Temperatures

Boating has been a bit hit and miss, as some days we are getting really high winds and others none at all. However, on the odd occasion, we do get winds that are just right, so we take full advantage of those days. On Thursday we did manage to get out and we had a really good day.

We set off not really with anything in mind, no journey plan, just to sail, but we ended up in a little bay round a village called Zongulduk. It was a lovely little bay and we were able to sail to within feet of a sandy beach. We dropped anchor and enjoyed a very relaxing swim, and just chilled for about an hour. We didn't struggle so much this time trying to get back into the boat. We had made some adjustments to the ladder and also we think we're probably getting the hang of it. There's definitely a technique. We motored out of the bay. We could have sailed but it would have involved an awful lot of tacking, so we chose the lazy way out. By the time we got out, the wind speed had risen, which made for an interesting struggle home .... way out of Sue's comfort zone, but unless she was going to swim for it, she had to stick with it. More power to her elbow, she did!!

Surprisingly, it isn't crowded at all here at the moment. Usually the beaches and town are wall to wall people in July and August. We think that the Turkish elections have had something to do with that. We did expect a rush back to the coast after Sunday's voting, but so far it hasn't materialised. As it's been so peaceful, we're thinking of writing to Mr Erdogan and asking him if he would hold elections every year in July. The "pro-muslim" AKP party were returned with a big majority, so we will have to wait and see how that will affect us. It is said they will continue to push us down the road of radical faith, backed by Iran and Saudi, but their ambitions to become part of the EU may put a brake on that.

We were shocked to read about a little girl who was swept away from the beach at Lowestoft, which is close to our old UK home . The rescue services found her about an hour later, she was still alive but later died in hospital of hypothermia. The report said that the sea temperature was only 11'C. That was lower than the sea temperature here in January. With that in mind, yesterday (Friday), we took the digital thermometer down to our jetty, and took a reading. The sea temperature here at the moment is 27'C (80'F) which is a full 5' higher than this time last year. A bar of soap and shampoo and you could have a bath.

Today is Saturday, so as usual we made the pilgrimage to buy fruit and veg. The temperatures have dropped to the mid-forties, but in the airless confines of the crowded market, it seems worse. We just bought what we had to, and came back home via the post-office to collect our snail-mail.

Summer hots up

As July progresses we still have high winds and the temperatures are getting hotter. We couldn't sail on the 13th so we packed up our things and decided to go to Monastir Beach which is a few Km away on the other side of Altinkum. We wondered if the wind and waves would be less there. It does work that way sometimes, but not on this occasion. However it was nice to have a different vista to look at.

The following day Yo, Nigel and Craig came over for tea, and to get a preview of the DVD we made of our attempts at kneel boarding and water skiing. Our temporary neighbours, another delightful family, went home and Lucy and her brood of two more adults and 8 children arrived over the road at their villa for a month.

Bill paying turns up with boring regularity and Monday was the day. Not that it mattered a lot, still too windy for sailing. In fact we had to make another anchor chain as the boat was being tossed from pillar to post and we were afraid that with only one attachment it was very vulnerable. The second is an insurance. Gives us peace of mind.

On the Wednesday we were able to get out on the briny. We had a lovely morning and decided to quit while we were ahead. The wind was becoming gusty. We put the boat away and went visiting several friends and neighbours. In the evening, we thought we would prepare the anchor and it's rope, as well as making it a bag to protect the boat deck from damage by the metal of the anchor. We had this whim to "park" the boat close to a people-free part of the coast and just relax on our own, go for a swim and just crash. We will probably have to wait for another day of winds in our comfort zone.

That came quicker than we thought, Friday in fact. We took the boat across the bay and onward, further than ever before. We found a nice little part of the coast and no one else in sight, so, for the first time in our maritime history, we dropped anchor, and went swimming. Then came the problem. We had thought enough in advance to buy a little ladder that hooks over the side to enable us to climb aboard. However, we hadn't reckoned on it's little legs collapsing every time we tried to climb back in. What a farce .... there's Sue pushing on my posterior as I try to get one leg over (please forgive the expression). I finally managed to flop into the bottom of the boat and then we had the problem of getting Sue back on board. A lot of huffing puffing, collapsing ladder, bad language, and plop ... she was in. We need to have a serious look at that ******* ladder.

We weren't in the mood for cooking that evening so we had our evening meal at the Green Garden Restaurant. Phil, Lynn and visiting family turned up, so we had company for the duration of our meal.

Saturday was market day, so we made a very quick dash up there, whipped round the few stalls for the fresh fruit and veg we needed, and dashed back, pausing only for David to have a quick haircut (there being no queue) and to pick up our post. Nice surprise there. UK taxman had given us a refund. The rest of the day we spent on the beach, "chilling out". Probably not an appropriate use of the English language in this heat.

Sunday Yo and Nigs came round for a brunch of egg, bacon and sausages , and then, as the wind was being kind to us, we all went down to the beach, and David took first Nigel and then Yo out sailing. We all had a great time and finished off the day by consuming some Viennetta, and a drink or two.

Today the temperature topped 50' and even constant dipping in the sea wasn't enough. The wind was very hot, so no respite there, and we couldn't get out on the boat as this burning breeze was at force 5 ... much too much for us novice sailors. We finally capitulated, and dived back home into the cool, cool zone of the air-conditioning. Gave us time to catch up with this blog.

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We must admit that life here jogs along from one day to the next, much like the UK with us doing the mundane. You know, shopping, cleaning, washing, ironing, writing emails and the like. Even in paradise these things have to be done.

The weather doesn't encourage us to go out on the boat much as we seem to be experiencing a series of hot almost gale force winds, which, as we've described before is like standing in front of a super-sized hair-dryer. We did spend a little time re-rigging the boat, using better quality rope and tightening up the stays and just checking to make sure everything is ship-shape. We also constantly clean the bottom of the boat to keep barnacles and algae at bay.

Having said that, we have managed to get a few days out, and even went for an evening sail.

We continue to lead a hectic social life, eating out with friends, visiting each others homes, helping out the occasional temporary visitor from England.

The local council are keen to learn of our needs and to that end they set up meetings with Non-Turkish residents around the area. Ours was held at the Blue Restaurant and our representative was Pat Bradford from here in Yesilkent. We put forward the areas we'd like addressed such as roads, rubbish, lighting etc. and she then goes to a meeting with all the other representatives and the Mayor and his council to discuss which issues they can afford to address. This year many of the roads have been improved, and the council often send out employees to clear up the rubbish, but as fast as they do, fly-tippers come behind them and deposit more. Until the powers that be can change local attitudes to mess, so it will continue. These attitudes have been successfully changed in many other parts of Turkey we have visited, but it takes time.

On the 5th July, we went to visit Nigel and Yo in their new villa. We played in their pool, had lunch, drove to Bosbuk for a swim in the sea, had our evening meal in a local Turkish restaurant and finally returned home at 1am. This was our first trip outside Altinkum for over a month, and ironically at lunch time our enjoyment was rapidly brought to a halt with a text from friend Peter on Gaye 2, to inform us that some clown had tied his large 22ft speedboat to our mooring and the two boats were banging together. Peter said the boat was much too heavy to move alone, so we started ringing around to find him some assistance. The alternative was that we would have to drive all the way back to Yesilkent, a 3/4 hour journey and by that time the damage might well have been done. Fortunately, two of our friends were on hand to help and between them they managed to move the offender to another empty mooring, which he could have used, but of course it was not so easy to get to, so he chose the simple option .... PRAT!

The following day, we decided to check the bike as the road to Yo and Nigel's is a little rough to say the least. Good job we did as one of the spars had split, so we took it off and hot-footed it round to Gary who, bless him, re-welded it and strengthened the joint.

On the 10th July we took Mandy and Lawrence out sailing (one at a time). They are "experienced" sailors and were feeling quite frustrated as they have no means to get on to the water. Once they got the feel of the boat, we let them loose on their own.

We had the chance to join Gary on his new speedboat on the Wednesday (11th) along with Yo, Nigel and their nephew Craig. Gary reckoned he could teach us all to kneel-board and some of us to ski ..... hmmm, a proud over-confident boast? Four of us thought we might be too long in the tooth for that. However, we all had a go, and Gary's prediction was spot-on. all of us managed the kneel-boarding and Craig and David managed to get up on the skis, if only for a few seconds. We were out all day, zooming round the bay, posing in front of Altinkum Beach and speeding off to Akbuk, where we had some refreshment, before waving bye-bye to Yo, Nigel and Craig, and the remaining three of us returning to Yesilkent, exhausted but exhilarated. We had used a whole tank of fuel and had to re-fuel halfway back.

Next day we had aches and pains where we didn't know we had places, but it was worth it. This was also our wedding anniversary, so we spent it recovering by sunbathing and reading on the top terrace, moving about as little as possible. We only left that haven for a short while in order to get a couple of T-bone steaks for our anniversary supper.