Sunset arriving in Simi Greece 
Marian Deborah and Kelly enjoying a walk
Kelly and Deborah buying carpets
Derek Natalie and I in Ephesus
Doing what Natalie does best
Well it has been a month since we last updated this and we don't know where the time has gone!!
Kelly and Deborah arrived on the 25th of Oct to some very nice weather which lasted up to just before they left on the 10th of Nov. We sailed down the coast to Wall bay then to Fethiya where Kelly and I ate one too many sandwiches as we were trying to keep up with John on Sea Mist! Then it was off up the coast towards Bodrum. We stayed at some small bays and stern anchored to a few restaurants one of which was at Selimiye where the owner has a mouth full of golden teeth. As the tourist season is over we ended up eating in his kitchen, talking to some other Turks one of whom invited us back to his apartment for after dinner drinks. Very different as his English was with a Scottish accent and for us difficult to understand. Probably it was harder for him. We were swimming most every day up to this time but the weather took a turn with some thunder storms and rain. We spent two days in Datca where Kelly and Deborah bought a Turkish carpet for their front hall. We have received a picture of it and it looks great in their home. We even found a small runner for the boat. We stopped at Knidos for a day of looking around all the ruins but again had the wind came up in the night. Not so bad only up to 30k so managed some sleep and set off in the morning for Bodrum.
Saturday morning we awoke to rain and much wind. This storm was predicted!! Kelly and Deborah left us for the airport around noon and then the rain and wind really started with winds over 50k. We were very happy to be in the marina.
Next morning we headed off for Marmaris, two days away, and found ourselves actually sailing!!We had a great sail both of the days running the engine only to anchor and get into the marina here in Marmaris. We had hoped that Larry and Elaine would be over but unfortunately Elaine's Dad in NB has not been well and Elaine was down with her Mum and family. This actually was a bit of a blessing as the weather the next morning after we arrived here was awful and it lasted over a week. Cool with big winds and the most amazing lightning show we have seen. The flash and bang were at the same time and caused us to hold our hands over our ears and jump around a lot. This went on for one period of over 24 hours. Caught up on some reading and did some stuff inside the boat as we will leave her here while we go home for Christmas. The last few days have improved with sunshine and temps up to 21 so not so bad for the end of November. I have taken the genoa and mizzen sail off to be washed and stored for a couple of months as we don't plan to be sailing until next year. Probably in March.
We have just been trying to make our travel plans out of here which is interesting. Most all the yachties here take the bus up to Istanbul and fly out of there. The only draw back is the bus ride is 13hours long albeit on a super deluxe bus. Soooo for us it looks like a bus ride and a couple of days sightseeing in Istanbul then flying to London for a night before heading over to Vancouver. Today we listed ourselves for the Vancouver flt on the 11th of Dec. So subject to change we should be home then and plan to stay for a month.
It will be great to see the children and grand kids as they are growing so fast. We use skype on the computer and it is great as we can talk to and see our family and friends. If you haven't tried it you should, then you could call us as well if we are online which is sometimes difficult for us.
