Sailing the Turkish Coast

Turkish Coast

 Two weeks after Michael's second dose of the Moderna vaccine we decided to take off.  That is the mark where you supposedly have full immunity, so now he feels bullet proof!  We have a few weeks to spend sailing the Turkish coast before returning to Marmaris for our scheduled boat work.  So we planned to spend the days sailing, exploring and swimming.  

Gemiler Island Anchorage - where we first anchored

Being prudent mariners we had read the "guidebooks" and in general gathered all the information we could about sailing in the Med.  Therefore, we knew things like "there is either too much wind or not enough wind for sailing".  We knew that the wind there is sometimes compared to an adolescent - always changing direction.  We also knew that they anchor differently than we do in the US.  Typically, they will not swing at anchor but will tie the stern of their boat to a tree or a rock on land.  This practice allows many more boats to share an anchorage.  And that is important as there are A LOT of boats in the Med.  We had never tried this method of anchoring but we thought "how hard can it be".  Well... it is harder than it looks and on our first attempt we failed miserably 😒.

Gemiler Island Anchorage

 Even though we read those guidebooks there were a couple of things they failed to mention: one, the water in Turkey is really, really deep and remains deep almost up to the shore.  We have a comfort level of about 20 feet for anchoring.  Deeper than that and we get a little anxious.  Secondly, folks often do not put out much scope here.  In the US, we typically put out at least 5:1 - so if we are anchoring in 20 feet of water we put out 100 feet of chain or more.  So we approached the anchorage behind Gemiler Island and noticed that there were already several boats anchored there.  After motoring around a bit we picked out a spot between two boats and when we were at a comfortable depth we dropped the anchor.  That was mistake number one - we did not have at least 3 boat lengths between us and the shore.  Actually, we were far too close to the shore but we thought we could not possibly drop the anchor in 50 to 60 feet of water which is how deep it was 3 boat lengths out from shore.  We later observed that was exactly what folks were doing - dropping there anchor in very deep water.  Once the anchor was down Michael rowed the dinghy to shore to try and tie a line to a rock.  The rocks I might add are very, very sharp so it is no simple feat to get to shore while protecting the dinghy and yourself from the sharp rocks.  Meanwhile the boat is drifting further and further downwind.  Now Michael gets back to the boat and we are still drifting  we are not entirely comfortable with how we are anchored.  Again we are too close to the rocks and shore.  Finally, we decide that the solution is to put out a second line.  Michael got back in the dinghy to row to shore again and tie the second line.  Once that was done we put the lines on our winches and tightened them up.  All good 😱.  Now it is getting dark and Michael goes to bed.  I, of course, being more jittery am not happy with the set up so I do one more check and sure enough we have drifted onto the rocks!!  Almost on shore (which is a mountain)!  Quickly, I got Michael up and we decided to move from the anchorage altogether.  We started the motor and threw off the lines with our working plan being to come back and retrieve them in the morning.  Fortunately, the water is always deeper than it appears and we had not damaged the prop or actually hit the rocks.  But they were right under us and we were a mere 6 feet or less from shore!  We motored over to the beach and anchored in front of the beach.  Thank goodness the anchor held and we finally got some rest.  Next morning we decided that what happened is that when we tightened up the stern lines we pulled the anchor loose.  We are at least certain that the anchor was dragging.  Whether by us pulling on it to tighten the stern lines or for some other reason.  

More motoring than sailing this day

The next morning Michael got in the dinghy and motored over to get our lines.  Off we went.  That evening we anchored in front of another beach.  There was only one other boat there and we were able to swing at anchor.  The anchor held well and it was a lovely evening.  Lessons learned😏!