Day 3 Fethiye
The transfer I had arranged for yesterday showed up at 7:00 am as promised, so I made my way to the smaller of the two airports in Istanbul to catch a flight further down the coast. I thought I would be OK on the weight since I put all my books in my carryon luggage, not realizing they have a 15 kg weight limit for checked luggage. My bag was 6 kg over which cost me $20, funny since the ticket was only $56; I started to try to see what I could take out, but there was no way I was going to fit another 12 lbs+ of stuff in my backpack. I slept through the flight, and the way I snore I’m surprised the flight attendant didn’t try to wake me, who knows she may have but after my late night I was out of it.

I took the shuttle bus to the town of Fethiye and then grabbed a taxi from the drop off point. The fare was 21.50 tl (Turkish Lyra, 2.65 to the dollar) and I handed the driver 30 since he stopped at an ATM for me, but he said 20 was plenty. Skyelark was berthed at a small marina, just down the road from the larger one which has a Moorings base and only about a 15 minute walk to the Old Town.

This is the first time I had seen Skyelark since her refurbishment in Thailand, what a beautiful job they did on the teak deck and the new salon table is a great addition. This will be my home for the next 5 weeks as we make our way to France, it’s good to be onboard again!

I caught up on the past few months with Dan and Em then we headed to town where they had to get some supplies and show me around a bit. This is much more my pace than the hustle and bustle of Istanbul, a cross between a sleepy little fishing village and a boating tourist destination.

I had a light lunch at a café Dan recommended; stuffed aborigine, spicy salad and rice, washed down with water and a glass of tea. Afterwards I climbed up a hill on the side of the town to see some old tombs built of stone and mortar; unfortunately my battery was low on my phone when I got up there so couldn’t take any pictures.

I wandered around town a bit, stopping for a beer at the fruit market (and picking up some very nice apricots) then a cup of coffee at a waterfront café before walking back to the marina. Arvil and Marita (they were on leg 1 of the world ARC with us last year) were there when I got back and we caught up on the past year and their many travels since then. Two more of the guest, Jim and Tina from San Francisco, arrived shortly after and once they had their gear stowed we walked to town for dinner.

There is a fish market in the center of town where you buy your fish and then take it to one of the restaurants in the courtyard to have them prepare it. I went for the grilled octopus, with a starter of feta cheese and melon. We also had some side dishes that we shared, sardines in oil, seaweed salad, hummus, and spicy salad quite a feast. The whole atmosphere of the place is well worth a visit; closely packed tables with people from all over the world, musicians going from table to table playing traditional instruments, just a lot of people having fun.

Once our dinner was finished we headed back to the boat and enjoyed a nightcap of Pinch whisky, no Captain Bligh here, before going to bed in anticipation of setting sail tomorrow.