wandering along....

We've been travelling with Time Warp and really enjoying it. It's the first time we've sailed with anyone and it's fun to meet up at anchor, analyze the day and the wind, have someone to call on the radio and hang out in town with.

We were anchored in Dalyan, first night from Marmaris, and took the dinghies up a fresh river, inland heading towards some rock tombs built high on the mountain. What we ended up doing....is going in circles looking for the main river between all the grass and cattails growing around. The grass was just tall enough to where we couldn't see the main river. It was still fun cruising around, half expecting to see an alligator any minute.

We left at noon and sailed down the coast and hooked in behind an island called Baba Adasi. Very calm anchorage and we slept sound! Speaking of which, since we'd left the marina, it must be the fresh air, or being outside all day, but we've all been extremely tired and hungry! We eat huge meals and an hour later, we're all hungry again. I think our bodies are burning some serious calories and we're trying to re-fill. Also, we're all exhausted by 8 or 8:30 at night. So we try to hold off until 9:00 and sleep until 8:00 the next morning. I guess it's healthy living, eh?

Thursday, we left there and sailed a long day down and into a large bay with dozens of small bays and anchorages around called Fethiye Korfezi. We went up to Gocek, a sleepy village in the north corner and anchored there. We had run out of propane, we have two 10 gallon bottles which last us about 3 months and were hoping to wait until Greece or Cyprus to fill because gas is SO expensive in Turkey, but no luck. So Friday we went in town and found someone to fill it for 75 Lira ($50) about $5 a gallon. Not the end of the world. We also found a great restaurant for lunch where we all ate home cooked food and bread for 25 Lira ($15) It's hard to feed 7 for $15 anywhere these days!

Friday afternoon, we headed towards Fethiye and had wind right on our nose, so we ducked into a little bay and anchored for the night. The wind in the Med is very sporadic we've heard from people who have sailed a lot of other places. We don't have a lot to compare it to but it always seems to be shifting and not where you want it from. The saying goes: "There's 3 kinds of wind in the Med, too much, too little, on the nose" After almost 1 year of sailing here, I'd say that's spot on.

Saturday, we caught up to Time Warp and found two other boats from Marmaris anchored in the bay in Fethiye. It was like a little reunion! Fethiye is a big town that stretches all around the bay and has a lot of cool ancient ruins that the town has molded around. The antiquities are lit up at night, so it's really dramatic sitting at anchor looking at the hills of thousands of years of history.

Sunday, we all went exploring to a gorge, and as most exploring goes, ended up with an adventure. We took a "normal" dolmus, the little buses, towards a place called Saklikent, and as we went, Peter and I chatted with the driver. As it ended up, for a little extra Lira......he took us from the first stop to 3 more spots not on the dolmus route, and we basically ended up with a private tour guide! He owned 6 dolmus routes and had his route covered and explained casually that he owned a restaurant, and 8 olive groves, which he manages in his spare time! He took us to his restaurant, for a pause and of course lots of free tea, and there we were, sitting on the floor in a mass of pillows, amazed at how things unfold as you venture out and go with the flow.

We saw some amazing sites......get this......a 4000 year old city called TLOS. 4000 years! I think that's the oldest site we've seen and it surreal to think it had been there since Abraham. We also went to a big spring out of a mountain where they've build streams and waterfalls in and through a maze of tables and hammocks.

It was very peaceful with all the rushing water and we couldn't look out over the valley of farms and villages and not thank God for His amazing creation. And His Grace by which He allows us to enjoy it and each other!!

Sorry such a long post........Hems.