The Lycian Coast from Marmaris to Fethiye

We continue our adventure sailing south east along the Turkish Lycian coast, named to reflect the indigenous Anatolian civilization that used to inhabit this rugged mountainous area some three to four thousand years ago. We see memorials to these warriors and skilled sailors in tombs carved out of sheer rock faces and massive sarcophagi sometimes engulfed by the very sea that these people plied.

Forty miles or so from Marmaris we entered the Fethiye Korfezi or Gulf with the chic yachting centre of Goçek, a small hamlet when we both sailed here twenty years ago, at its head and the working town of Fethiye on its eastern shore.

The particular attraction in this area is the virtually landlocked sea of Skopea Limani sheltered from the open ocean by a chain of islands on its eastern side. This calm waterway measures about seven miles long by two miles wide and its shores are indented with numerous beautiful anchorages seemingly carved out of the sandstone and granite hills whose pine clad slopes drop precipitously into the sea. The water truly is crystal clear and, at this time of year, perfect for swimming with a temperature of around 29°C. The air temperature in the shade rises to 30°C so it doesn’t feel at all cold taking a plunge just refreshingly cooling. Neal swam for the first time for probably twenty years so inviting was the water. We anchored in Kucuk Kuyruk in superbly beautiful surroundings and about a boat length from the steep to rock shoreline. The water is deep until very close to the shore and so a substantial amount of anchor chain has to be let out and the anchor made to bight before rowing or swimming a long line to the shore to tie to a tree or a rock. This can be quite entertaining in a crosswind as the boat gets further from the shore and more line has to be bent on to allow the swimmer or rower to even make dry land! We were one of just two yachts in this secluded cove and we felt a sense of ownership as well as sheer pleasure.

We are visited by a Kingfisher and we hear frogs first thing in the morning which inspired me to write an excuse for poetry:
By sunrise the croak of a frog and the chirping chorus of the birds gives way to the cicadas chatter; a kingfisher darts from rock to branch and back then dives fruitfully for its morning catch; he’s here again for lunch and tea followed by the humble bumble bee to quench his thirst and then as fades the evening light the screech of a solitary owl haunts long into the night.The delightful anchorages in Skopea Limani are too numerous to describe in totality but a few are of particular note such as Tasyaka Koyu or Tomb Bay with its Lycian and Pigeonhole rock tombs, colourful oleanders and the rock painting of a fish by the famous 1970’s painter Bedri Rahmi Eyyupoglu and the fjord like Boynuz Buku Koyu or Spring Bay with its Gunluk trees and teeming wildlife, the exquisite but crowded Yassica Adlari anchorages, Hammam Koyu or Ruin Bay with its partially underwater Byzantine ruins and Kapi Koyu or Wall Bay, the large wall on the shore covered in Graffiti where I made an absolute mess of trying to moor stern to in a light cross wind. I was embarrassed and cross to say the least!

The sheltered winter harbour at Tersane Island where peace reigned was idyllic. The ruins of the former Greek settlement abandoned in 1923 by reason of Ataturk’s Population Exchange policy boasted a shipyard after which the Island is named. A farmer or two lives here now with cows, goats, chickens and donkeys

It was forecast to blow for a few days so we felt it prudent to seek the shelter of Fethiye and its modern well appointed marina with helpful staff all at just £23 per night. Miggy took the opportunity to take our dhobi to the laundry and we had a dirty carburettor in our outboard motor repaired.

We made the trip to Kayakoy by Dolmush and passed through the holiday complex from hell, Hisaronu. As Kayakoy appeared through the pine forests we were startled at the sight of a hillside covered in a vast number of derelict stone buildings arranged in terraces so as not to overlook each other and so that each house could enjoy the view over the valley below, the sunshine and the cooling breeze.

After the fall of the Ottoman Empire and in his drive to establish a Turkish state in 1923 Ataturk introduced a ‘population exchange’ programme with Greece whereby Turkish Christians were exiled from Turkey and sent to Greece and Greek Muslims similarly were exiled to Turkey, a sort of non violent ethnic cleansing! Those who returned to Kayakoy preferred to live in the valley rather than on the hill and so this ghost town was created. It is haunting to wander the streets and through the houses of this once thriving community of 25,000 people who lived, learned, worked and played together; Christian, Muslim and Jew alike, and to think of their sorrow at leaving their homes and friends and all this within living memory. How can the human race be so intolerant and callous? A classic book ‘Birds without Wings’ by Louis de Bernieres, which we have read, makes it all the more poignant and brings to life the history of this region and its turmoil.

On a brighter note we are having enormous fun and have relaxed totally after a busy but enjoyable time in the UK seeing family and friends. We love Turkey and its people. For those of you who don’t know and who wish or need to contact us while aboard our telephone number is +447872226912.