Where is LeeZe? June 2014 Egri Liman Koyu > Candarli

2014-06-14: We anchored in a small cove called Egri Liman Koyu and just after sunset, a fishing boat all lit up comes way too close for my comfort level and then proceeds to stop maybe 100 m to the North of us. This sets off a small amount of paranoia in Zehra and she starts locking all doors. She believes that there are nefarious people all around us just waiting to pounce. I do not share this at all, and wonder wear it comes from. She reads the newspapers (and they only publish nice stories right?) and sees how many there are being reported, and believes that unless we take measures, we are next. The fact that the newspapers have not reported any boaters being attacked while anchored in small. out of the way coves is immaterial. The newspapers have not reported an attack in years, though they have reported break-ins and items stolen from boats at anchor, especially in the Bay of Marmaris. It is what it is.

2014-06-15: Underway after coffee for Karaburun. It takes about 3 hours to get there. Have to dodge many fish farms, a sailboat that could not seem to be able to make up its mind, and a motor yacht traveling 20+ knots that had no sense of what an appropriate distance between boats that are approaching each other should be. We anchor South of Buyuk Ada (Big Island)  in some 13 m of water. The weather is not suppose to get bad, but if the wind picks up, we will move to anchor in front of the city itself.


We are still "not in the country" officially so while there is a temptation to go ashore, we stifle it because if we are caught, have no clue what the authorities would do with us. We will try to check in at Eski Foca, our next stop.

2014-06-16: Arrived at Eski Foca. Back when we arrived in Cesme, we dropped anchor, only to be told by the Turkish Coast Guard that where we dropped the hook was not an authorized anchorage. So, in preparing to enter Eski Foca, I noted the paper charts had all types of notes about no anchorage and restricted areas. The electronic chart had similar notes, but in different areas. So, called up the Harbor Master and asked them where is the authorized anchorage. The lady that answered the phone did not know, did not know who to ask, and based on the tone in her voice, could not be  bothered to find out. Great! Called the Coast Guard (for those in Turkey their country wide phone # is 158) and asked them. They had not a clue either but offered to find out and get back to me. About 10 minutes later, their Izmir Operations Center called to tell me that I was authorized to anchor within 300 yards of  38° 40.380'N,  026° 44.880'E. So, I anchored within 194 yards of that point per my chart plotter in about 10 meters of water.


The little (Kucuk Deniz) harbor South and East of me is where the day charter gulets hang out. Dead South, in the bigger (Buyuk Deniz) harbor, there is pier space on both the East and West sides. We are hoping to move there after we complete the check-in process.

2014-06-17: We started the check-in process at 1300 yesterday and finished today at 1100. FOR THE RECORD, WE CANNOT EVEN REMOTELY RECOMMEND ESKI FOCA AS A PORT TO CHECK INTO OR OUT OF THE COUNTRY! There is one travel agency that can sell you a transit log and they may or may not have any on hand when you need it. To get one, either you, or they, have to travel to Izmir (64 km away) to buy one. There is no agent in town that you can off-load the check-in/out process to so you must do it your self.

We first show up at the Port Captain's office which is near to the dock where the ferry to the Karaburun Peninsular docks. He is on the Buyuk Deniz side of the bay. He is open from 09-1730, closed for lunch one hour, mid-day. If you have had a transit log before, you must present to him a new blank transit log AND the ORIGINAL of the check-out copy from your last transit log. FAILURE TO HAVE THIS WILL REQUIRE YOU TO RETURN TO THE PORT WHERE YOU LAST CHECKED OUT!!. (If you do not have a new blank transit log one, you have to get one from the travel agency so for those that are in Turkey, you may find it convenient to have a blank log on board just for situations like this.) After he fills in the new transit log (he did ours by hand, and his penmanship was terrible!) he sends you the the Health Police for the next step. They are located in Aliaga, some 42 km by road NW from him. (For those that care, they are at  38° 49.650'N,  26° 59.032'E.)

We had to take two minibuses and a taxi, plus a 3+ km walk to find this place. It took us 5+ hours to get there and back, and we cheated, we took a taxi from that office to the main intersection on the highway where the turnoff for Eski Foca is. (We were beat, dog tired, and really pissed off that the Port Captain had NOT been entirely up-front about the level of difficulty in getting this stamp.)

So, we get back to Eski Foca about 1900, to find Passport and Customs also closed. We go into the Police station right by Customs, and try as gently as possible for them to get permission from both entities if we could continue the process tomorrow. Nope. Nada. Not a chance.

The Passport Police Officer comes in and basically tells us that we had to do what we had to do to get that stamp, but for the entire trip, we were in the country illegally and if something would have happened… his voice trails off. He is quite sympathetic of our plight, and wrote to the government to explain what the Port Captain is having new comers do requires them to be illegal in the country for HOURS. No response. After that discussion, he stamps are passports and our transit log, but says we now have to wait for Customs. We suggest that we could come back tomorrow but again, nope, nada, not a chance, again! You see, we are legal. But LeeZe is still not. So, we wait for Customs, who shows up at about 2000, with her husband, and 6 month old baby. We apologize profusely but she says it is not a problem. Zehra finishes her dinner while I go in to handle the paperwork. She wants to see a copy of our old transit log, and then after a series of routine questions (all in Turkish mind you! She speaks NO English!), she stamps the transit log. Now LeeZe is legal. Then she tells me to go back to the Port Captain to complete the paperwork. But he is closed. She tries to get him to come in but fails. Then, she announces that she is going to hold on to the transit log until tomorrow morning. That is NOT going to happen. She is quite adamant but I tell her that if the Turkish Coast Guard comes by tonight, I need to show him these papers. She RELUCTANTLY agrees to return them to me, but if I had a new born son, she would have made me promise on his head that I will return tomorrow.

It is now after 2100, we are both are running in empty. I get some dinner, and we are back on board LeeZe by 2230, and asleep shortly after that.

So, today, at 0915, we continue the process. We tender in, and stop by the Port Captain Office. In so many ways we describe our trip to the Health Police, how a boat of foreigners could not have done that at all, how he misled us as to the ease of getting to the place and back, and that while we were performing that mission, we were ILLEGALLY in Turkey per the Passport Police Office. The more we recounted our tale of woe, the further he tries to melt under his desk. I even presented to him Google Earth screen shots showing that is was some 42+ km by road to where we had to go, not 30 like he said, some 4 km from the center of town, not in town like he said, and some 2+ km North of his counterpart in Aliaga, not right next too. Zehra said he apologized, but I never heard  it. So, until the government changes the check-in process, and has the Health Police drive down from Aliaga to check-in or check-out transit boaters, we say again WE CANNOT EVEN REMOTELY RECOMMEND ESKI FOCA AS A PORT TO CHECK INTO OR OUT OF THE COUNTRY!

Now here is a trick we just learned. We had heard that we could add the names of family and friends that MIGHT come aboard for a ride or two at this point. So, before the Port Captain completes the paperwork, we ask him to add 12 names, and he does. He then signs the document again, and welcomes us into Turkey. (By this time he is slowly slinking out from under his desk.) We then stop by the Passport Police and give him his copy of the transit log, and then Customs. It turns out the the Passport Police Officer must have had a heart attack when he saw 12 names on the log and not just ours, because about 2 hours later Zehra receives a frantic call from him. She explained about friends and family coming to visit, but he asked her at least three times if we both were the only two that entered the country. After that call, we had a good laugh. I cannot imagine what he went thru initially when he saw the log with 12 names. (For the record, we had 21 names we wanted to add, but the Port Captain asked us to limit it to the 12 most likely!)

By the way, here is what a complete entry transit log looks like:


The left hand stamp is the Health Police, then the Passport Police, then Customs, and last, on the right, is the Port Captains stamp. LeeZe is registered at 35 tons net displacement and normally, I have to pay a "lighthouse" fee because I displace so much, though recreational yachts under 20 tons have this fee waived for them. This time, I was not asked to pay the fee. I do NOT know if the Port Captain overlooked it because of the hoops he made us go through to get the Health stamp, or he made a mistake and forgot to charge us. We shall see if this fee catches up with us in the future.

(This log is good for one year, to expire 16 June 2015. One can renew at that time for another year without having to leave the country. One can do this 4 more times but on the 5th renewal, the boat must leave Turkish Territorial waters. The boat does NOT have to stay out long, at most one day, but it does have to depart.)

It is 1100 on a Tuesday and we are now legally in Turkey, LeeZe et al.  We also learn today is the once-per-week "farmer's market" so after a light breakfast, we buy our fruits, veggies, cheese and nuts, and return to LeeZe at about 1530 for some R&R.  BTW, there is a GREAT family restaurant called "Na-Ne Cafe" at the end of 203 Sok. The place was crowded today, and the food was flying out from the kitchen. If you are in town, may be worth checking out.

Here is a picture of the bay as you enter.


The "Little Harbor" is dead ahead and then to starboard. The "Big Harbor" is immediately to starboard. Noonsite reports that the holding in the Big Harbor is not so good. I can neither confirm nor deny. What I do know that the holding where I anchored was superb. I was in 10 meters of water, had out over 60 meters of chain, snubbed.

Here is a picture of Lee with LeeZe at anchor in the background:


Over Lee's right shoulder is the entrance to a Turkish Army Base. On some nights, we could hear, but not see what must have been military helos practicing night maneuvers. We could also hear large artillery guns being fired, small arms fire, smallish explosions, popping sounds (mortars?) and soldiers shouting during morning exercises.

2014-06-20: The anchorage is rocky due to the sustained winds so we spent some time in the late morning and early afternoon ashore walking about and doing some shopping just to get off LeeZe. But we returned and while Zehra took a nap down below in the master cabin, I took one on the aft deck. I was awoken by what sounded to me to be an airplane, really close, but I discounted it as my mind playing tricks. But it was not.


Seems there was a forest fire ashore and this plane needed water to help fight it. By radar, the distance between me and the shore was about 300 meters so my guess is this pilot was coming to within 150 meters of me. Was he coming this close to allow me to get a good pic? Or, was he showing off? Somehow, given that the there is more than 2 kilometers of empty water on the other side of LeeZe, without any boat at anchor, leads me to lean toward showing off!

Here we are waiting for dinner.


This is "Kucuk Deniz" (Little Harbor). We found this small restaurant that had great food so we ate dinner there twice. In the background are the small fishing boats that go out to catch the fish we were eating that night, One can also hire these to give you a private tour of the area. The day charter gulets are docked about 50 meters to the right of where Lee is sitting.

On this our last night in town, the city put up a stage (just for us?) and a Turkish Band started playing all types of songs starting about 2130. We listened to the music for about an hour and then called it a night.


2014-06-21: We get up, have coffee, and depart toward the North for Çandarli, some 20-21 nm away. The trip is OK but the seas are not flat, not having time to calm down after the last two days of wind. Upon approaching Çandarli, Zehra calls the head of the fishing port who informs us there is a place for us to tie up.

By this time the wind is a steady 20 knots from the SW/W and he wants me to med moor to a small rusty "pier" close to some very LARGE rocks in less than 3 meters of water (LeeZe draft is 1.6 meters) just inside the harbor wall. Righhhhhhhhhhtttttttttttt………… So, having learned my lesson from Cesme, I drop my anchor some 60-80 meters from this "pier" upwind but I have a devil of a time getting LeeZe to get close enough to get lines over. The wind keeps pushing me east, and the anchor which normally helps line me up is just not cooperating.

After some 45 minutes, I get close enough to get one line over and then another (We have some locals on board so Zehra is trying to understand what they are doing, telling me how close I am to the rocks, me listening to them, etc etc. Get the picture?  Controlled Chaos!) After both lines are over, I am told to take a strain on the anchor and guess what? It comes all the way back to me. By this time, the guy-in-charge  has called a friend to help who also happens to Captain a big fishing trawler. But even though I tell them I want to leave and go anchor, they will have none of that. I am about ready to take my big knife and cut the aft lines when the Captain comes aboard, tells me this is salvageable, and tells me to retrieve my anchor.

I do and I learn why my anchor never held. In it was a concrete block the size of a carry-on airline bag. So, the Captain tells me this stuff happens (the word is "işte" in Turkish it is used a lot when things do not happen as you want. To tell you the truth, it is spoken quite quite frequently!) So, as I sit back and worry about being close to the rocks aft, and Zehra not looking too happy, a small fishing boat comes along, knocks the concrete block out, cleans off the mud, and then proceeds, with my help to put the anchor on his stern so he can motor out and drop it for me. I have seen this before 3 years ago when the yard launched LeeZe, but having not remembered the particulars too well, (and LeeZe was not ours yet so the Yard Owner became quite excited when this trick did not work for him either!) I knew this would not work but could not put my finger as to exactly why.

Then I saw the small boat just stop some 10 meters ahead. He was trying to motor with my 88 kg anchor on his stern and pulling my 12 mm chain along using his 1 cylinder little diesel. Not going to happen. There is more confusion and I tell the Captain that for this to work, call the boat back, and let me place both the anchor and the chain on the fishing boat, and then as his motors away, he can slowly let the chain into the water. The Captain thinks that should work and I am now back in charge. Call the boat back, and start putting 80 meters of chain onto the boat. The boat gets quite low into the water but it works, and he slowly motors upwind, while the chain is slowly being let out. That seems to do the trick, but I thought one or more of the fishermen on the boat was going for a swim as they tried to get the anchor off their stern. With the anchor upwind and in the water, I bring it in and now, it is holding. LeeZe's bow starts to come to starboard and we are becoming more aligned like we should be.

So, 90 minutes after first entering the harbor, we are moored. 

It was not a fun evolution. Little do I know that had I waited until the next morning, the wind and seas would be dead calm in the morning and coming in would have been less hectic and chaotic. But I also did not know that later this same day, Zehra would learn that a dear cousin who we hosted on board in April has died, and that the funeral was the next day. So, I am glad that they did not listen to me and let me go and anchor. God was looking out for us in his unique and not-quite-understanderable way.

Here are some pictures of our moor:


Lines are tied to what appear to be eyebolts driven into the concrete. I have been promised that they will hold!


The rocks the fisherman is on are part of the harbor wall, and LeeZe's stern is some meters away from them.

This is the harbor that we are in:


The rock wall is high enough that once LeeZe is tucked in, the southern and westerly wind blow over LeeZe and does not seem to push on her too much. But until one gets close to the wall, these winds work havoc on vessel control.

This the beachfront (and yes, that is a restored Ottoman castle in the background)


School is out and it is quite crowded for a Sunday. Next week starts the 30 day Ramazan / Ramadan  period so if past Ramazan / Ramadan summer periods hold, the number of people vacationing will seriously drop and will not pick up until it ends, when the "Sweet Holiday" is celebrated.

2014-06-23: Today we had sustained winds from the North and those winds pushed LeeZe's bow toward the South and LeeZe''s starboard stern came into contact with that rusty pier.

So far have not done a complete inspection but do have at least cosmetic damage to the boat name's stencil that will require changing. There is probably more but cannot see it. Stuffed three tires into the gap as a makeshift fender and put a long line from the port forward cleat to the rocks to help prevent the bow from twisting anymore. Waiting for the winds to die down to take in the line somewhat an get the stern away from the pier. The forecast has the wind dying down this evening but it seems an interminable wait. 

Lesson Learned: I should have installed that long line from the port bow to the rocks earlier when the wind was blowing from the south and west. If I had I would not be in this predicament.  Ugh!

That concludes this blog entry. Of course, comments and questions are warmly welcomed. If you receive the link to this blog via a personal email, and no longer wish to, just me me know and I will remove you from the list. No hard feelings, OK?

Thanks for taking the time

Lee and Zehra Aboard MV LeeZe

Where is LeeZe? May - June 2014 Cesme > Egri Liman Koyu

My last entry was on 25 May and we were at the City Wall in Cesme. I thought that there would be nothing "earth shattering" to report so I had not planned to write about our "dull" lives at the wall.

But, yesterday, 29 May, was anything but dull. The weather was forecasted to be OK during the day but toward evening, Southerly sustain winds of 20 knots with gusts forecasted to be over 30 were predicted. So, having had to move from our first location closer to the city, to a spot about 400 meters closer to the mouth of the harbor, it gave me a chance to set the anchor into the predicted wind direction and lay out additional lines. (The harbor is better protected from Northerly winds and offers little protection from Southernly ones.)

I laid out two 50 meter lines, one from each side of the bow to bollards ashore. (You might be able to see one of these lines (green) in the picture below.) I also added two additional lines from the stern to bollards ashore. These additional lines, plus my normal stern lines to wall's bollards crossed like an "X" should have been enough. I mean, it was in Symi (Simi) Greece, where the winds were stronger and the waves in the bay were nearly whitecaps.

By 2100, I noticed our Turkish Gulet Charter boat neighbors were getting underway and moving. Some were going to a wall at the very eastern tip of the harbor (saw a self unloading freighter there two days ago) and some seem to be anchoring in the middle of the bay. But still I was OK.

By 2300, the last Turkish Gulet next to me slipped her lines and got underway for a protected bay just south of the harbor. 

LeeZe by this time was rocking, rolling, water was being forcibly ejected upward thru the holes of the swim platform, and neither of us were happy. 

But I still did not want to get underway so I made a half-ass decision to slip my stern lines some 5-8 meters, take in some anchor chain, and ride out the night still attached to the wall, but some 8-9 meters from it.

In the morning, having not gotten any sleep at all, it seems my decision would work out. Zehra went to bed at about 2330 and woke up about 0830, having slept well. I did not sleep well, but we were OK. At about 0630, during a check, I noticed not ONE Turkish Gulet was at the wall. 


They had all left. My conclusion… I should have left also. It probably was a dumb and stupid decision to hang off the wall, but by morning, having made it and lived thru it, I am none the worse for wear less sleep, and LeeZe is not damaged, saved for two parted mooring lines. 

So, it is now 30 May, and the winds are slowly dying down, and coming from the West now. My bow lines throughout the night seem to work magic in keeping LeeZe from not yawing too much, and my stern cross lines did the same. The other stern lines straight to the pier and the anchor chain kept the fore and aft motion pretty much also in check. So now we just waited most of the day and into the evening for the waves crashing against the wall to simmer down. 

One charter boat, a big steel, party boat type, came back at 0900, and our neighbors returned about 1300. The ones at the eastern end of the bay


were still there at sunset; my guess is they too are waiting for the crashing waves along the wall to dissipate. (One of them did try coming back to the wall, but apparently gave up, and went back.)

We have not moved back either. There is no rush. We are rocking and roll, but we are safe. We are not hitting the wall, nor bottom, nor violently lurching about so we elect to stay like this until calmer waters prevail. 

Zehra and I are QUITE INTERESTED in picking the brains of a charter boat Captain that we go to know as to what guides him in making a decision to get underway, or not. I had an experience early in my sub career. We were moored to a anchored barge in a bay in a Northern African port , when the weather turned from good to bad in hours. The sub was crashing against the barge and we were afraid we would either sink it or it would put a hole in us. The CO and XO were ashore (pre cell phone days) and were not available to be consulted. Got the sub underway and cruised the night outside the harbor in deeper, but safer water. We came back and retrieved the CO/XO, found out we were not in trouble, but if I remember correctly, we were told a more prudent course of action might have been to anchor, given the diplomatically and politically sensitive nature of our port visit (which of course we were clueless about because, heck!, we are only engineers!!!).

We moved LeeZe back to the city wall this morning, 31 May, after coffee. We then did a few chores, and then went to talk to the Charter Boat Captains. We came to learn that they leave because some years ago, they did what we did but as they are bunched closer together, some lines broke, some boats hit each other, there was some damage, so the prudent course of action came to be is the leave and go anchor either at the concrete dock, or around the "corner" in the next bay.

We walk about town and learn these is a concert tonight in the main square at 2030. We will check it out, and then resume our "dull" lives along the wall.

6 June: We are still in Cesme. We were to get some fuel today but the delivery was canceled for some reason. So, it may not be until next week that we will get our fuel delivery.  We are med moored to the wall opposite to Kordon Pizza, a small restaurant run by a husband (Mehmet) and wife (Melek) with 3 kids. It has not been sunny all the time, and in fact, a rain storm that lasted about 36 hours, with cloudy days on either side, forced us to run the generator. Well, Mehmet came over while it was on and told us it was too noisy as it was driving away customers and could we turn it off. It was mid-morning, and I apologized but said it needed to run for about another hour. He was NOT happy. After securing it, went over to have a talk, and he was quite adamant that we should move to the marina as the wall is not for "people like us." But Melek appeared to be more reasonable. That night, on our walk about, we talked to some of the charter gulet owners, shared with them the story, and came to learn that the Mehmet had no leg to stand on. The city IS working on bringing shore power and water to the pier, but it is weeks away. 

So, not to be completely unsympathetic, we decided to eat at Mehmet's restaurant the next night. To make a long story short, his menu is quite limited, but the food that he serves is quite delicious and reasonably priced. We talked with him and worked out a time in the morning when TYPICALLY he is not open so we can run the generator. So, all in all, an agreeable truce has been reached. We have eaten there a few times, and have yet to be disappointed. The name of the place is called "Kordon Pizza" but there is no name on the restaurant. It sits along the waterfront (duh!!) between a Turkish Defense Ministry and a Jandarma Building by the Post Office. He serves pizza, sandwiches fish, grilled meat balls, stuffed macaroni  and breakfast, but no alcohol. He does not take credit cards either. Service is NOT speedy, so if you need a quick bite to eat, Burger King is a few hundred meters away. But with a little bit of patience, you will be rewarded with a very tasty meal at a very reasonable price. 

12 June: It has been nearly a week since my last entry and really, life has been "boring" along the wall. Or, so we thought. Sometime during our visit, I had to deploy our mooring springs. These are made from 13 mm galvanized steel, rated for 20,000 kgs, and are not small. I have no clue why I did not do that on day 1 but I did not. Getting them on is a dance. I attached the spring to a piece of chain which gets wrapped around a bollard. Then on the end end of the spring is a shackle, which I undo and put it around the still quite taut stern line. I do this to both stern lines. Then, Zehra and I switch places and when there is a short pause and everything is calm, I loosen the stern line, Zehra takes it off the bollard and it gets captured by the shackle, and I take a strong tug to it. It actually goes smoother than I expected, and the ride improves noticeably. So of course, last night they had to come off because today, we are shifting berths to load fuel. So, basically, we reverse the process, and have to tolerate a less than pleasant motion for the evening. We do eat at Mehmet's tell him we are going, and he seems genuinely sad we are leaving. We had a great meal and take a short walk ad call it a night.

We visited the local castle yesterday and here is Zehra at the wall

me sitting in the court yard,

and LeeZe at the city wall.

13 June. Underway day, even just for a short hop from the wall to the pier. Our agent, Omur has done all the paperwork for the the fuel load and the check out. Our transit log (the Turkish Government document that authorizes LeeZe to be in Turkey) expired yesterday so Omur says we will have to pay a fine for not having a current log, It is about $33. (The cost of new one is about $125 and to have a new one for just being one day late did not seem financially prudent to do.) We prepare for the short move to the fuel dock and get the word at about 1130 to be there at 1300. While it is less than 1 nautical mile away, I need the time because the bottom of Cesme Harbor is mud, more mud, and mud. It takes me about 30 minutes to coax LeeZe's anchor out of it. This anchor has been in this mud for 2+ weeks, holding us off the pier in winds gusting to 30-40 knots It is dug in well, and while I do not have a picture of it, when it does come out, there is probably another 100 kgs of mud and stuff stuck to it. We try to get it over by rinsing, dragging it thru the water, dunking it up and down and it will not come off. We eventually get it off using a pole to poke at it, and water, and 45 minutes of work. But  digress. Underway, choppy day, into the fuel dock, have to turn around as the boat there decides to leave, realign, and come in starboard side too. 

The fuel truck is there. So is Customs. I ordered and therefore committed to taking 3200 liters. So, we begin with the aft tank, fill it to just over 90%, than the forward tank, which we fill to over 90% and when the noise of the air rushing out starts to change, i change to the aft tank and put the last 110 liters into it, all without spilling a drop. (When we loaded fuel at this same dock some 2+ years ago, I got a diesel shower when the fuel rushed out the fill nozzle because the speed of the fill was way too high. This time, we filled using gravity flow, and I did not get another shower.) Ok, that is done, and I pay the fuel company by credit card $1.27/liter of low sulfur diesel fuel for the delivery.

Next on the agenda is to get the black water tank discharged. The tank can hold about 800 liters, and it has about 700 so I am trying to do the environmentally appropriate action by dumping it ashore. The marina agrees to take it (for a fee, of course!) but then comes to tell me that their pump is broken and do I mind waiting. I say no, as  I am using this time to purify the new fuel in the aft tank and that will take hours. At about 1600, come to learn that the marina cannot get their pump fixed that day, but they have called for an outside contractor to come in and take the waste water. 

Now, before we moved from the city wall, we called this same contractor, and he wanted about $71 to empty our tank. We thought that was way too much $$$ so we asked the marina what they wanted and they said $24. Better. The contractor came, and sucked the waste water out and now, all of our chores were done. But is is also close to 1700. Omur comes back with an itemized bill for the rest of the services, including the $200 tanker delivery fee, and we pay him $714. We are now no longer officially in country. Our passports have the check out stamp, and the transit log is "closed out." It appears that the late fee Omur said we would have to pay was waived. Not sure but there is no annotation anywhere about it being assessed.

Thank the Lord as Zehra learns that the new Marina Manager is Jon, who was here when we stayed here in 2011-12. For some reason he liked us then, so Zehra asks me to try to sweet talk him into allowing us to spend the night at the fuel dock. So, I try. I of course ask, and throw in the fact that the marina itself charged me $250 for the privilege of coming to their fuel dock to load the tax-free fuel from a truck I had to pay for to come here, and he thought I was pulling his leg. So I show him and the dock master Omur's bill, and they are so astonished they ask if they can make a copy (of course) and said while I cannot stay at the fuel dock, they will slide me in stern too just opposite it. So, underway for a really short move from one dock to another, and settle in.

Remember when I said life along the wall was "boring," we were FLAT ASS wrong. Here we are in a marina, stern too, surrounded by boats that all but one is empty, nobody walking by, temperatures 5 degrees hotter than at the wall due to the congestion and we realize we had it really good at the wall, even with the boat's crazy motion. But a least we are here for the night, the wind is blowing some 30-40 knots, and the ONLY excitement was watching a 165' yacht named Misbehaving come in to the fuel dock, spend a few hours loading taxed fuel, and then moving to another pier nearby to stay a few days. 

14 June. After coffee, we depart Cesme at about 1000 for a 3+ hour run to Egri Liman Koyu, passing thru Greek Territorial waters. There is not much around, a few LARGE fish farms at the entrance and along the coast, some homes ashore, a beach, and a shelter cove

We anchor in some 10+ meters of water off of a deserted beach. I do some chores, take a shower, and finish this blog.

That concludes this blog entry. Of course, comments and questions are warmly welcomed. If you receive the link to this blog via a personal email, and no longer wish to, just me me know and I will remove you from the list. No hard feelings, OK? 

Thanks for taking the time

Lee and Zehra Aboard MV LeeZe