1st May – 21st May 2009
In an eventful two weeks we have had to say “au-revoir” to our great friends Pippa and Richard on Matelot after two full months of cruising together, bon-voyage to Susan and Eric on Lola K and had a fun filled, whirl-wind visit from Jan and Jonathan. We also said good-bye to Turkey - we are now in Cyprus after a 28hour crossing, en-route to Egypt.
Antalya is the furthest East in Turkey that Deep Blue ventured this trip. We thought we were well East in Turkey until we studied the map again and realised that we were barely half way along her Southern border. Antalya has an airport and the coasts between it and Finike and is the most touristic and built up place we have visited in Turkey. There are dozens of all-inclusive style hotels on the beaches all the way up the west side of the Gulf of Antalya. The mountains are spectacular, dominated by snow capped Mount Olympus and we visited the intriguing Chimaera or eternal flame of Olympic games fame where escaping gases from the earth’s crust ignite and light up the night sky at the base of the mountain. We also took an amazing cable car ride up to the peak of Mount Olympus – amazing because of the feat of engineering required to build the 2,365m structure with just three supporting pylons.
We moored Deep Blue in the old harbour of Antalya to welcome Jan and Jonathan on board. It was a very lively port but the only facilities were a couple of squat loos. Not quite what Jan and Jon are used to these days! Thus began a week of toilet humour on board Deep Blue. We had our best meal out in Turkey (this does not include boat food on Matelot or Lola K of course) in one of the many beautiful boutique hotels that have been created out of the old houses in the old part of the town above old harbour. We all enjoyed wandering the narrow streets but were keen to move to an anchorage. The day Jan and Jon arrived was the day the summer switched on and it was incredibly hot. We needed to be able to swim.
The highlight of the week was being with our old friends - we all got on very well especially considering the small space we were confined in most of the time. Of course Jonathan got us into trouble when he forced Andy to replace Matelots coveted Royal New Zealand Yacht Club burgee with my bra and pants and then let them sail off after our final good-byes. It took them half an hour to notice and we had to rendez-vous at sea where we had an exchange ceremony before we finally went our separate ways.
The trip out to Cyprus was spectacular. The phosphorescence was the best yet in the med (though nothing compares to one night several years ago in the Helford river), the stars and the milky way were amazing and then the crescent moon rose in the early hours -- I mistook it for a mast top light when it first broke the horizon and was very surprised when it turned out to be a pink moon! The next day when chatting to the crew on Grace who were in front of us on the passage I found they had made the same mistake!
Still very little wildlife though. We spotted a Leatherback in one of our anchorages and had a sea snake come and investigate us when I was swimming - that was the quickest I have got out of the water. Otherwise the odd shoal of small fish, no sea weed but clear blue sea.
South Cyprus so far is a bit of a disappointment except for the people. This island is a melting pot of nationalities and almost without exception everyone is really friendly and helpful. However, the South is very built up with many ex-pats living here and even little Pafos has out of town Next and M&S shopping malls! They are also a little laid back, even in the harbour. When we first arrived in Pafos we had to anchor very close to a Gullet and put a shoreline to a high pier The very smily, handsome and friendly (Egyptian) skipper helped us make Deep Blue safe. It was the strangest method of mooring in a port we have ever done but it was the best we could do. Getting ashore was a challange and I was very happy when Grace left and we could slip into her slot.
We are now in North Cyprus - a breath of fresh air as it has escaped major tourist development and is much more “as the Med used to be”. We took a bus to Nicosia and walked across the Green Line before taking a dolmus to Girne on the North coast. Immediately we crossed the line it was like stepping into a foreign country after being back in a hot UK!
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