36° 09.90N 029° 48.16E
Kalkan harbour can be difficult to leave – not because we liked it but because it’s a mess of crossed anchors. The harbour is narrow; the gulets and trip boats drop their anchors right across the other side, so snarl-ups are inevitable.
A yacht (A) came in on our right, anchored cleanly and the crew disappeared off somewhere. A trip boat from the opposite side of the harbour then picked up their anchor and dropped it over ours and that of boat B to our left. Either they didn’t care or they did it deliberately.
We tried to leave but failed; we couldn’t pull up A’s anchor with ours so we tied up again. I went out with B’s crew in a dinghy and together we tried to pull A’s anchor out but failed again – it was caught round B’s anchor chain. B wanted to leave so paid a diver to lift A’s anchor over their chain. This left us with little alternative but to pay too – 50TL (about £20 – cheap for a diver) to lift A’s anchor over ours, otherwise another yacht might have arrived before A returned and lay their anchor over both ours and A’s. So the trip boat’s action cost both us and B money, and left A with an unsecured boat and possible damage. It’s called supporting the local economy.
Anyway, a brisk sail to the new Marina at Kaş, which is free (even the electricity is free!) because, we are told, they do not have a licence to operate it yet. Nice facilities, and flashy – though not well designed in my opinion, and I’m not sure how well it will cope with hundreds of boats. It’s a 20 minute walk into Kaş which is a really pleasant town.
We hired a car and visited some three ancient sites west of Kaş. Patara was a big city, and the ruins are extensive. It had a fine theatre. Letoon was small but interesting – partly flooded. It had a theatre too. Xanthos was an important centre – another theatre, with built in Lycean tombs.
Today we sailed east to an area called the Kekova Roads where there are many sheltered anchorages. (Enter the latitude and longitude at the top into Google Earth). This one is beautiful and peaceful – just three boats anchored. We’ll spend several days in this area.
Some pictures here.
