Treleavens' Travels

by Andrea Treleaven on 9 Jul 2004 We are sailing up the coast of a country with 57 million people, of which 41% live inland, and no one in sight. It is 40 miles into the Gulf of Gokova, our destination being Castle Island and Cleopatra’s Beach.

We haven’t gone very far in the past few weeks, as we love this part of the Turkish coast and in fact, we have been here three times. It’s only a blip on the world map and a very small part of Turkey.

At the end of the Datca Peninsula stands the ancient city of Knidos, founded 3000 years ago. In the bay you can dream of an ancient past civilization that was once here. You walk over marble columns and pottery pieces lying on the ground, climb the marble stairs of the amphitheatre and view the boats in one of the two bays.

Eight thousand people lived here once and it is famous for its statue of Aphrodite, the first carved nude women, as until then, only nude men were carved. It is also famous for its scientific mathematician Eudoxos and still remaining today amongst the ruins is a marble sun dial he designed and built.

In the past few days we have been following what we thought was a research team complete with a mini submarine, only to find one morning, when they crossed our anchor, and we were trying to untangle their mess, that they are Australians making a movie for the ABC on underwater archaeology in this area.

Now into the Gokova Gulf, we are at first a little disappointed with some of the bays strewn with rubbish, something we haven’t had in other parts of Turkey. Here, the Kiran Mountains are big and rugged with craggy bays and tall pine trees.

The water is still very clear and the cicadas have taken over from the discos, but the wasps move us on a few times. It’s a very remote solitary beautiful area, but not a lot of boats around. One English couple on their own charter boat told us they have not had a single booking all season.

When we came to Cleopatra’s Beach 15 years ago, the only white sandy beach for miles, we could just walk around the amphitheatre and swim where we liked, but now it’s full-on tourist boats bringing up to 600 people a day.

You now pay and enter the sea by steps, no towels on the beach, no taking of the sand and shower when you get out. The beach is very small, and in a way, they are protecting what is really a unique piece of history.

Cleopatra brought the sand from Africa as a gift for Antony – so he could have a beach to sit on. It is quite unusual sand and looks like moth eggs. As for the island, the ruins date from early Carian to the Byzantine occupation.

Making our way out to Bodrum on the east coast, we have two beautiful clear blue anchorages. One is Akbuk and the other Kargicik - both good shelter from the persistent Meltemi wind. Wind is great if it’s going in your direction!

Bodrum has been great for a few days and the marina first class, with its facilities and service, and we are enjoying the fabulous Marina Yacht Club at nights and a little retail therapy by day. Marinas are an ideal place for maintenance and Ian is very happy changing oil and filters and also now has his spinnaker back, smaller, but in one piece.

The Knight’s Castle here is impressive and houses the largest underwater archaeological museum in the world, with finds from wrecks around the coast we have just sailed, dating from the Bronze Age to the Ottoman period.

They were amazingly advanced, and in fact, anchor designs have only changed in the last 100 years. Bodrum is also the sight of one of the ancient seven Wonders of the World, the Tomb of Mausolos (the Mausoleum) from 377BC, but only the foundations remain.

Bodrum has a great atmosphere and it would be very easy to spend a long period here. We are once again surprised to see large numbers of charter yachts and Gullets not being used. Where are all the tourists going?

Coincidences seem to keep happening to us - today on another yacht, refuelling, was Eddy, the Musto agent in Germany. He charters a yacht in Turkey every year and believes it’s the best cruising in the Med.

We leave Turkey with fond memories of beautiful bays, translucent water, clear blue skies, warm winds, antiquities, wonderful combinations of food, lovely honest people and we will be back.

It is only 12 miles to the Greek island of Kos were we meet our daughter Janey. We have to obtain a new Transit log as we left Greece for Turkey, and this time they charge us E30.00. We think Cretans are very kind to New Zealanders and Australians because of our World War II effort.

Our plan with Janey is to sail south to Amorgos, Santorini, Milos and then to the island of Paros, where some of the Australian Olympic sailing team are training.

Cheers Andrea and Ian