Mersin, Turkey. 24th May 2007

Trying to keep up to date with our activities is quite a challnge. I have just put David's blog on a memory stick and we will try to find an internet cafe in town this morning. We leave this evening for Iskenderun which is at the east end of the Mediterrean Sea. We are told to be aware that all the flotsam and jetsom of the med gathers here!!

When we arrived here in Mersin we were ushered into an empty marina, all the fishing boats were cleared to the side to make room for us. There were sea cadets to help us tie up. We, the big boats, all drop our anchors and go stern-to the dock and here there are docks for the smaller boats. This is a large city, 1.5 million people, and growing very fast by the amount of building we see. The Turkish people are all very friendly and welcome us with much excitement. The purpose of this rally is to promote tourism, especially by boaters. The government has built the basic infrastructure of many marinas which are then put out to tender to private industry to be finished and run but it would seem that it is not a viable enterprise as there are lots of unfinished marinas that are silting up and unused.

Tuesday evening saw us all being bused up to a magnificent sports complex, complete with Olympic swimming pool, for a cocktail party sponsered by the mayor. We had enough delicious food for a small army and an unending supply of cocktails. The venue was up a hill and open aired, very spectacular. A troupe of local dancers entertained us with traditional dancing and then the music continued for us to dance. Eleven pm saw us all back on the bus and bed (we had done an overnight passage so were tired!).

Wednesday 9am saw us back on the buses and off sight seeing! We have seen so many ancient rocks, and heard so much of the history that our brains are muddled. We hear of civilizations we never knew exisited! The countryside is littered with the remains of cities, churches, tombs etc.. The land here is very fertile and they can get 4 crops a year, alot of it under plastic. Back to the boat, a little refreshment with friends, a quick shower, a short walk down the road to a restaurant on the waters edge with all the tables set on the grass, band on the platform, official welcomes and flag ceremony, dinner, dancing, walk back to boat, bed!!! These are our days. Wonderful!

Today we leave about 6pm for the 80 miles sail and it will probably be motoring as there may not be wind. First we will gfo into town to see the shops and get online.

We are looking foreword to our return home at the end of next month.

Turkey,

Well sorry for not keeping up to date but will give you a brief log of our travels to date.

We had Nevan, Sarah and Elise here with us for two weeks which just was not long enough. After seeing Delos and Myknos we went down to Naxos island which was wonderdful as we were tied up right in the middle of town. The town is just a jumble of small alleys with small shops hidden all over the place. The food was good and we ate out a number of times. Nevan drove us around the island which is very mountanous with narrow roads with no guard rails. The views were amazing as were the flocks of goats that we kept running into. Unforturatly the wind was up for three days at around the 40 kn rate so we stayed there longer than we wanted but after seeing many more of the Greek islands one is as good as another with Naxos being one of the best. We went back up to Athens and spent a day at the Acropolis with a roof top lunch/dinner looking up at this most impressive site. Sadly the 21st of April came too soon and the children had to leave. Elise was a delight. Always smiling and even learned to roll over. We miss them a lot and look forward to their return visits in the years to come.

We had Sunday off and then Kieth Gloria and Blair arrived for a weeks holiday. We spent another day in Athens taking in all the sites then it was off sailing down the Cyclades stopping at a number of wonderful islands along the way and ending up in Santorini. We arrived just after a cruise ship sank and there was a lot of oil on the waters. The week ended just as they were all getting over their jet lag so if any one is planning a trip you need at least two weeks. The ten hour time diffference from the west coast is brutal.

Marian and I next headed to the island of Ios where I found I had a cousin, Fiona, on my uncles side of the family in Ottawa. She lives there with her husband, Nicos, and two young children, Jana and Petros, who can go from Greek to English without batting an eye. It was great to be shown around by locals and see the real life style of the people on these outer islands. They have a hardware store and a laundry service. We set sail for Rhodes at this point and spent two overnights anchoring at small islands on the way. We arrived there and found it to be very commercial and not to our liking. In fairness the island is large and I'm sure there are some wonderful spots to visit. Rhodes is just too touristy for us and it was time to leave.

This has brought us up to May 08th. We cleared out of Greece which is not all that easy with all the officials that have to stamp documents. You would think that being members of the EU it would be easier. We sailed over to Turkey entering the country at Fethiye where we could not clear in that evening and had to do it all in the morning. This took a few hours running around from one office to another but we were offered tea most everywhere and all the officials were very pleasant. My first impression of Turkey was of surprise. We were not expecting mountains with snow on the the peaks and after the Greek islands which are brown here all was green. The bays were very much like those in BC so we felt right at home.

The next day we went the short distance to the town of Gocek where we met up with the EMRY group who started the rally in Istambul. There were 45 yachts there and everyone made us most welcome. Since then we have gone around the southern coast of Turkey to Kekova Roads, Finike and to Kemer where the international portion of the rally begins with 67 boats. The organization of this event is amazing!! Every where we go there are cocktail parties and amazing formal diners with all the local dignitaries. We have had firework displays while dinning on beartiful outdoor facilities with dancing through the night. All moorage, dinners (every night) and most drinks are all covered by the sponsers of the rally. There is always a tour of the local area with all the historic sites to visit. I think all of Turkey is an historic site with so many ruins some of which are fixed up and we even have had receptions and dinners in ancient castles. The weather is now hot in the day but OK in the evening. We just wish we had time to sleep!! The saying here is "sleep is optional" and not many are getting much. Moving from one place to another now is done at night and the legs are on average one hundred miles. It is a sight to see 67 boats at night all heading to the same place.

Right now we are in Mersin where we arrivied from Girne, Cyprus and before this in Alanya. We never thought we would be in Cyprus but we spent a day on a tour of more castles and a few hours and lunch in Nicosia where the country is split in two with the Green line being the border. We have had Canadian troups here as long as I can remember with the UN forces. Very beautiful island. Just arrived this morning and have cocktails and dinner sponsered by the city also local entertainment. We are treated as ambassadors from our different countries with each country carrying their national flag at the various ceremonial presentations. I represented Canada in the old castle reception in Girne and Marian carried the Irish flag the next day.

This is just a quick catchup and I'll get Marian to add some notes when time permits in the next few weeks!!??? We don't finish with all of this fun until the end of June?

David and Marian