Finike marina home for the Winter!
 
Finike is what you might call a traditional Turkish town. There are very few tourists here even in the Summer. The locals are friendly, it’s very cheap and there are no Sky sports bars (not sure how the Captain will cope). When we wander into town the locals are always keen to practise their English on us, this usually involves sitting down for a cup of cay (Turkish tea) and answering a barrage of questions. On one occasion the Captain was sheltering from the rain outside a chandlers, they invited him in for a cup of cay and a chat. We both then went to a local bread shop and ended up sitting in the middle of the shop having another cup of cay. If you want to buy a loaf of bread it’s best to allow about an hour for the cay drinking and chatting! I’ve had my traditional end of Summer season haircut. Went to a little backstreet shop where the woman spoke no English. This made asking for a trim interesting, I did the usual speaking loudly with hand signals but she was still unsure, so she sent one of her children off to get someone who spoke some English. I was worried when he asked if I wanted it as short as his (a definate grade 2). When we both felt we understood each other she began to chop. There looked like there was a sort of mullet thing going on at the back, so I bit the bullet and said cut it all off. A policeman came into the shop and made me a cup of coffee (think he was her husband). Once she’d chopped the mop, she then washed and blow dried it. Guess how much it cost? Go on guess, no not that much it was 10ytl, which is 4 of your English pounds! I know unbelievable it was cheaper than the Captains, his cost 15ytl which is about £6! We might look a bit like we should be on Crimewatch but it will grow!!! The marina itself is very nice the shower block is fantastic and there’s a laundry nearby. We have electric and water on the pontoon, so it’s out with the toaster and electric kettle. The people in the marina are friendly a mixture of Brits, French, New Zealanders, Dutch and German. There are lots of activities going on: Pilates, French, Art, Spanish, Turkish to name a few. So that should keep us out of trouble over the Winter, the marina also organise excursions, in a couple of days we are going to a traditional Turkish night at a restaurant complete with belly dancers! We came to Finike because it was cheap (always a good reason) and we’d heard that it had a microclimate (famous orange growing area) which meant the weather was good. Well so far we’ve seen more rain than we saw in the whole of last Winter. It has been torrential as I sit here writing this it is teeming down and it has been for the last 18hours!! A couple of nights ago we had winds of 50kts+ (storm force 10) in the marina. When we asked a local if it rained a lot in the Winter, he smiled and said ‘yes’. Not quite the response we were hoping for. We’ve made a start on some jobs, the Captain has taken off the steering wheel wires (so we’re not going anywhere for a bit), we’ve taken off the sails and cleaned them, the Genoa needs some stitching replaced so that’s gone to the chandlers. So, despite the amount of rain and lack of all things Pork it’s all good and we are looking forward to our Winter in Finike. Will speak soon shipmates. Take care of yourselves you rascals Love & bacon butties can’t get them off my mind The Captain & the short one with the even shorter hair XX
Tuesday, 13 November 2007