Crews Letter #2003 04 Season Cruise Plan Revised

 

Good Morning Ladies and Gentlemen:

 

Yat Marine Marina, Marmaris, Turkey – The pool is clean and nice.  The restaurant and bar is good.  Harbor is well protected and equipped.  It is lively during the day and quiet at night.  Supermarket, chandlery, laundry and technical services are more than adequate.  We haven’t tried the coiffure or veterinarian.  We cut each others hair.  Phyllis isn’t into dying yet.  The boat gorillas, Go and Went are healthy.  The ride to town by dolmush is always entertaining.  Dolmush, meaning “stuffed”, is a scheduled van for hire.  Up to 14 seated passengers and as many as 10 standing pay less than a dollar a piece for the half-hour ride into town.  The route is fixed.  Leaves the marina and the town center on the hour and half hour 0600 to 0100.  The stops are on demand. 

 

One of the few limitations of this marina is that they do not offer an analog phone line for connecting our computer to the internet.  The 300 ton power cruiser, Duke Town, on the hard less than ten meters to our starboard is close to one of the other marina limitations.   Imagine a travel lift that can only do 330 tons.  Not far from here is an inter-island ferry hydrofoil set up to have her bottoms redone.  An interesting concept: different bottoms for different speeds.

 

We have now been in the water for 2 weeks.  By this time last season Perception had logged over 600 miles.  This year she has less than 600 meters including the distance covered while dangling from the travel lift. The weather is pleasant.  Food is good.  Fred’s arm and legs are on the mend.  Life is good.

 

Our earlier plan for this season was centered around a desire to spend a more leisurely cruising time in Croatia, meet a friend and his family from Canada in Slovenia during the first two weeks of August and to have Elan restore or replace the salon head door.  The finish on that door started deteriorating day one.  Elan had said that if we brought the door to them, they would fix it.  As a result of these goals, not as a cause, Gouvia on Corfu, Greece was a winter 2003-4 target.  We wintered there 2001-2.

 

Now, due to Fred’s lack of prowess in flying ladders, we are resetting the cruising plans.  This marina has been every bit as acceptable as the one at Gouvia.  We could happily winter in either. 

The 2004 season has one major constraint.  Greece will host the Summer Olympics.  It is an extremely good reason to either be there or to NOT be there.  For us the NOT option prevails.  Having very little interest in spectator sports, the idea of being where large crowds congregate is a negative.  Croatia, 2004 is a possible alternative.

 

Last year we found late July, August and early September uncomfortably hot in Turkey.  The explanation is being south of and near the Turkish mainland in late summer is a mistake.  The prevailing winds are from the north and mainland is effective for converting the sun’s heat to hot air.  Local knowledge says that not far to the west of here are the Greek Dodecadese Islands.  They have the same prevailing north winds but the Aegean Sea is not such a good heat converter.

This information comes from some Europeans who have the advantage of being able to travel in both Greece and Turkey concurrently.  An illegal privilege that is not available to Americans on an American boat.  Europeans have both identity cards and passports.  With this dual identity documentation, they can be both in and out of Europe at the same time.  Combine that with a transit log from Greece and another from Turkey, they can sail from country to country without complication.  The only catch is they must remember which set of documentation to present on demand.

 

We are acquainted with more than one English charter skippers who take this scam to the edge offering Turkish coastal cruises starting and ending in Rhodes, Greece.

 

For Perception and her crew, it is not so simple.  We must close out the transit log and stamp out the passport in Turkey or Greece before arriving in the other.  Visas for Americans in Turkey are up to $100.00 for 3 months.  Transit logs in either country are less than $50.00 for 12 months, but when the boat leaves and returns, she must have a new one.

 

Current Best Guess for the 2003 Season

Perception’s #1 Rule: Never sail by schedule.  Sail by weather/whether.

30     May                            Cast comes off and the screw is removed from Fred’s left arm.

1-15  June                     Rehabilitation and completion of the recommissioning.  Obviously two weeks for rehabilitation is optimistic.  The final test for the good left arm is bending the sails

15 June – 15 July               Cruise the Turkish Coast.  Our current Visa expires 26 July.

         A good ($200) reason to leave Turkey in mid July.

15 July – 15 October         Cruise the Dodecadese and other Greek Islands.

15 October                          Decide where to winter and start that way.

1-15 November                  Decommission Perception and set her up for the winter.

 

There is a routine setting in here.

 

2004 – yet to be decided

 

The war, the economy and probably Fred’s bad jokes have resulted in only two guests for the season.  If you haven’t planned your vacation, now is a good time for an Eastern Mediterranean cruise.

 

Keep a Tight Luff,
Phyl & Fred

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