From: "SV Perception / Phyl & Fred Denton" <denton@flash.net
To: Crews List
Subject: Crews Letter #2002 11 Turkish Hospitality is Better Than Advertised.
Date: Wed, 24 Jul 2002 11:57:23 +0300

Good Morning Ladies and Gentlemen:

It is hard to imagine a more aggressive hospitality than the one we have experienced in Turkey.

You find it in the marinas when you arrive, during the stay and when you leave. You find it in the market place and the tourists areas. Carpet merchants are legendary for it. Craftsmen and technicians demonstrate it even when they have no English. Turkish tourists come to our boat to make us welcome. On the 4th of July there are American Independence Day celebrations.

Upon our arrival at the Marmaris Marina, the procedure was to call in and request a berth. The mariner came by dory to escort us to our place and then helped us to get situated. Same procedure at Bodrum and Kusadasi. This kind of service is not totally unusual. We have had equal at Gouvia on Corfu and . It has not happened anywhere else. On Crete at Agios Nikolaous there was a Frenchman who was every bit this helpful, but he didn't work for the marina. He was from Bretagne and didn't know any better. One of the marina watchmen there was helpful.

But just one.

In Kusadasi the electrical plug on the quay is a bit different than we have seen before. It had 5 holes instead of 3. The electrician was there to modify our cable on arrival. The price was 4 million TL for parts and labor. That's about $2.80 for the part and 10 minutes work.

Think of it. An electrician, who comes to you when you need him, before you call, brings parts and tools, does the work and charges less than $85.00.

It is not just the absence of dealing with the Port Police at every harbor that makes this place nice.

Walking through the market is like a trip down the state fair midway on a slow day. There are hawkers at every shop and restaurant. They are aggressive. A polite "no!" usually changes the conversation from let's do business to let's develop a relationship.

"Where are you from?" "Texas." "I've been to the US." Or "I have an uncle in Seattle." Let's talk.

It is impossible to get through the market without being rude. If you enter one of these conversations, you are likely to be offered tea, or soft drink, gratis. It takes a long time to finish the discussion.

After business is done or it is understood that there is no business to be done, then there is a genuine desire to build a relationship. It is often stated, "If no business today, maybe in the future." This we found in Greece as well.

In one small bay, we anchored planning to swing. A gullet anchored close by and took a line ashore. If one boat doesn't swing, all must not swing. When her captain saw us getting ready to set a second anchor, he sent his dory with crew to set it for us.

One Saturday afternoon we were anchored in Altinkum, a seaside resort town. A paddle wheeler came by. Its crew asked, "What time is it?" Question answered. It was 6:00. I expected them to leave. Instead, they swam around the boat until invited to come aboard. They were from Ankara in Altinkum on holiday. There was only one person in the group who was comfortable with English. Her name is Sleigh (pronounced Sly). After refreshments, Cokes and beers, they invited us for dinner. We accepted.

That evening, Sleigh met us at the beach. She arranged for the nearby restaurant hawker to watch the dinghy.

From the beach we walked back in to town to an apartment building and had a most interesting dinner. Declining the invitation for a late evening at the disco was not easy. Disco in this part of the world starts after 10 PM and usually stops about 4 AM. After repeated explanations that we are old it was understood that disco is not our idea of a good time. We returned to the dinghy. The restaurateur challenged us on the beach when we put our dinghy back in the water before recognizing us as the rightful owners. It was a good evening.

There's a bumper sticker in the US that says, "Practice Random and Unexpected Acts of Kindness". Turkish mothers must teach this concept very strongly. Probably so strongly that "random" is removed from the formula and "unexpected" is a limitation of the perception of the receiver.

************************** Cruise Planning 101

A major problem with what we are trying to do is sitting at dinner in Dallas in December and telling someone where you will meet them in May.

If it is not specific, they get the feeling that you don't know what you are doing. If it is too specific, you have to sail by some very nice places in order to be where you said you would be.

Rule #1- Never sail by schedule. Sail by weather and whether.

Weather - For moderately bad weather, a harbor is safer than a sail. A good boat and a strong crew can find the open sea less hostile than thrashing around with other boats. Perception has not yet had a strong crew.

Whether - Whether to sail or not can be determined by whether the taverna was really great last night and we want to go back. Whether there is a market today and it would be interesting. Whether there is a side trip nearby and it would be interesting. Whether there is a maintenance issue that it would be fun to fix. Whether we feel like sailing or not.

Airplanes in the US sell their best priced tickets by schedule well in advance. Vacations are planned by schedule. For working people and retired people with a life, time is a commodity not to be wasted.

Vacation is an investment of time and money. They want to know when, where and what in December before committing to a July vacation.

We don't want to repeat the same trip. We are not a canned tour. And we live by Rule #1.

We met Suzy and Francis on Crete. We went to see the ruins of Knossis.

A week later we met Carol and Dave and Bonnie and Mike on Crete. They had not seen the ruins of Knossis. We encouraged them to take a day for that. They wanted to see Santorini. We did too. The yachties in Agios Nikolaous, a good little cheap marina, said that the new marina at Santorini was silted in to 1.5 m. Perception needs 2.1 and I find shallow places even when they aren't there. We took a one day cruise ship trip Iraklion to Santorini and back. It was a day well spent. The next day the winds were up: 6s and 7s. We sat out the day in the marina. Now, their week of sailing the Greek Islands was little more than a long weekend. And they had tickets from Rhodes. Use them or loose them.

Jerry and Mary Jane left yesterday after a good ten day cruise. The plan last December was to meet them in Izmir and sail to Istanbul. The warnings were very strong that Izmir was not a place for yachts. We met them in Cesme.

On our way to Cesme, we met a Greek that we didn't like. They call him Meltemi and he is a "blow-hard". To go to Istanbul during the Meltemi season would mean sailing in strong winds, on the nose, most days. At least two days would be 35 to 40 miles with no contingency harbor. You either have to make the next one or go back to the one you came from.

Second change of plan: we sailed south and ended their cruise in Bodrum.

In the last two days of their cruise we sailed in Gokova Korfezi. Winds were 6 & 7 (25 - 35 miles per hour) and Perception was traveling at over 9 knots much of the time. We saw 10 more than once. Double reefed main and 50% genny.

Jerry and Mary Jane probably have some doubts about our competence. We didn't start or end where we planned. We didn't even go the direction we had planned. About the only thing that we got right was the country and our phone number.

It is a problem to sit at dinner in Dallas in December and tell someone where you will cruise with them in May.

Phyl and I still want to sail the Dardanelles and tour Istanbul. We will save that for later in the season after Mel blows out for the year.

Right now, we are on our way to Gocek and the cliff tombs at Dalyan.

Keep a Tight Luff,
Phyl and Fred

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