Newsflash! Hold the front page. Guess what?
 
We’ve only gone and caught ourselves a couple of sea mackerel. Watch out Captain Birdseye!!! Team Stella Maris mean business of the fish variety. Oops I’m getting ahead of myself and I’ll end up in a right pickle, but it was so exciting. Okay I’ve taken a breath and I will now start at the beginning. Since we last spoke we’ve had a busy old time. We left Mitilini home of scary port police and pottered over to Turkey (as you do when your sailing the dream). We anchored in some bays that were very beautiful (I know I sound like a broken record but they were) they were also a tad windy at night, which can lead to a bit of anchor anxiety at times, glad to report no incidents occurred. Although we did have a new experience when we came into a harbour called Eskifoca (38 40’ 6N 26 42’ 7E). The harbour was quite busy and there was no space left on the quay, so we decided to anchor in the bay. All went smoothly, the captain turned the engine off. Now when we usually do this an alarm beeps to let you know that the battery is not being charged. On this occasion there was no beeping alarm. Lets face it the sound of an alarm going off is never good but the silence of one not going off is even worse. By now the alarms in our head are going off. The captain tried to start the engine. Nothing happened, again that silence that speaks volumes if you get my meaning. On the upside, because there is always an upside (although you might not see it at the time) we were anchored in a calm bay near a town. If this had happened when we had been coming into the bay or when we needed to leave in a hurry, it would have without doubt be classed as a double ‘Holy Moly’ moment. A term never to be used lightly. The Captain set about trying to find out why our engine wouldn’t start and being the super duper Captain that he is (my relief that he fixed it was overwhelming) he found the problem a wire had come off the solenoid to the starter motor ( I almost sound like I know what I’m talking about don’t I). Later that night the bay became very very windy and when we left the following morning it was already blowing 25kts off the surrounding mountains (for those not in the Beaufort know that’s windy). We were heading for a harbour called Mandraki Oinoussa (Greece) and had a mixed bag of a sail there. Sailing along nicely, stopped and rocking and rolling through a channel between the islands with gusts off the mountains. Just what the doctor ordered!! Just as we came to moor up the wiley wind began it’s usual trick (oh how it toys with us). It took us about an hour to get moored up, as well as the wind making things challenging for us, we had on one mooring attempt come in hot and fast (they don’t call me Mrs Hard in reverse for nothing) just as we were about to tie up, along comes a little Greek blokie saying ‘You can’t park that there!’ Cheers mate. Once we were eventually tied up we looked around only to see that little old Stella Maris was the only sailing yacht on a quay full of huge, simply huuge Palaces de Gin (that’s big motor boats). Mandraki is a very quiet unassuming village, there really is very little there. Apart from all these huge Gin palaces that appear to stay there because it’s free. They venture out each day to a bay laden with their rich folk, (who spend the Summer on their floating hotels) then return in the evening. After a couple of nights here, we set off for Kusadasi (Turkey 37 52’ 07N 27 15’ 56E). Stopping at a small bay Saphdere Limani (38 10’ 3N 26 30’ 55E) on the way, to break up the journey and swim in the clear refreshing blue waters (sorry that was very cruel of me). On the way to Kusadasi we saw something floating in the water. On closer inspection it turned out to be an inflatable chair. We carried out an ‘inflatable chair recovery’ procedure and carried on our way. Kusadasi was quite a shock. We had gone from Ayvalik a very non Brit touristy town where nobody spoke English. To as the Captain put it ‘Blackpool with carpets!’. The marina was lovely had a pool and laundry (gets thumbs up in my book). Once we ventured out of the marina, it was English breakfasts, curries and carpets galore!! We stayed there about 4 nights. That’s the thing when you get into a marina it is very hard to drag yourself away. But drag ourselves away we did. A quick overnight stop in Pithagorion, Samos, Greece. (37 41’ 19N 26 57’ 06E). We stopped there on the way up. Interesting time passing through the Samos strait (lots of gusty gusts again). We left next morning for a 40 miler to Yalikavak Turkey (37 06’ 41N 27 16’ 92E). We had some rather large waves on the beam as soon as we left the harbour and they just got bigger and bigger. We managed to sail all the way on the Genoa (not something that happens everyday). As we approached Yalikavak things got a bit hairy we found ourselves surfing down some rather wavetastic waves (thought we might have to put lines out to slow us down at one point). After another windy mooring up, we collapsed in a heap. This sailing the dream malarky does take it out of you at times!! (I know I’ll get no sympathy here). Yalikavak marina was truly posh, to be honest think we preferred Kusadasi. The town itself was very nice and the people were friendly (bordering pushy). The Captain got himself a hair cut. I’d made a bit of a hash of the last one and we really needed the professionals to sort it out! Now for our fishy tail. We left Yalikavak (marina with the very posh showers). Heading for a harbour called Kormen (36 46’ 2N 27 37’ 0E). Now in the pilot book ‘Rod the God’ Heikell. Says most people find this place dull!! Sounds like just the place for us. We had another fantastic sail with fishing line out (soo easy when the wind plays ball). All of a sudden the fishing line started to go, we didn’t pay too much attention at first, thought it was another false fish alarm, we’ve had a few of those. Turns out it wasn’t a false alarm, it was a fish!! The Captain reeled it in. We weren’t really sure what to do next. So I took a photo (for prosperity). My first thought was to throw it back (well he looked cute). The Captain on the other hand had gone all hunter gatherer on me and demanded the bread knife!! I’ll say no more than that. We put the line out again and within the hour we had another bite. This time we were going quite fast and the Captain struggled a bit to get Frankie the fish on board (not a good idea to name them, if your going to eat them). This fish was even bigger than the first, we looked in our ‘Identify your fish’ book and are pretty sure they were sea mackerel. We decided not to put the line out again that day,well no point being greedy. On to Kormen, the pilot book also says that ‘care is needed in the approach to Kormen as you turn side on into the swell’. Well as we approached the harbour entrance, the swell had built to about 2m. We were coming in hot and fast (is there any other way). We could see a ferry in the harbour stoking up getting ready to leave. I was all for waiting the 10 minutes to let it leave (ever the polite one). The Captain on the other hand wanted to get in there out of the swell (fair enough). He yelled ‘turn’. So I turned. Now the entrance to Kormen is very narrow, not enough space for two. I was fighting with the wheel trying to keep up away from the rocks that we were heading towards, whilst praying that the ferry wouldn’t start to come out. We made it into the rather small, shallow harbour just before the ferry untied. The Captain said ‘Breathe’ and I breathed, hadn’t quite realised I wasn’t. Next we had to try and tie up quickly. The ferry was leaving and there wasn’t much room. We lined up and reversed back as fast as we could, the wind was blowing so strongly off the quay. I didn’t have to worry about hitting it, as I couldn’t reverse anywhere near it. After a bit of shouting and some waving from the crew of the ferry (friendly bunch, couldn’t quite hear what they were saying). We managed to tie up. Kormen consists of one restaurant and a ferry quay!! That night we feasted well. Our fish was fantastic, even after I’d got my mucky paws on it. The wind howled around us and didn’t let up all night, which meant a sleepless night and an early start the next day, to hot tail it out of there!! I think that’s enough for now shipmates, although we both know there’s a whole lot more to come! Love & oven baked fish. The fisherman and his friend XX
Saturday, 8 September 2007