fluid so readers will have to login to see how it pans out. Regular followers of our meanderings will instantly recognize this as condition normal, and that’s the way we like it !!
Above all we are not looking for a ‘back down’ this year !!
We will try to be more regular with the posts as WiFi internet access allows.
Regards P B and W
April 2011
Silence Broken
Its over six months since we last posted to the blog from Karacasogut, Turkey. And in that time Musketelle has not moved from her perfect winter haven.
Picture Perfect Karacasogut - Sogut
From late October 2010 to April 2011 Musketelle safely wintered over on a wharf mooring in the sheltered waters of Karacasogut during which time we returned home to NZ for 3 months for the first time since 2007. Before we departed in late October autumn was changing the colours in the surrounding countryside and on our regular walks and bike rides around the local parish (oops mosqish) the tortoises were heading for the hills to hibernate.
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| Tortoise on move for winter |
The NZ visit was very timely but not really planned. The primary driver was getting the skippers back problem checked out with health professionals at home and the good news is that his NZ doctors initial guidance and assistance via Skype whilst we were holed up in Greece last year was the absolute correct assessment and the recovery as predicted was 6 months to the day. The trip home of course provided a great opportunity to reconnect with family and friends.
Also P was able to have a milestone zero birthday celebratory reminisce with old ROT and BOP mates from his youth some of whom he had not seen for 40 years. We had a couple of trips up and down the North Island spending time in Wellington and Taupo but mostly Auckland. Great to experience the NZ summer. Even found time for a coastal passage positioning a cruiser racer to Opua for Bay of Islands Race Week.
Some NZ Pics
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| On beach BOP |
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| Sailing to Kawau Island en route Bay of Islands |
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| Approaching the Hole in the Rock, Cape Brett |
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| Land of the Long White Cloud - it was raining in Opua |
Timely bonus was house sitting sister Debs townhouse in Orakei. We departed a week before the little country was rocked by the tragic CHC quake which was even newsworthy in Turkey. We were shell shocked, glued to the internet in disbelief at events happening at home and then the enormity of the Japan disaster.
Since our return to Turkey in February we have been doing ‘boat stuff’ (see below) and immersing in the
tranquil haven that is Karacasogut, where the sun always seemed to shine and the late winter early spring temperatures were always in the teens. For those inevitable cold snaps we must admit to switching on the reverse cycle air-con on a couple of occasions. Throughout the winter Sogut experienced just a handful of blows with little rain, sheltered as it is by a high coastal range to the north and a horseshoe shaped bay covering the other points of the compass. In Sogut it was all good N E W S
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| Sogut to NORTH |
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| Sogut to EAST |
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| Sogut to WEST |
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| Sogut to SOUTH |
Yes, we can recommend Sogut as the ultimate cruisers Eastern Med winter hideaway with a benign micro climate whilst 30 miles to the east the northerly winds regularly roared down the Aegean Sea sometimes at 60+knots without any affect on Sogut.
The only downside for some might be that it is very quiet and a 30 minute Dolmus (minibus) ride from the nearest town, Marmaris. But the operators of the wharf, the café ‘Sahil Iskele’ made us feel at home with hot showers, a store (corner dairy) with fresh bread daily and local beer and wine in the chiller and a café restaurant open throughout winter. Within walking distance the local villagers sold fresh seasonal fruit and vegetables.
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| Sahil Iskele Cafe and shop 100m from our wharf berth |
While we were back in NZ the restaurant staff looked after WiFi and we returned not knowing if our little friend would go feral and not recognize us. As it happened she had smartly established fallback positions with 4 other yachties on the wharf in the event we did not return; our Aussie friend David of Sahula, some French cruisers and a couple of Turkish vessels. The evening we got back she was literally in bed with a Turkish lady on her yacht but when we called out for her and mentioned food there was an instant response and she was back on Musketelle in a flash. With animals its all so transparent, its obviously all to do with voice intonation recognition.
"Boat Stuff
Whilst in Sogut we concluded a handful of enhancements to on-board systems that were either partially installed or ideas requiring action. Unlike living ashore in a conventional house living day in day out on a 16m x 4.5m yacht gets you thinking about access and egress issues, storage issues, utilising waste space, refinements here and cutouts or additions there to make life easier and more comfortable.
Story of the Steppes - As an example we have a 4 step ladder down into the main saloon from the cockpit with a big lip at the top annoyingly making the top step 50% higher again than the other steps. Given we both go up and down those steps a hundred times a day, over the course of a year this has us both somewhere on the slopes of Annapurna !! The day we bought the boat P said lets cutaway that 50% from the top step. B said no, because she would lose space from a valued galley cupboard below. End of story, until one day over a cuppa in Sogut the subject came up again this time because WiFi the cat was having difficulty jumping up and down the steps…. B pinches her lip and revisits the logic in removing the 50% and within days its gone as P gets to work with skill saw and grinder doing what he knew had to be done 5 years ago. We now have markedly improved access between cockpit and saloon and everyone including the cat is happy.
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| Original steps cockpit side |
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| Cut out and removing |
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| That was easy |
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| New teak laid ready for painting |
Watermaker - A no brainer was increasing the production capacity of our reverse osmosis desalinator from 30L to 90L’s freshwater per hour as the systems core 1Hp electric motor and high pressure pump allowed for such increased production. With multiple taps, a washing machine and a couple of showers 50L per person per day is easily consumed. We will even have enough freshwater for washing the salt spray off the decks at sea!! But this complex installation is proving very testing as P insists on doing it himself as he figures this way you know your system inside out. But at time of writing first production drips are still awaited. But he insists a miracle is imminent.
Refrigeration -
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| All concentration trying to be a refrigeration expert |
We installed and commissioned 12 volt air cooled refrigeration and freezer Danfoss compressors to supplement our 230v Eutectic system so that we can keep food chilled using our solar panels and the wind generator without relying on costly diesel to run the generator as for the 230v system. Note - Diesel is NZD$3.50 per litre in Turkey which means it costs us over $2500 just fill the tank !! and the cost of fuel is not about to reduce much if at all where we are headed.
March 2011
Unable to Publish
We regret we have been unable to publish to our blog because the host site for our blog, BlogSpot (a Google entity) was banned by a Turkish Court in December 2010. An individual was using the site to re-broadcast local soccer games in violation of broadcast rights held by a Turkish television broadcaster. The broadcaster went to court and Blogspot and its estimated 17 million users in Turkey including us were instantly cast adrift. Our blog was not affected and was still accessible worldwide except in Turkey. Now we learn the ban is to be lifted in April 2011 and they say normal service will resume.
P and B
