Yasas,

  It was another long day.  Cruising at an average of 5.8 knots, with wind on the nose and choppy seas,  the 54 nautical miles from our anchorage in Vathi to Ios Island where Homer is reputed to be buried, took us all day.  Thankfully it was a much calmer passage than from Nisyros to Vathi, though  that’s not saying so much.  Every stop has been a set of new challenges, but there have been kind people to help and we’re learning more each time we dock the boat.  Randal really is quite good at it.  Today we also had a battle with the pedestals not working when we tried to get our power and water connection to work.  The tourist office, where you buy your access key,  was less than helpful, and mean to boot, so I asked the friendly men at the Port Police and they were really great and got it all sorted out.  Randal washed the salt from DoraMac so he’s happy.  I have internet access so I’m happy. 

Tomorrow we’re taking the 7:20 ferry to the lovely island of Santorini for a night or two.  I do understand why cruisers love to spend months cruising these islands. 

Ru

Nisyros, the Volcanic Island   http://www.nisyros.gr/index_en.html

“According to mythology, Nisyros was formed when the enraged Poseidon threw a chunk of Kos (an island) on the warring giant Polyvotis who was submerged beneath it fiery and fuming. “ Eyewitness Travel: The Greek Islands.

  I used to love reading Greek mythology and here we are in the middle of it.  In the 7^th grade we had to write poems based on the Odyssey and this was mine. 

Brave and bold Odysseus;

Fair of face and form.

Poseidon plots against you

and brings about a storm;

to hider your homecoming;

to bring you further woes.

How hard it is for mortals to have immortal foes.

Well Poseidon still is still plotting but it’s against those of us mortals cruising the Mediterranean.  Mercury, god of the winds gets in the act too with winds blowing everywhere.  Diesel trawlers and bicycle riders need similar types of winds; none at all or gently at your back.  But as we found biking, the wind always seems to be in your face or maybe at the side, but rarely behind you.  Our day from Nisyros to Vathi was more of Poseidon and Mercury being unkind, but that’s another story.  This email is about the lovely island of Nisyros.  Actually it will be several emails as I loved the village of Nikia and want to share my walk around it.  We also visited the caldera and the big village of Mandraki.

But, and this is certainly a case of incredible hubris, (a word borrowed appropriately from the Greeks;) what makes Nisyros important to most everyone reading this is that Randal and I came here.  Odd as that might be, you probably would never know of this island, and many others we’ll visit if we hadn’t gone there.  I had certainly never heard of them before we visited.  Of course I’ve just publically admitted to a huge amount of geographic ignorance, but that’s the punishment for my hubris.

We arrived Friday late in the afternoon after a rough passage so just rested, ate dinner across the way and had a good night’s rest. 

Our second day on Nisyros started at the motorbike rental place and then we were off to get gasoline, 3 litres needed to see the island. From there it was a wild goose chase to find what was literally right in front of our faces.  But that was okay as we had a lovely ride into the hills and a visit to the ancient acropolis.

We spent two wonderful days in Nisyros, rented a motorbike and rode all around the island. Yesterday we made a very rough passage to Vathi and spent last night in a safe anchorage.

We depart shortly for Ios 58.6 NM away. Today the winds are supposed to be less than 5 knots so should have a smooth passage. We will spend several days there and take a ferry to Santorini, the island that exploded in 1450 BC.

Randal

Yasas,

   Today was a great day.  Randal and I rented a motorbike for the day and toured the island, Mandraki,Nikia, and the volcano caldera where you can feel heat and see steam from open holes.  My souvenir from here are black volcanic stones collected on the beach.  We tried to find a Greek sim card for our internet dongle but no luck anywhere so we’re at the mercy of restaurant wifi.  Our emergency sailmail does seem to be working so that’s a good thing.  And Randal figured out why our AIS wasn’t working so everything is really shipshape.  Our friends Sue and Ed Kelly on Angle Louise are several stops ahead of us sending us reports.  We’ll both be at St. Cats dock together in London. 

   I took about a zillion photos today on Nisyros;  146 so far to be exact.  When we leave here we’ll anchor out and then go to Ios where we’ll leave DoraMac at a dock and we’ll take the ferry to Santorini.  So not sure when my next email to all of you will be.  So check www.mydoramac.com periodically as I might have sent some emails off to Audrey. 

Ru

Leaving Marmaris and One Night in Symi

I was thinking about why it was hard to leave Marmaris.  Marmaris was a really good place to spend the winter. The tourism business goes dormant.  You can walk through the bazaar where most of the shops are closed and no one is calling to you,  “come, just look.”  Life without the hordes of tourist is actually pretty quiet but not boring thanks to the group of cruisers who were there.  All in all it was really a good place to be.  With all of that, I was ready to leave Marmaris, though maybe not ready to leave Turkey. Too much more to see, especially in the east.   And all the pals we made in Marmaris; I wish they were coming along too.  Because there are lots of people I am really going to miss.  Of course half of them are out here cruising around somewhere so maybe we’ll bump into them before it’s all over.  If not; we’ll always have Marmaris.

Yassas,

   Our day started with the alarm clock set for 5 am.  It is now 9:21 pm and I’m pooped.  We left Netsel Marina at 8:10 am and arrived at the official customs/immigration dock at 8:30 am.  There was a bit of confusion as to when our agent thought she was to have met us; we thought 8:30 am and she thought…well, anyway, she arrived at 9:45 am so we got away by 10:05 am.  Seas were much calmer than they’d have been on Wednesday but still a bit rolly.

  We arrived about 4 something a managed to get secured Med more style without too much drama.  Our second try was perfect.  We had to visit the Symi police, the customs, and the harbor master.  By 6:45 we were all set and on our way to dinner.  We chose a place on the waterfront near our boat drawn by the wifi sign.  Randal brought our small travel computer so could get check his email and get the password.    After dinner I took a walk and some photos and now am back on the boat on my computer  using the restaurant password hoping the signal will be strong enough to send this Symi preview. 

Ru

Symi Preview

Merhaba,

  Wednesday’s weather isn’t cooperating, but Thursday and Friday will be just fine so we’re postponing our departure one day.  While we travel I’ll be at the mercy of many different wifi sources.  I’ll try to keep everyone up to date, but I think mostly it will be just through or website www.mydoramac.com.  I send out email to all of you through my Outlook Express on my computer which I took with us during our recent land travels in Turkey.  I didn’t have to lug it around, the bus carried it.  But in our travels around the Mediterranean,  I’m not sure how often I’ll have my computer with me when we have access to wifi.  When I use web Yahoo at Internet Cafes there is a problem sending out to so many people at one time.  Yahoo thinks it’s spam and there’s always a problem.  So when I have to rely on other computers, I’ll only send to Audrey to post on our website www.mydoramac.com.  When I have my computer I’ll send to everyone but remind you to check for ones you didn’t receive from me directly.  It’s been a while since we’ve had to deal with this issue and maybe it won’t even be a problem. 

  So anyway…guess that’s it.

Ru

  This is probably the final time I’ll type that address; at least for 2013.  Yesterday morning we “sea tested” DoraMac and everything was mostly fine.  Our ICOM radio may, or may not send sailmail, but that’s a convenience issue and not a seaworthy issue.  I need regular wifi to send blog posts.  As we’ll be moving quite a bit, my posts might be much less often.  Then you’ll get a billion at once with a zillion photos to clog your mailbox.  I’ll really try not to do that. 

  Our plan is to attend one final Tuesday Happy Hour to say our good-byes and then Wednesday morning leave the marina about 8:00 am to be at the check-out dock at customs by 8:30.  (Customs is just around the other side of the marina but I like leaving lots of time.)   If all goes quickly at check-out  we’ll leave for Simi (Symi) Greece and arrive by mid-afternoon for our check-in process.  It will start our Schengen clock ticking which is only a sort of daunting thought.  We have 90 days to be through the Med and on our way to the Channel Islands.  Tunisia isn’t part of Schengen so our visit there will stop the clock for a bit. 

  So here are some final photos of lovely Marmaris, Turkey.  It has been a great place to winter thanks to all of Gwen’s hard work to make marina living more fun; the great people we’ve met here; and the  friendly, helpful  marina staff.  All in all, a hard place to leave.

Ru

DoraMac

One last stroll through Old Town Marmaris 2013

Merhaba,

   It’s Memorial Day Weekend in the US. We just celebrated ANZAC day here where both Turkish and Australian soldiers lost their lives.  Many of the enemies of the first two world wars are now allies.  Interesting to think about especially here in Turkey which is a prime example. 

   But on a lighter note….

Ru

Marmaris at night with Deena and TK

Our friends Deena and TK treated us to a farewell dinner at Fellini’s last week.  It also gave me a chance to take some final night time photos of the waterfront

Merhaba,

   Today Randal biked over to the Post Office and there was the book he’d ordered from England.  So now nothing is holding us in Marmaris.  We will take the boat for a test spin on Sunday and then check out either Monday or Tuesday and be on our way.  At least that’s the plan today. 

   When we first came to Marmaris there was nothing in the way of “art” that I could find.  Now we have the Culture and Art Center with its variety of exhibits and cute little coffee shop.  Today we discovered another art venue.  Here’s the story.

Ru

Yellow Building I always loved… 

Tozak Merkez (Center)

Mustafa Muğlalı Cad. No:15

Muğla / Marmaris / (Türkiye

    Ever since we’ve been in Marmaris; the few months in 2011 and this year; I’ve loved this particular yellow building.  How could you not love a bright yellow building with black wrought iron details?   While it was becoming the gallery it now seems to be, I once tried to invade, but with no luck.  The artist who renovated the space and who works, paints, and perhaps lives here speaks very little English.  This week, on my way home from the Thursday market I noticed that the gallery was now officially opened; but as I had my hands full of fruit and vegetables, it wasn’t such a good time to visit.  Today Trish and I did visit the gallery and I took lots of photos of the beautiful displays and lovely building.  You can see more of the building and the artist’ work on her website listed below.

Merhaba,

  We’re still here, but we do have a tentative plan.  It’s attached as an Excel file.  I’ve started to research Sicily and Sardinia as we’re pretty positive about those places.  Our friends Ed and Sue are in Tunisia now and really liking it.  We’ll stop there for sure too. 

  Randal has most of the boat ready to go.  And today I had my first “drive the dinghy” lesson.  I can do it if I have too; and certainly I can row it if I had to. 

  The Mediterranean weather isn’t being so cooperative this week, but should be fine when we actually do decide to head out.  Lots of folks already ahead of us.  They just stay put while the wind blows. 

  I haven’t been taking any new photos.  I have been painting a bit.  I’m trying to paint a postcard size picture of Marmaris harbor and so far, not so good.  But I’ll keep trying.

   Several local folks, when they realize I am an American, tell me how sorry they are about the devastation in Oklahoma.  We have found the Turkish people to be very kind and caring people.  Other countries will have a hard act to follow. 

Ru

Merhaba,

   Yesterday morning I walked to the Arts and Culture Center.    An exhibit of model ships was in the process of being installed.  Randal was excited about seeing it (and needed a break from his boat chores) so this morning Randal, our friend Collin and I went off to see it. Before we left our boat Randal asked if I had my camera and I said yes.   I’d taken it out and put it down on the chart table to put it in my pack.    But somehow I managed to leave the camera on the chart table.  Luckily Collin had his camera and loaned it to me to take some photos.  I didn’t do justice to either his camera, or the exhibit.  But at least there are some photos to share with you.    And because “no good deed goes unpunished,”  Collin had to hunt up his camera cable because his camera card wouldn’t fit in my computer.  He first had to find the cable and then he kindly transferred the photos from his camera card to a stick for me.  Thanks Collin!

  Because the exhibition was model ships and we have a marina full of cruisers, I announced the exhibit on the morning NET.  While we were there several other cruisers stopped in to see the exhibit as well. 

Ru

Model Ship Exhibit at the Culture and Art Center

http://www.gemimodelcileridernegi.org/

is the website of the organization whose members built the models on display in Marmaris.