Join Lee and Zehra aboard their steel, 50-foot George Buehler trawler as they explore the Turkish Coastline in the summer of 2013. Stay tuned for more entires from cruiser-bloggers in the Destinations section at www.passagemaker.com.

The First Week: Underway for Parts West of Marmaris

July 24, 2013

Our contract with Netsel Marina expired on 24 July so on that day, we departed to continue our exploration of Turkey and maybe parts of Greece, who knows. However, departure day was EXHAUSTING. First item to take down was the pier side digital satellite antenna. Then we had to take the meshed tent off the top of the boat deck (kept the salon cool by about 3-4 degrees C compared to outside) then the mesh side panels that took the sun off the windows (2 degrees saving here) and of course stow all of the above. Then fill up the water tank, do a last minute dishwasher load, two clothes washing loads, and water the battery bank. Some last minute shopping (of course!) and by 1330, I am so sweaty that I am off to the showers one last time. Underway was at 1500 and we only go 3-4 nm to Içmeler to drop the hook and to relax.

July 25, 2013

Today was suppose to include a short trip to “Old Monastery Bay” but Zehra decided to push on to Serce, nearly 75% of the way down the SW coast of the Marmaris’ peninsula. The weather turns a little windy but we manage and we pull into a kidney shaped bay where by observation, you are approaching a solid rock wall before it gives way to a cozy anchorage.

To the north is a mooring field and restaurants so we head south and anchor near to, but behind another sail boat. Turns out later this will come back to haunt us. Any way, we relax, think about taking the tender down from the boat deck but don’t (this will really come back to bite me) and eat dinner. However, remember that sailboat? Seems he drifted toward us but I am holding like a rock. But he is convinced I drag so to keep peace, just after the sun goes down (why can’t this stuff happen in daylight) we up 60+ meters of chain and go reposition. How did I know I did not drift? I was within 15 meters if where I dropped the chain. The night is quiet but this issue about dragging bothers me.

July 26, 2013

We are off to Dersik Koyu, across the bay one would enter to go to Bozburun, but since we were there last trip, and we needed no grocery supplies, we go to this bay.

Nice place but this time, when I anchor, I drop a buoy to mark the anchor. I had it somewhat set up and this was its first trial run. Worked nearly as planned, some minor adjustments were required, not worth mentioning, and when I go to swim, I see the anchor in about 12 meters of water, clearly dug in. On this trip, I changed my snubber arrangement. The shipyard added a half ring of steel about 1 meter above the water line and during the lift-out, I moved my 6-meter snubber from the bow (about 4 meters above the water) to this ring. Took some learning but now the snubber gets attached to the chain on deck. When deployed the snubber ends up about 4-5 meters below the water. So, if my anchoring thoughts are correct, the anchor is being pulled at in this particular case, about 7 meters off the bottom, and with 40 meters out, that scope is like 5-6:1, which means that I do not have to deploy 80 meters of chain (12 meter depth, 4 meter height, 5:1 ratio) but can deploy less and still get the holding I need. Someone out there please verify that my thinking is NOT screwed up because it easily can be! Now, what I did not expect is the wind might change and that at some point, the plastic buoy will be knocking against the hull. You can’t think of everything. So in the morning, I see that the bow of LeeZe is about 5 meters away from the anchor buoy. Retrieval goes well, some minor lessons learned and we are on our way.

July 27, 2013

We are off toward Selimiye and the NOAA forecast is full of wind and white caps. So, we leave, thinking that the morning will be less windy than the afternoon. While that is true, it is not less windy by any measurable degree. While working outside, my Tilly sun hat that has been with me for years blows off into the water and we do some crazy turns to fish it out. The two gulets nearby must have thought we had lost our minds. Avoiding the rocks and shoals, we turn into Selimiye and Zehra calls the restaurant we want to stay at but the owner is less than forthcoming so we decide to try the city marina. We try to land there but the 20+ knots of wind and the yelling and screaming from the boat to starboard makes Zehra so flustered that we head off to anchor.

The wind is too high to launch the tender, so while we had the chance in the last two places, we don’t now. I start to prepare to launch just in case the wind dies. But, that is least of my worries. In Mandraki, Rhodes, we had the winch repaired, or so we thought. Nope, nada, not true. It acted the same. I take apart the cables, they had been spliced to give us the needed length to work the winch while launching the tender, and find the splices broken. Since I had planned this October to install cable connectors so I can take the control head inside for the winter, I elect to install that connector now, in 20+ knots of wind, in the heat of the day. It took over 2 hours but I got it all installed and the winch works. The wind was still too high to launch but at least the winch works. Of course, the wind dies about 1 hour after sunset… way to dark to launch. So, after dinner and some pre-recorded TV, we head off to sleep. The Internet reception sucks here. My guess is that the cell phone towers are overwhelmed with so many people around.

July 28, 2013

I am up early and there is little wind. Zehra elects to sleep in so after coffee, I decide to launch the tender before the wind picks up. We are up on the boat deck and Zehra goes to energize the winch… nothing, nada, nope, kaput. UGH. Verify electricity, look at the connectors, and still no winch. On the winch handle is an emergency stop switch, which has to be up to work. It is down. While wondering how that happened I get this sheepish look from Zehra. Apparently, she flipped it because she thought that it was the on-off switch and in the off position. Got that sorted out, position the boom correctly with the tender under the boom, and wait for the gusts to pass. They do, we lift, the tender goes over the rail and down the side in a relatively smooth operation. Wow! So after some cleanup and re-stow, I go and start the 2-stroke Yamaha 15-hp engine. After my experience in Mersin ($300 “repair” to this engine because I put it away improperly the winter before) I decided this past winter to fog the heck out of the engine and so in May, it

started. Today, it started on the first pull. Second wow moment of the day. (You cannot have too many wows in a day!) Guess the fogging helped it start on the first pull today. So, my new plan is to fog the engine a little each lift and in the winter, fog it a lot. With the tender, we are off into town to talk to the municipal marina manager, talk to some restaurants about mooring in front of them, and decide that tomorrow we will go in, probably. The town is cute, a little small, but it is charming. The day is hot so we have a quick lunch, get some water and a newspaper, and come back to LeeZe to swim and cool off.

July 30, 2013

We are still in Selimiye and now pier side for two days. Worked yesterday on the Satellite TV tracker gizmo with little luck. Had some shore power issues and as this is a very small town, getting someone to be interested outside of normal business hours is next to impossible. The temp is warm but we are coping. Learned some new info about running the engine off of the forward fuel tank yesterday, while moving from the anchorage to the pier. With the tank only about ¼ full (it is a double bottom tank), at idle the engine struggles to get fuel when using the fuel/water separators. If you put both on, the engine still struggles. If you bypass, all is fine. So, my original plan to move fuel from the forward tank to the aft one, and run the engine on the aft tank only, appears to make sense. So, why might you ask did I have the engine on the forward fuel tank? Well, I was transferring fuel and after the transfer, forgot to switch over. Simply, a case of being a dummy.

Sincerely,

Zehra and Lee
MV LeeZe

Lee and Zehra had their George Buehler designed 50-foot raised pilothouse steel trawler built in Izmir, Turkey and started cruising the Eastern Mediterranean in the late summer of 2011. They completed the East-Med Yacht Rally in 2012 and then explored the Southeast coast of Turkey. This year, they decided to explore the SW side and you can follow their adventures on their blog, www.whereisleeze.blogspot.com.