30. 21st April – 2nd May 2009 Wrecks, Ruins and Wildlife

Matelot was completely jammed! The wind had swung directly onto her starboard beam and suddenly got up after our morning swim and her line ashore – as Deep Blue’s – was on the wrong side. We were in what had seemed an idyllic spot – a small fiord called Karaloz, East of Kas. The sides were steep and it seemed wonderfully sheltered. We were completely by ourselves. When we had arrived the previous evening there were two Gullets (Turkish tourist boats) already anchored with shorelines and we did the same, leaving as much distance between them and us as possible – perhaps anchoring a little closer to the rocks than we normally would.

When the wind got up Richard had tried to take in his anchor to pull himself forward and off us but the anchor had lost its grip. As he tried to motor out Matelot could not move forward and began to bear even more heavily onto the rock his rudder was jammed against. We were all now concerned that Deep Blue would be pushed onto the rocks on her port side. Richard tied a thick painter from the front of Matelot which we took to our genoa winch. I was on the engine and the painter. Andy controlled our stern and bow with the shoreline and anchor. By letting out the shoreline in a controlled way and motoring hard forward we were able to clear both the rocks and Matelot. Andy slowly winched in the anchor (manually) as we moved forward to keep the bow off the rocks. Picture the scene. Deep Blue is a 35 foot yacht, Matelot is much bigger at 42 foot (more than twice the weight). The fiord was only five of our boat lengths wide and our motor is only just adequate. Just as we ran out of painter and Deep Blue ran out of water, Richard yelled to say Matelot was free. I let go of the painter and turned Deep Blue away from the rocks the other side. We were all somewhat shaken by the incident.

As we move further East the number of towns is decreasing, the people are more Asian or Egyptian looking and fewer speak English. Also the number of undisturbed ruins seems to increase. We are now sailing in the region known as Lycia. The Lycian people of the Lycia region of Turkey were amazing builders and could certainly teach modern day builders a thing or two. We have been exploring abandoned and sunken Lycian and Byzantine towns and cities. It is hard to date the Lycian cities as little seems to be known about these people but the often photographed ones here in Kekova Roads were destroyed in an earthquake in 240AD and their history stretches back to 1200BC so these buildings are between 1800 and three thousand years old! The Lycians used rock as one of their building materials. Not just blocks of rocks which they skilfully fitted together like a puzzle but also solid rock faces which were flattened and used as the supporting back wall for several wooden storeys. Solid and huge blocks of rock were carved and chiselled into enormous tombs. Steps were hewn out of solid rock and water storage cisterns created out of cavernous holes in the rocks. It is mindboggling – how did they get such wonderful straight lines that have survived thousands of years – how hard is the rock that they have used, and what tools could they have used?! The earthquake committed half the city to the sea here in Kekova and we spent two happy hours with our snorkels watching the fish swim around amphora, sunken walls and broken pots.

Another abandoned, but more complete town we visited has a very different and recent history – Kyakoy, on which Louis De Berniere based his Birds without Wings book. Here the town was abandoned after the Christians were sent to Greece in a 1922 swap for Greek Muslims, an agreement that was reached after a very long and bloody conflict which culminated in Turkey joining Germany in the First World War. The Greek Muslims could not replace the Christian craftsmen sent to Greece and so the town was slowly abandoned. This is a very dark period in both Greece and Turkeys’ history and Kyakoy has been left as a ‘ghost town’ monument to the men, women and children who died during that time.

Our sail takes us East along this most Southerly part of Turkey and our visits to Kas, Kalkan and the tiny Greek island of Kastellorizon before arriving in Kekova have been very enjoyable with one highlight being Pippa's birthday, celebrated all day by the four of us culminating in a great meal in a little restaurant (Dolphin restaurant) in Kas. We cannot believe that these guys are so much older than us (Pippa 10 years and Richard 20!) they have such energy and we are really enjoying their company.

From Kekova we made a side trip to the ancient Lycian city of Myra with its impressive rock tombs and Roman theatre – walking along the now silted up estuary beside the Demre river. There are the most wonderful marsh lands here – full of birds, but sadly it seems that the locals are bit by bit infilling the marsh to grow “out-of-season” year-round tomatoes. We have seen more wildlife here than anywhere else in Turkey – even mating leatherback turtles, bobbing up and down in the biggest sea we have seen so far in the Med as we hurtled past them at speeds of up to 10.8 knots on a mad down-wind sail. Sadly we also saw a drowned leatherback, caught in a discarded rope. These animals are endangered and it was very distressing to see.

We are now in Finike – a place we nearly over-wintered. Had we done so we would have missed all the best sailing grounds of Turkey. In ten days time our great friends from the UK, Jan and Jonathan are joining us in Antalya and we will explore the Antalya to Finike coast before leaving Turkey for Cyprus. The weather is heating up and we are noticing an increasing number of tourists. The discos are beginning to wind up and the gullets are being launched as the Turks prepare for the wave of visitors. They will do what they can to make enough money in the next 3 – 4 months to survive the next 12. There is very little industry and few ways to make an honest penny here. It feels a bit like a very special time for us is ending as we too now have to compete for space and contend with the heat. As my readers will know – we love Turkey and we want to revisit everywhere we have sailed since we left Karaca Sogut at the start of March another year.