37° 00.207N 027° 15.330E
We continued to beat west to get round the Datça peninsula before the wind blew up again. First to Hayit Bükü (36° 41.03N 027° 34.36E) a rather remarkable place – a small bay, almost a cove, with a small jetty tucked behind the rocky headland. We were lucky: we got the last space on the jetty. A rather ramshackle but pretty resort has developed along the beach: all very low-key. We met a couple on a catamaran (room for two cats behind the jetty) who knew the place well and we shared a meal with them.
Then to Knidos in a spectacular position on the tip of the peninsula(36° 41.05N 027° 22.46E). The anchorage is next to – part of, really – the ruins of ancient Knidos, an important trading city from the 4th century BC. The harbour was one of a pair built by making a causeway to the island off the end of the peninsula. The northern one is silted up, but the southern one is still in use. So we anchored where the Greeks, the Romans, and everyone since has done. (Which is true of most natural harbours, I suppose.)
We visited Knidos five years ago by car, so we didn’t visit the ruins again. We remember that the ruins were inhabited by belligerent tortoises – belligerent amongst themselves, that is. The anchorage was fairly crowded, but emptied in the evening; a very pleasant place – if it’s calm. There is also a restaurant jetty which has just been extended further into the anchorage.
From Knidos we resolved to cross the gulf of Gökova to somewhere near Bodrum, depending on the wind. We got an brisk north-easterly that took us quickly to Kos, after which we beat north to Gümüslük (37° 03.42N 027° 13.96E). When we were last there, on a flotilla over ten years ago, it was a small village and we were the only boats there. It’s now a major resort, with a blue-flag beach and watersports. The anchorage was very crowded, and restricted by mooring buoys – we had to re-anchor when the wind changed and we swung into a small yacht on a buoy (which don’t swing like anchored boats). Another anchorage which will soon be unusable, I suspect.
Finally to the big posh marina here at Turgutreis where we intend to check out of Turkey tomorrow and sail for Kalymnos in Greece. The Rough Guide doesn’t like Turgutreis: “a sterile grid of streets…” and “the new yacht marina has as yet failed to lift the town’s image…”. Well, we think it’s OK: I don’t care about its image, it has shops, and the “grid of streets” makes it easy to remember where they are – often a problem in new places.
We took the bus to Bodrum to visit the excellent Museum of Underwater Archaeology which is in the castle. Excellent, that is, apart from the lack of any direction signs – we wandered at random about the courtyards and ramparts until we found the exhibits we knew were there. These include the artefacts and exhibitions based on the excavation of several ancient wrecks found in the seas off Turkey. They were well explained in English, too. There are some pictures on Flickr. Recommended.
In a few days we will be back at Evros Marina on Leros where Vigdis will be lifted out.
Some pictures here.
