Dear all,
The anchor windlass was repaired in Kusadasi and with family on board as guests, we depart for a leisurely cruise around the Çesme peninsular toward the marina we have chosen to winter over in. Our policy for the guests is that we IMPLORE them to sit and enjoy the ride, and not try to prevent any damage to LeeZe as LeeZe is ~50 tons and while I can fix LeeZe, I cannot fix humans. But one of our guests is the brother to Zehra, and he has bought a new 10 meter boat for delivery in 2018. So, since he is a neophyte at this boating life, he wants to learn. Now, I believe that there is not much I can teach and show him. His boat is no more than 6 tons, a day boat, that does 15-20 knots. But, he still wants to learn so I do let him do a lot, but always under my direct supervision. I try to point out where and how one might get hurt and he usually comments that he never would have thought of this or that.
So, on 17 Aug, we depart Kusadasi, conduct an anchor test in the bay, verify all is well and make our way to Sağacik.
The NE wind is above 20 knots for nearly the entire trip but since we stay relatively close to the coast, there is not enough distance for the wind to build the waves. We anchor In the bay close to where we had anchored in 2014. Sağacik is a very cute town, with a somewhat restored coastal /fort on the bay where on Sundays, a superb local food farmers market is held which attract buyers and people from many kilometers around.
There is a marina here called Teos where we stayed one night when we were on the East-Med Yacht Rally in 2012. This time, w stay here two nights, going ashore both days. One of our guests was last here about 35 years ago and while he notes that much has changed, a lot more has not.
On 19 August, we depart for Sarpdere Bay. This is not a long run but the wind has had some distance to cause some waves as we cross the open bay.
As the crow flies this area is close to Izmir, Turkey's third largest city, so there are MANY fish farms, some so long that they are more than a nautical mile long. There is one that is so long and wide that it blocks the direct path into Sarpdere bay. One ends to see the huge red buoys that denote a passage between the fish nets. We find one, but the width of the gap may be at most 50 meters, and the fish farm hardware is appears to be quite strong and visually imposing. A loss of propulsion or a loss of the rudder would have one in extremis quite quickly and with the depth more than 100 meters in most places, dropping the anchor is not an option.
So thankfully, LeeZe has no problems and we proceed safely thru the farm to the bay.
Our plan is to stay one night because the GRIB forecast predicts a good day tomorrow to go to Çesme. We had a BBQ, a swim, and talk quite a lot before retiring for the night.
On 20 August, we depart for Çesme.
The wind is 20+ knots as we go around the peninsular, and we arrive at about 1400 or so in the bay. Now, we have stayed here before, so we know that we have to get directions from the day trip boat Captains as to what mooring spot we can use. It turns out some of them remember us so they tell us to moor in front of the local post office.
This bay is mostly open, and from experience, can be quite rocky and rolly at the wall. I also know that this is a bay where one really must have more than 100 meters of chain out, angled at about 20-30 degrees off the starboard bow. That means for this particular case we I drop the anchor to the north of the post office, and then med moor.
The wind is blowing 20+ knots so after I get the anchor down and confirm it is holding, I go aft to ask our guests to sit down and enjoy the ride, as Zehra and I know what we are doing.
I go forward to the helm and we get LeeZe close enough to get one line over. This is a great sign as it means that it is just a matter of time until we are along side.
But then, a gust of wind happens and I hear a very loud scream. I run back and the brother has a right hand injury, a very bad one. It is bleeding way to much to take the time to moor. Zehra calls for an ambulance while I get the brother and his wife into the tender to get them ashore. At the wall, a good Samaritan who runs a local cafe is standing by, having heard the scream, and offers to take them to the local hospital. So, while that is happening, I get back to LeeZe and with Zehra, 20 minutes later, we are at the wall.
Zehra is quite upset but like the real trooper, does her job of getting us to the wall, and lines over.
After this, we sit down and she tells me what happened.
She had thrown the line over and someone on shore had tied it to a bollard. At this point with the wind, I normally get the stern close and she takes the slack out of the line.
This time, brother wants to help his "little" sister so he takes over tending the line. Since he is not much experienced, he really does not know how to handle this line in a gusty wind, and when the line somehow comes off the LeeZe's aft bollard, he tries to hold the line, cannot, and could not get it off this hand quickly enough to avoid injury as the line payed out
I do not want to get into the details too much but we both are feeling terrible, and wondering what we could have done different. Eventually the brother and wife return later that night, and we try our best to apologize but the brother and wife both said: "You told us to sit down and enjoy the view, but brother wanted to help." He admits we told them to sit there. He takes full responsibility for his actions knowing full we we had asked them not to help. But we still feel terrible.
About one hours after the accident, a Master Sargent from the local Jandarma shows up in uniform, asking questions about the accident. Zehra has to go ashore to talk to him because he refused to navigate the passerelle. He the tells us we have to go the the police station to file a report, and when we do, after a series of questions, we are told to go the local coast guard station. We do, and after more questions, it appears that what everyone is wondering is the brother a guest or a seaman on board. We tell all that he is a guest.
Later, we get a call from the regional coast guard station asking that both the Captain of LeeZe and the injured party come to them to fill out a report. By this time, the brother was back from the hospital, filled with pain pills, quite groggy, and says he sees no reason to file another report because he had given a statement to the police at the two hospitals he had went to.
Realizing that there was probably more admin that was required, and with the weather NOT cooperating, we stay at the wall until 29 August.
Meanwhile, the doctors had authorized the brother to drive, so after on more day, they drive to their summer residence down south. Once there, he got to another hospital for another checkup and that hospital wants a report of the incident.
The brother call us and after much walking around and talking with the jandarma, coast guard, and the police, we realize that the report the hospital wants has to be issued from the regional coast guard station that w had both declined to go to initially, 12 km away. We make an appointment and go, and again the central question is whether or not the brother was a seaman or a guest. So, the person types up an accident report which I sign, and then he types us a report to the local prosecutor, which he allows me to photograph, but cannot provide to me a copy.
We e-mail the accident report to the brother, and days later, we learn the hospital also wants a copy of the prosecutor's report. We send that also, and at the end, the State provides all of the medical services needed without charge.
We also had a visit from a couple who we use to hang out with a lot while will lived in Chicago 15-20 years ago. It was fun to note how all of us had changed, or not changed, and to catch up.
Finally, we catch a break and on 29 August, we depart Çesme for Eğri Liman Koyu, a long and narrow bay that offers protection from nearly every direction.
Now, per the port guide and the chart, there is good anchorage deep into the southern part of the bay, and also at the western beach area. The chart also reports that the bottom depth by the beach rapidly becomes shallow.
Knowing all this and having been here before in 2014, I elect to anchor in front of the beach at the southern end. But first, we took a quick tour with LeeZe in the beach area and did confirm, by nearly running around, that the bottom does rapidly and un-expectantly shoals. That got my heart racing a little.
After anchoring, and verifying that we are in fact holding, there is a wind shift and now we are about 50 meters from a small cliff and a rocky outcrop. Ugh!
The wind picks up some more and by nightfall, it looks like we are getting very close to the cliff. I know it is an illusion because it is night time, but it is still quite unsettling.
So, the next day, we pickup anchor and move a few hundred meters toward deeper water and again anchor. The weather this day dos NOT support us moving on.
A friend had also told us that there are two large red buoys in the middle of the bay that we can tie up to. When we arrived, we saw a fishing boat tied to th one closest to the entrance and the other one deep in the bay empty. We did "toy" with the idea of tying up to it but in the end, it was occupied most of the day by various fishing boats.
On 1 Sept, we lifted anchor and got underway. We poked our nose out and found 20-30 knots of wind from the NW and just under 1 meter high waves and whitecaps. Decided to come back and anchor again, and the Admiral was not happy. But it has been like this all summer. The wind has been quite uncooperative.
We try again on 2 Sept and the seas are a little rolly but th wind is low, so off we go to Mordoğan. In all of the times we have boated in Izmir Bay, we had never been to Mordoğan.
Mordoğan Has an old harbor which the port guide says not to enter without local knowledge. There is also a marina to the south of the old harbor that has never been finished. What we see when we arrive is a fast ferry moored inside the old harbor that goes to Izmir as well as a dredging ship. We continued south and anchor close to the mouth of the "new" marina.
Weather in the bay is very different than in the Aegean, and we luck out because for the next few days, it appears that the seas will be absolutely flat.
The day we got her though is part of a 10 day holiday that the government created because tourism has been deeply affected by the current geo-political climate. The government thought that by creating this long holiday, Turks would take to the roads and go on holiday. Later, thru the newspapers, we learned that th tourism industry did NOT get the boost that was expected because this current geo-political climate has also affected imports and exports, the economy, and unemployment. The 5-star all-inclusive resorts were charging over $1000 for two to holiday with them, and the turns out to be way too much money for way too many people. By the time this was known, much of the holiday period had already come and gone so there were no real winners, and many losers.
We saw the effect of this government "mistake" in Mordoğan when we went ashore. There were many visitors to Mordoğan, but nearly all had Izmir (local big city) license plates on there cars. We did eat shore that night in the old harbor area and the meal was quite good and had "normal" Turkish prices, not inflated for the holiday period.
That is all for now folks!
If you have any questions, please ask.
Lee and Zehra
MV LeeZe
http://whereisleeze.blogspot.com
If you have any questions, please ask.
Lee and Zehra
MV LeeZe
http://whereisleeze.blogspot.com
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