In view of the increasingly militant demonstrations across Turkey the customs finally relented and allowed us to leave. We turned up at the Customs Quay at 9.30 on Monday, as requested. I went to ask the customs officer when the "expert" would come and he first said "today or tomorrow". In response to my cursing he went to ask his boss and they eventually reported that the "expert" was on the way from Mugla and would arrive about 11. I asked Derya, the agent, if the customs officer was looking for a bribe, but he replied that if I offered him a bribe we would never leave Turkey.
The "expert" had clearly not seen a yacht engine before - he climbed gingerly aboard, looked around and asked where the engine was. We showed him the engine room and the photo of the old engine and he agreed that the one on the quay was the same one. For this expert assessment we had to pay 200 euros!
Once we had finally collected all the stamps and bits of paper required we fled at full speed, glad to see the back of Marmaris.
We motor-sailed down the coast at increasing speed in increasing wind. After a couple of hours, as the wind hit 30 knots, the engine spluttered and died. Our escape from Turkey was clearly not to be. We phoned Burak and we agreed that someone would meet us at Sogut next morning, the nearest place to us that was accessible by road from Marmaris. We got the engine started again, but just as we turned the corner the wind died completely and the engine failed. On one side the waves and current were pushing us onto the rocks, on the other side the Symi-Rhodes ferry was bearing down on us. I quickly launched the dinghy and then struggled to lower and fit the outboard as the boat was pitching viciously. I got the dinghy tied alongside and got the boat moving at 2 knots to get us off the rocks and on our way, clinging on for dear life as the dinghy pitched and rolled. After an hour we had made a couple of miles and the wind filled in. The task then was to get the dinghy back up and empty all the water out. Lin managed to control the speed with the genoa so that I could get the dinghy in and get the water out. With some relief we got round the corner and set sail for Sogut.
We arrived at Sogut about 9, as it was getting dark. There was no space on the quay, but we were told to pick up one of their moorings. Two guys came out in their dinghy, leaped aboard and within two minutes had us secured fore and aft. Ten minutes later we were in their restaurant.
Ismail and Erhan arrived at 12 on Tuesday. Ismail thought the problem would not be the fuel pump since it was very unlikely that the pump would fail and then start again. The fuel filter/separator was clean so he reckoned that the problem was bits of plastic from the tank blocking the fuel line. He was right first time. The feed back was blocked with little plastic shavings at the elbow, where it came out of the tank. It turned out that they had not removed the debris from drilling etc when they made the tank and I had not thought to open it up and clean it out when I installed it. So now we will have to empty the tank and clean it when we have run the fuel down.
We left for Symi at 2. We did not want to go into Symi town, where we were due to meet Simon and Christiana, because we had not cleared out when we left Greece so we did not want to meet the fearsome Symi port police. Instead we anchored in Pethi, a deep bay off a small village over the hill from Symi.
We had a long motor to Kos, where we anchored off the town beach while Simon went ashore to do a bit of shopping and get a new SIM for our internet dongle, only to find that the Wind shop was closed. We set off again and arrived in Pserimos, where we anchored in the bay and had an uncomfortable night. There was no wind, but a chop that had us rolling all night. We woke at 5 and decided to get up and go, again having to motor because there was no wind, arriving in Lakki at mid-day, where we tied up on the town quay.
Claudio and Olga came over from Alinda, where by chance they were on holiday, to spend the afternoon with us and we met them for dinner in an excellent restaurant, Mylos, in Crithoni, which we had not been to before.
It was wonderful to be back in Lakki! It felt like coming home. We met up with old friends. Jo and Ian came for tea after their early morning walk and we saw Philipe and Concesao, a Belgian/Portugues couple, with Scuba, their Portuguese water dog. Shopping was a joy, being greeted like old friends in every shop we went to. In the afternoon Simon cycled up the hill to the Wind shop in Planatos, which was hard work since he only had top gear. He got the SIM and a new cable for the gear lever, so now the bike has gears. We had dinner at To Petrino with Ian and Jo and got late to bed.
This morning, Saturday, we set off at 8 to go to Arki, before the strong winds set in this afternoon. We are now beating up into a force 4-5 wind hoping to get to Arki before lunch. We plan to spend three days in Arki before going back to Lakki on Tuesday to see Claudio and Olga before they go home.
The "expert" had clearly not seen a yacht engine before - he climbed gingerly aboard, looked around and asked where the engine was. We showed him the engine room and the photo of the old engine and he agreed that the one on the quay was the same one. For this expert assessment we had to pay 200 euros!
Once we had finally collected all the stamps and bits of paper required we fled at full speed, glad to see the back of Marmaris.
We motor-sailed down the coast at increasing speed in increasing wind. After a couple of hours, as the wind hit 30 knots, the engine spluttered and died. Our escape from Turkey was clearly not to be. We phoned Burak and we agreed that someone would meet us at Sogut next morning, the nearest place to us that was accessible by road from Marmaris. We got the engine started again, but just as we turned the corner the wind died completely and the engine failed. On one side the waves and current were pushing us onto the rocks, on the other side the Symi-Rhodes ferry was bearing down on us. I quickly launched the dinghy and then struggled to lower and fit the outboard as the boat was pitching viciously. I got the dinghy tied alongside and got the boat moving at 2 knots to get us off the rocks and on our way, clinging on for dear life as the dinghy pitched and rolled. After an hour we had made a couple of miles and the wind filled in. The task then was to get the dinghy back up and empty all the water out. Lin managed to control the speed with the genoa so that I could get the dinghy in and get the water out. With some relief we got round the corner and set sail for Sogut.
We arrived at Sogut about 9, as it was getting dark. There was no space on the quay, but we were told to pick up one of their moorings. Two guys came out in their dinghy, leaped aboard and within two minutes had us secured fore and aft. Ten minutes later we were in their restaurant.
Ismail and Erhan arrived at 12 on Tuesday. Ismail thought the problem would not be the fuel pump since it was very unlikely that the pump would fail and then start again. The fuel filter/separator was clean so he reckoned that the problem was bits of plastic from the tank blocking the fuel line. He was right first time. The feed back was blocked with little plastic shavings at the elbow, where it came out of the tank. It turned out that they had not removed the debris from drilling etc when they made the tank and I had not thought to open it up and clean it out when I installed it. So now we will have to empty the tank and clean it when we have run the fuel down.
We left for Symi at 2. We did not want to go into Symi town, where we were due to meet Simon and Christiana, because we had not cleared out when we left Greece so we did not want to meet the fearsome Symi port police. Instead we anchored in Pethi, a deep bay off a small village over the hill from Symi.
We got the bus into town and had a great evening with Simon and Christiana before getting the 11 o'clock bus back to Pethi.
We left Pethi at 7, motoring with no wind but heavy clouds, passing the Blue Star ferry as we motored past Symi town.
Claudio and Olga came over from Alinda, where by chance they were on holiday, to spend the afternoon with us and we met them for dinner in an excellent restaurant, Mylos, in Crithoni, which we had not been to before.
It was wonderful to be back in Lakki! It felt like coming home. We met up with old friends. Jo and Ian came for tea after their early morning walk and we saw Philipe and Concesao, a Belgian/Portugues couple, with Scuba, their Portuguese water dog. Shopping was a joy, being greeted like old friends in every shop we went to. In the afternoon Simon cycled up the hill to the Wind shop in Planatos, which was hard work since he only had top gear. He got the SIM and a new cable for the gear lever, so now the bike has gears. We had dinner at To Petrino with Ian and Jo and got late to bed.
This morning, Saturday, we set off at 8 to go to Arki, before the strong winds set in this afternoon. We are now beating up into a force 4-5 wind hoping to get to Arki before lunch. We plan to spend three days in Arki before going back to Lakki on Tuesday to see Claudio and Olga before they go home.
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