Actually, I don't want you to beam me up. What I really want is for
you to beam up Exit Only and drop her off at Kekova Roads in Turkey.
I'm ready for some Turkish cruising. Turkey is the land of good
people, great hospitality, and outstanding cruising destinations.
We spent two months cruising Turkish waters, and that's far too short of a
time to discover all its wonders. Unlike many cruising destinations,
there are thousands of bays and inlets in which to anchor along its craggy
coast, and the anchorages are secure. The holding is usually good, and
that means you can get off your boat and take a hike or inland trip without
worrying about your anchor dragging.
While its true you have to take precautions and lock things up in the big
cities, out in the anchorages you don't have to worry about night time
boarders interested in your cash stash. The only people we know who
experienced skullduggery were med moored to quays in large towns where you
are easy prey to petty thievery. City thieves are slick operators;
when they're in stealth mode, they can clean you out in a twinkling of an eye,
and you won't know they were there until they're long gone. But that's
not unique to Turkey; that happens everywhere around the world.
There are lots of ways to rate cruising destinations, and what's important
to a cruising sailor may mean little to a charterer who's more interested in
marinas and fancy meals at the end of the day. As far I'm concerned,
Turkey gets five stars. It has everything found in other great
destination and so much more.
Turkey is special because it's different. What sets Turkey apart and
makes it head and shoulders above the rest, is that Turkey is interesting.
Crusader castles and ancient Greek ruins abound. The ruins of Greece
found on the Greek mainland pale in comparison to those found in Turkey.
A day trip to Ephesus will blow you away. But you don't need to drive
inland to discover the wonders of ancient Turkey and Greece. You can
snorkel among sunken ruins all along the coast. If you ever wondered
where Atlantis was, look no further. It's lies in ruins beneath the
waters of the the Turkish Coast.
The crusaders had a special affinity for building castles in Turkey overlooking the
water. I suppose seaside castles made a lot of sense, because supplying
those fortresses by overland routes probably wouldn't work in troubled
times. Crusaders were invaders rather than invited guests, and they had
to bring much of their food and supplies with them or do without.
Bringing supplies in by sea was definitely the way to go when other routes
didn't work.
Although cruisers may like the Hard Rock Cafe, they don't like hard rock
anchorages. You'll hear nothing but complaints from cruisers about
anchorages that rock and roll. When they put their anchor down for the
night, they're looking for flat water. We may bounce around the
world when we sail offshore, but when we're at anchor, we don't want to rock
and roll. The picture at the top of this page shows a perfect
anchorage with a mirror like surface reflecting the setting sun.
That's the stuff that cruising dreams are made of, and it happens nearly every day
in Turkey.
Where are you Scotty? I'm still waiting to hear from you. It
looks like Scotty is not around, and I'm on my own. Oh well, at least I
spent two months living my Turkish dreams.
