2017 Where is LeeZe? Mordoğan > Yassica Ada > Izmir

Dear all, 



It is now 3 Sept and we depart Mordoğan for an island in the lower part of the Izmir bay called Yassica Ada.

The claim to fame of this island is that there are ferry boats that service this island in the summer so that Izmir people can come to the beach. It was a Sunday that we were here, near to the end of the 10-day holiday period and there are maybe 300+ people at the beach. It was also near to the end of the season so concession stands were not stocked up very well and were out of mostly everything.

We had a very hard time finding a good holding spot of the anchor and after trying 4 times, decided that based on the weather prediction, I would live with an anchor that was not holding very well.  When I went to look at the anchor, it was laying on a small piece of sandy bottom, surrounded by grassy clumps of seaweed. Had I chosen to anchor in far shallower water, I would have found a sandy bottom, but I also would have been among very small day boats. I could have anchored in deeper water (20+ meters) but kept that option in my back pocket just in case.

By sunset, the ferry boats had taken the day trippers back home and there were just 3 of us at anchor. There were some nocturnal visitors to the island, a few quite noisy, but by midnight, there was calm seas and a quiet night. The city lights hid many of the stars. We did go ashore to the beach for a few hours, and then came back, cleaned up, and has a BBQ for dinner.

Today is 3 September. It is a Monday, and the last day of the 10-day holiday period. We motor toward Levent marina. There are two dog legs to the marina, and one must stay between the buoys because just outside the buoys is shallow water punctuated by rocky outcrops. 

LeeZe is a steel boat and as we approach, Izmir Traffic Control (ITC) hails us in Channel 16. I kind of knew this would happen, ever since our days in the Istanbul area, where that traffic control authority called so often that it bordered on harassment.

ITC hails us, and wants to know our particulars, why our AIS is not on, etc etc etc. I tell them what we are, and that we are not required to have AIS on board. ITC thinks, based on radar return  that we are a small freighter. It is not until we get near to one of their long range camera stations on the shore that they can see what we are. By then, I had answered all of their questions and they leave us alone. 

Now, I think it must have been a boring day for them as I saw no ships underway, only ferry boats. They needed a distraction and I provided one.

Well, we get to Levent marina and we anchor just outside. We need to lower the fenders, bring the tender up to the starboard side from astern, get lines ready, etc etc. By then, a craft from the marina comes out. It is our good friend from the last time we were here. We tell him what we are doing, and ask him to take the tender in.

About 30 minutes later, we up anchor, cruise slowing in the marina, and with the help of this lone marina person, we med-moor in a place that Zehra had already negotiated with the manager, and with two bow lines on, we are in. 

This complete our summer cruising adventures. There is more to come. My 90 year old mother-in-law is expected soon and she is a hoot to have on board. While she has some typical problems that require her to see a doctor, when she gets on board, as she has each year for the last 5 or 6 years, for a month or so, knock on wood, she has never needed to visit a doctor or a clinic. I chalk that up to boating being a somewhat healthy lifestyle. Zehra thinks it is because she is excited to see us and Mom really does like me, a lot. 

There are some talents that has so far escaped me. I can paint, but I must be doing something wrong because I am never satisfied with the results. So, this marina has a person who job is to paint. I ask him to address a few areas and I see what I am doing wrong. Besides NOT using the right paint, he uses a two part red epoxy to paint over the rust spots that he has just lightly sanded. I normally sand the rust spots completely away and then paint, but with the wrong paint. It never lasted. Learned something new!

The anchor pulpit needs to be taken off, disassemble, cleaned up, painted, and rollers greased and installed. This required taking the anchor off the chain (suspending it from the bow with 4 lines as the darn thing weighs 88+ kilos), pulling the chain out of the way, and removing a custom made 36mm stainless steel bolt. The actual pulpit must weigh over 50 kilos and my worst fear was that when I went to remove this bolt, I would drop it or the pulpit into the water. But, with some careful planning and a rope fastened to each removed part, I was able to get it off and to the yard for renewal. 

After the painter finished painting it, and the area where it is installed, I wisely asked for two people from the yard to help me reinstall it. 

The manager did some reconnaissance and sent over 1 burly person on board, and another in a small boat with the pulpit. Then 15 minutes later, after some choice words and  even choicer mannerisms, the pulpit was again installed. The yard helps me reconnect the anchor chain and at the end of the day, the anchor is no longer dangling and is now stored appropriately.

Meanwhile, thru all this, Mom is on board. She make comments about how much work there is (she has no reference point to compare) and I remind her that I typically do a chore a day so it is no big deal.

After this, I apply teak oil to the boat deck, raise the tender to the boat deck for winter storage, pressure clean the growth from the tender's hull, winterize the 15 hp Yamaha engine, clean the tubes and tender's deck, and leave it out exposed to the warm sun to really dry. The excess fuel I donate to the marina because it will not be fresh to use next April.

Then I borrow a plastic garbage pail; from the yard, fill it with fresh water, and for a number of two-day periods, soak the mooring lines to get rid of the salt. The smaller lines I put into a mesh bag and wash them in a washing machine using just cold water.  As the line dry, they go into the tender for winter storage. After they are in, I cover the tender.  

Lastly, I have recently purchased two 18mm diameter steel springs that need to be galvanized. I use the springs during the winter with the stern lines to help mitigate the shock and the surge from the winter winds and weather. I had been using 13 mm steel springs but they turned out to be not enough. 

These two springs cost me about $150 delivered by cargo from Istanbul. They are each rated for 30,000 kgs so I expect they will work fine. For the record, if I wanted fancy stainless steel springs with rubber inserts in the same load range, two would set me back over $2000. This is a no-brainer of a decision!

So, off to the galvanizing place I go with the springs and chains used to connect to the springs. A week later, I have them back, installed, and the stern lines attached. 

So if this seems like a lot of work, in total it probably is but I do one chore a day.  I take Sunday's off completely. If a chore goes faster than expected, I take the rest of the day off also. By this method, the work gets done, I do not exhaust myself, and I am proud I can say I did most of this myself.

Sundays the Admiral and I have one recurring action to accomplish. We are off to the local Farmer's market for our weekly shopping of fruit, vegetables, cheese, eggs, and bread. This is a large market, under a freeway overpass, with sellers coming from near and afar. We have local farmers who bring their food stuff that was probably in the field two or three days ago. Eggs are not refrigerated because they probably been harvested over the last two days. Veggies and fruit come in from all points of Turkey so whatever is in-season in-country, it is here being sold. Bread is the freshest item, having been baked the night before in local village wood fire brick ovens. The bread is usually round, and a full loaf might weigh 2-3 kilos. Thankfully they also sell it by the half loaf, and I just noticed this year for the first time that some sellers are able to put the piece you buy thru a bread slicing machine. I know, what progress, right!!! It is. We do not buy it sliced, but take it home and freeze what we do not need for the next day or so. The bread has no preservatives so it does not last long without freezing. It is so dense that freezing it does not adversely affect its texture in any way. 

The next time w go to the farmers market I will take some pictures to share.

That is all for now folks!

If you have any questions, please ask. 

Lee and Zehra

MV LeeZe

http://whereisleeze.blogspot.com