We are Back on Tsamaya in Marmaris, Turkey - March 31 - June 11, 2022

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Finally, time came to return to Tsamaya. Our original plans were to fly back to Turkey where Tsamaya has been for the winter, but a couple of weeks before our flight, Bob hurt his leg to the point of having trouble walking. Thankfully after checking it out to be sure it wasn’t due to a blood clot, the Dr. figured it was more likely a torn muscle. We are fortunate to have an excellent physical therapist that we have used before and she was able to work miracles on Bob. His leg improved and by the end of May we were comfortable with the idea of leaving and getting back to the boat.



It was a long trip starting on Monday, May 31^st leaving our house at 8AM with our neighbor, Brian, driving us to the Albany airport to catch a shuttle van to JFK in NYC. We were fortunate that there were only 4 people booked for this trip down so plenty of room for us and our 4 bags of luggage and carry-ons. We all arrived early so didn’t have to wait for our 9:30AM departure time, getting us to JFK by 12:30. Our flight was not until 6:55PM so had plenty of time to waste. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get our baggage checked as the Turkish Airlines counter was not scheduled to open until 3PM. Paying $6 for a cart at the airport was well worth it with the number of bags as well as their weight. The limit is 51 pounds and we went to the limit on 3 of the bags – always plenty of parts that we take back to the boat from the US. Carry-ons are limited in weight to 18 pounds, but that is typically not checked. This time both our carry-ons were weighed. The irony was that one of the bags was overweight and the other was under-weight, but we still had to quickly move things around between the 2 carry-ons and have them weighed again. That rule seemed a little strange to us as the same total weight was going onboard with us. Oh well… we complied and got our boarding passes and got rid of our checked luggage making the rest of our time at JFK that much easier.

When we were getting ready to board, they had us line up, but no one was moving so we waited some more, taking off about 45 minutes late. Fortunately, while in line, we got into an interesting conversation with a long-haul refrigeration truck driver from Texas. We got quite the education about the complexities of running your own rig with maximizing the runs from a high production area to the consumer, vs from a low production area. He explained that he gets more money running from a large produce production area such as California to an area that doesn’t grow as much of its own produce. If picking up in a low produce production area it is better for them to take that as a shorter run, freeing up the truck earlier providing an opportunity to pick up where the demand is for refrigeration trucks. Besides getting an education on the trucking industry and its many aspects we also discussed scuba diving as he was headed to Egypt for a month of diving. Seems that he is able to take off large blocks of time to enjoy his passion for diving. Always interesting getting a chance to meet people wherever we are and get more of an appreciation for another business we are not familiar with at all.

With weighing our carry ons we already knew it was going to be a full plane and it was definitely true. While we waited at the airport, we reviewed the few Turkish words we are “learned” last fall so at least were able to start to use them with the staff on board knowing we need to definitely expand our vocabulary. One thing we were reminded of was how brave parents are to be traveling with small kids on a flight that is almost 10 hours long – it is hard enough for adults to do that trip, no less with kids and keeping them entertained and as quiet as possible. With the plane so full, and a number of small kids onboard, we didn’t get much sleep but did have a chance to see a movie and catch up on some reading.

Our layover in Istanbul was scheduled to be 5 ½ hours but with arriving later than planned, it cut down by about 45 minutes. That was what we thought until the next flight was delayed as well. Again, we got talking to the person sitting next to us in the waiting area at the gate and this time we learned about being an Uber driver in the UK. He has been doing it for about 7 years and as he said now, he schedules it so he doesn’t do any nights and is finished with his runs by around noon. He said he is doing well enough that he takes holiday in Turkey quite regularly which is nice with being able to make your own hours.

Our next flight from Istanbul to Dalaman (on the southern coast of Turkey) was also a very full one, and again delayed. At least from what we have been hearing in the news we were thankful that even though both flights were delayed, they still left in time to make our connection. This time the passenger sitting with us we found was from Hungary. She mentioned she was starting a new job in Dalaman with an airline. When I asked what type of job, found out she is a pilot on a 737! She got her first pilot license at the age of 16 and has worked her way up qualifying and flying commercial airlines. Again, learned a little more about the life of a pilot and dealing with the quick turn arounds she sometimes has to do, but also some of the interesting places she has flown to. Found out that she and her husband have a farm where they love raising sheep, pigs, chickens and will be getting into beef cattle. You can tell by her excitement how much she enjoys farming even though neither she or her husband grew up on one. I got to see some photos of their place in Hungary as well as their young son. She said that she loves flying, but also loves the farm, so not sure how she is going to balance that in the future. We wished her well and thanked her for the conversation as it was interesting and made the flight seem shorter. We noted that all 3 people we met on our flights this time were all in some way related to transportation – we typically seem to run into educators, so this was an interesting change for us to learn about. Never know who you will meet and what you were learning – even before getting to your destination!

Only one of the conversations verged into US politics as we were asked about the possibility anything will be done to cut down on the mass shootings in the US. She told us that these would never happen in Hungary as it is quite difficult to get a license for a gun (which she has done). It includes training, medical and psychological tests, reports to the police, having your safety cabinet and lock at your home inspected to be sure it is secured and not easily moved, and taking the gun to the police to register the number. It seemed that there were a few more steps she mentioned, but it overall took quite a bit of time to accomplish. She couldn’t understand what was happening in the US with all of the shootings and were very surprised that it was so easy for people in the US to obtain a gun. It is always interesting to talk to people from other countries and hear their perspective of what is happening in the US.

Our final leg of the journey was a 90-minute ride from the airport to the marina. I had booked the transfer from the US and luckily even with our delay, the driver was there to greet us holding a sign with my name on it. He helped us with our bags, gave us a nice cold bottle of water, turned on a music video to listen to and we were on our way. By 10PM we were climbing onto Tsamaya – a very dirty and hot boat. We didn’t even take the time to plug in the electric as we knew with the solar panels, we have would have plenty of power to run the fans that we needed to have on to cool down enough for us to try to sleep. We did get some sleep but with the 7-hour time zone difference we were off schedule and took a couple of days before we had a full night sleep.

Normally the first full day in any country, our first order of business is to get a sim card for our phones. Fortunately, with having extra time in the Istanbul airport we were able to cross that task off the list as there was a TurkCell store within the airport. We used TurkCelll the last time we were here and they worked out well for us. This time we were able to get a sim card with 20 GB of data, free WhatsApp, 200 minutes of calls within Turkey (will never use that many minutes here as who do we know?) and 30 minutes of international calls for $54. That is for 1 month, but next time we renew it will be less as we will not have to buy the sim card. Will be nice if other items on our “to list” are as easy to cross off!

With no fresh food onboard, first thing the next morning we went to marina restaurant for breakfast. It started out great with fresh squeezed orange juice, a Turkish breakfast, fresh fruit in yogurt with honey drizzled over the top – a wonderful welcome back to Turkey! Next stop, the marina office to complete some paperwork for our contract for the coming year. A bonus was that friends of ours, Carol and Mike from SV Aleta stopped in at the office so were able to catch up with them. Next, a stop at the riggers and canvas shop to touch base and let them know we were back before heading to the grocery store at the marina for just a few basics.

The morning errands helped us put off as long as possible the task of putting away everything we brought back in our luggage. We also knew that we were tired enough that first full day back to save time for a nap which we both willing did! We knew the next day was Thursday Market Day so we didn’t buy very much at the marina store. With still not much onboard in the way of fresh produce, being tired and hot we had our dinner at the place the employees eat – the cost for each is only 40 TL ($2.40) and consisted of 2 pieces of very tender pieces of chicken, pasta in a tomato sauce, potatoes, green salad, an orange with cold water and/or coffee to drink. We know it is heavy on carbs but we try to stop them from giving it all to us! One of the cruisers we saw there was packing ½ of it away to take back to the boat – a good idea that we will try in the future.

We picked up the current bus schedule that runs between the marina and the supermarket in town, we caught the 9AM. The price seemed to have gone up since we were here in December, but it is still a great bargain. With the exchange rate however now 16 TL to 1 dollar, and it being 7 TL to the dollar when we first arrived here last fall, the fare in reality hasn’t gone up for us. The fare each now is 13 TL (just shy of a $1) and it is running more often now in the summer than it did last Fall. We stopped at a café we had tried last Fall for a quick cup of tea and a morning pastry before hiking over to the market. The thermometer on the bus showed it was 36 degrees C (97 degrees F) so definitely glad we caught one of the earlier buses as we still aren’t used to the heat and know we had a little way to walk.

The first thing we both said as we entered the market was “strawberries are definitely in season” as many vendors had plenty to sell. A very large basket full of strawberries (looked like it was a quart) for 20 TL (about $1.20) went into our bag right away. That was followed up with plenty of other great produce ranging from tomatoes, zucchini, cukes, lettuce, lemons, cherries, parsley, carrots, peppers, radishes, oranges and cheese. There was so much more to get but we already had filled 3 bags and we knew we still needed to make it to the regular grocery store for a few things. We also remember that when it is hot, we don’t like to use the stove as much down below and we are typically just not as hungry. We also seem to cut down to 2 meals per day and many times the dinner is a lovely salad. We will see how we did over this first week back of limiting our purchases to what we can eat in a week. With the very inexpensive meals we can get at the employees dining area offered every day, we will keep our cooking to a minimum while we work on organizing the boat a little more to make it more livable. Another battle will be getting the layers of dirt off that have built up since we last left in December.



Before heading to the Thursday market, we realized that the refrigeration was not working properly. We know it is difficult when it doesn’t have much in it, but even with that factored in, we determined that it probably just needed to be charged up with gas. Fortunately, for us we have been working with Erika from “Germany Marine Services” and we just gave her a call and mentioned our problem. While we were in town heading to the market, she had made contact with a technician and told us a refrigeration person was on his way. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get back in time so Erika filled in and emptied out the lazarette so the recharge to our refrigeration system could happen. Just another one of those little things that can go wrong on a boat, but fortunately here in Marmaris there are lots of technicians to work with and Erika has been great to work with. As we keep saying, “it is only money” and it is critical to have all systems working properly before leaving port as you never know when you will find the next place with services you need.

We were informed that our rigger would be coming by on Friday to start getting things ready and he would remove the mast, get the rigging done and put the mast back on the boat all on Saturday. To prepare for this, Bob and I had to get the wiring for the radar pulled out from its “hiding places” as it connects through the mast. This all had to be done so the mast could be lifted out. It pulls a “little” tough in spots, but even with that, pulling the cable out is a much easier job than what we will have to do when the mast is put back in. We have done this before, but it is not one that gets any easier!

Bob had another chance to do some “boat yoga” as he calls it when he has to crawl into the lazarette to work on a project. This time he needed to replace the blower fan as it had stopped working. The new fan was bought in the Fall, but Bob hadn’t had the “fun” of installing it then. Fortunately he was able to get it installed without too much trouble. We had forgotten to get the cowling for the outside and couldn’t get the same one here. Fortunately for us we have friends that we met here last fall that are returning to Marmaris later this month so they are generously bringing it back with them. Nice to have friends willing to help!

On Friday, the rigger, Berkan, as promised, showed up with his crew to get some of the prep work done. They removed the boom, lines, and many of the cotter pins holding the standing rigging in place. With just what they did on Friday, we are already impressed with the care they take with all that they do. When he left, he informed us that he would be over by the crane by 7AM the next morning and we would need to move our boat to that location in order to get the mast removed. The rule here at this marina is that you can not enter or leave a slip without the assistance of the marina staff. Not a bad rule at all as all boats must back into their slip (a quick reminder to those that may not remember, there are no docks to tie up to or have as a space between you and the next boat). They have lines in the water that are picked up and tied to the bow while you tie 2 stern lines to the pier. The only thing separating your boat from ones on either side of you are your boat fenders. Our first time moving the boat since we returned went very smoothly with the engine starting up right away, our VHF radio working and we didn’t seem to provide any “entertainment” to anyone that early in the morning – a good start!

Berkan estimated that he would be finished with the rigging and we would be having the mast put back on the boat between 3-4:00 PM on the same day. Unfortunately, as the day wore on, they were set back with problems of getting some of the gear apart. Corrosion was making it “challenging” for getting the bolts, etc. out adding to the time it was taking to get done. We also spent some time working on the mast ourselves – checking the lights at the top of the mast, replacing our wind indicator, cleaning and polishing the radar dome and overall checking the mast while it is on land. By 6:30PM, Berkan said that they still were not done but he had talked to the crane operator who normally doesn’t work on Sunday, but said he would return on Sunday morning to put the mast back in. We could have moved the boat back to a slip where we could plug into power, but decided with having to be back at the same location by 6:30AM the next day, it wasn’t worth bothering. Again, always happy to have the amount of solar power that we do have so we could easily keep our fans on at night to make it more comfortable for sleeping. We took a walk around the yard about 8:30 PM and saw that the guys were still working on our mast. With the rigging being so old, it has taken them much longer than he expected to get the roller furler apart as well as a few other items that were not easy to remove.

Sunday morning, the crane operator, Berkan and his crew were there by 7AM. The guys didn’t get much sleep but said they were finished with the rigging and could install the mast. We decided to wander over to the marina restaurant to get breakfast and leave them to their work. I did come out of the restaurant and just checked and saw that they quite quickly got it installed and the crane had left leaving them to do their work. By about 10:30AM they were done enough for us to move the boat back to a slip in the marina and as Berkan said he was going home to get some sleep. They still have more to do to finish the job as the sails have to be put on, the rig needs to be tuned and a couple of the lines need to be changed over as they weren’t quite correct when they put them into the mast. We are just very happy to have new rigging and the material is more substantial than what we had before.

There are still a few more jobs that need to be completed before we start sailing. We found out that one of the stanchions that holds the life line had broken off from its base. We think it may have happened as a result of the movement of the sunshade this winter due to high winds. No matter what caused it, it has to be fixed before we can leave. We had been hoping to be able to remove the base ourselves to take to the shop to be fixed, but unfortunately when we tried to do it, we found that 2 of the connections were in a location we could not get to. This now means that they will have to do the welding on the boat which means more $$$. Oh well, it has to be done.

Last fall we also had made arrangements with Berkan’s brother, Riza, as he does canvas work. He could not obtain the exact same color of material as we have on Tsamaya so the work had to wait until we brought the material with us. That has been given to him, but they have not come out to the boat for the final measurements yet so will have to start to “push a little” as we need that done before we can leave the marina as well.

Our visa for Turkey is for 90 days and they will fly by quickly. We want to fit in some land travel as well as sailing the coast of Turkey. We originally thought we would do land travel for about a month, but as we are already part through a month now having arrived May 31^st, we are thinking we may break up our land travel to a couple of shorter duration trips so we can “pop” back in to the marina to check on the progress being made. As the saying goes, “the squeaky wheel gets grease” which in our case equates to being around in person to check in on progress.

With the heat (it has been in the 80’s and low 90’s) and being in the marina with less of a breeze than when you are at anchor, the middle of the day we find we don’t do as many outside jobs but continue to work inside. I had forgotten to mention that the marina has a lovely swimming pool so a couple of days we did take the time to cool down in the pool – a lovely reprieve from the work that needs to be done before we leave here.

One big change we are thinking of is to try to sell Tsamaya while over here in the Med. We thoroughly enjoy our time exploring and taking our home, Tsamaya, with us, but as we have been doing this since 2010, we are contemplating a change. We have bounced around a number of ideas and the latest is to see if there is a market for our kind of boat here and if so, we would look into finding a place in southern Spain (or it could be Portugal or Italy) to land for part of the year. In this way, we would get a long-term visa so we could have more than the 90 days currently allowed to travel around Europe. IF, in fact, Tsamaya doesn’t sell here, we still are not ruling out the idea of sailing her back to the US or Caribbean in the next year or two. We just know we will want to do it before we get too much older and would not want to take that trip by ourselves. Time will tell of what will happen, but for now we are still planning on doing some sailing this year in Turkey and Greece.

We spoke to a broker here the other day and he will be coming to see the boat. As with “staging” a house, you should do that as much as possible with showing a boat. We mentioned to him that as we live on the boat we definitely have a very full boat. He said he understood that but to try to “open” up the living space as much as possible. We knew we had our hands full with that so for the last few days we have been working hard on cleaning every area of the boat out – believe it or not, we have a “garage” which to others could be called a 2^nd berth. Our boat has plenty of storage space in other areas as well which is both good and bad in that you seem to fill it. Just think of your home storage of suitcases when not in use, portable heater, dehumidifier, portable air conditioner, extra sails, wind monitor, spares, extra line, portable generator, storage containers for food, cleaning supplies, power washer, etc. etc.! We had our work cut out for us to clean out extras that haven’t been used in a while (that very handy large plastic bin that we used for doing laundry when in the Caribbean, a side mounted ladder that we don’t use anymore since we had a stern ladder made in Trinidad, the step ladder we bought in Fethiye for us to be able to get on and off the boat, etc.) Some places we have been before have a boat “jumble” to get rid of useful items that other may be able to use. Marmaris we understand used to do this in the past, but hasn’t been done in quite a few years. As a result, we kept taking these items and putting them on the dock and hoping others might find them useful. Fortunately, we have been able to make a few people happy with their new finds. As I mentioned we came back to a very dirty boat with the red dust that is prevalent here. It gets into everything and it takes quite a bit to get off when it has been baked on by the sun. Power washer to the rescue. Stainless always needs to be polished and overall did a major “spring cleaning” of all those hidden areas. With the heat (it has been in the 80’s and low 90’s) and being in the marina with less of a breeze than when you are at anchor, the middle of the day we find we don’t do as many outside jobs but continue to work inside.

We had set up an appointment for the broker to come to see the boat on next Monday so we have been busy with our “staging” and cleaning out as much as you can when you still live on the boat. The broker did say that people would have to understand that this is a liveaboard type boat and not one that people buy to stay in the marina with installed air conditioning and wide open cockpit for large entertaining. This will limit the type of people that would be interested in this boat, and we definitely understand that. We are hoping that it will appeal to people that would like to cruise the Med without making that initial crossing of the Atlantic and then possibly want to sail her across to the Caribbean or places beyond. She is definitely a great boat for that type of sailor. After doing all this work the last few days cleaning her up and organizing onboard, we are wondering “should we really try to sell her yet?” We know that time is coming, so we definitely find ourselves changing our mind almost daily. Guess we will move ahead with trying to sell and see what happens. I do know that if we do, we then have to figure out what to do with all the “stuff” we want to keep and what stays with the boat. As Bob keeps telling me, we will cross that bridge when we get to that point!

We really did buckle down to the sorting and cleaning task to the point that we even forgo our regular trip to the Thursday market. Those of you that have followed us, know how much we love market day so we definitely were dedicated to the tasks at hand. Thankfully there is also a Sunday market with far fewer vendors, but figured if we buckle down and get as much done as we’d like, we can treat ourselves on Sunday. We will see…

We finally have had some rain – actually came down quite heavy a few times which was a nice relief. The storm came with some wind that got us rocking and rolling some in the marina, but it didn’t last too long but did make a change in the weather for a couple of days. Fortunately the rain did help to keep some of the dust down for a short time. When there isn’t rain, the marina does water down the roadway some but it doesn’t last long with the sunny days we have the majority of the time.

Well, looking at this I think I have gone on enough and will close for now. At least wanted to get in to the routine of working on our blog post and let you know we made it back onboard Tsamaya in Marmaris, Turkey.

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Photos

Turkish Airlines Counter Wasn't Open til 4 Hrs Before Flight
and we were there 6 1/2 hours early so we wait

Yes, That is Dirt Covering Everything on Tsamaya
plenty waiting for us when we returned

Things Looked Good But Definitely Hot
so first thing was to get power running for fans!

First Morning Back - A Turkish Breakfast
at the marina restaurant - a great start

Our First Sunset in Marmaris Marina this Year
we never seem to tire of the view

Thursday is Market Day in Marmaris
strawberries are in season & plenty of everything here

Low Overhead - Notice the Sewing Machines
& the man inside is currently sewing a job for someone

Only Part of What Has to Come out of Lazarette
so Bob can get in his boat yoga!

Berkan from Sharp Marine Up the Mast
getting it set up to take off the boat, then put back on!

Saturday & Sunday We Transformed
from a sailboat to mastless, then back again!

Moving Our Mast to the Shop Area for the Rigging Work
& Bob doing his part checking off his list too

Removed a Bolt and Found It Was Broken
luckily we have plenty of spares so all is good!

Switched Up Breakfast a Little - All Delicious
when working on the boat, eating out is a good option

A Popular Game, Okay, Played on the Streets
stopped & talked to them for a while - fun watching!

Note the Statute Showing the Care for Dogs & Cats
as well as lovely flora and pedestrian only streets

A Couple of Days with Rain and Winds
hard enough at times to rocking us around

Comments

[Tricia]

Portugal
Hello, Love the latest blog! If you end up finding a buyer and exploring Portugal in the future, I have friends (that remind me a lot of the two of you!) that just bought a house there. The pictures they share are also as beautiful as yours. Maybe you could all meet up one day. :) Safe travels!

[Peter & Bridget]

Possible meet up
Hi Bob & Janice, It’s many years since our paths last crossed! We last spoke when we met over drinks in TTSA way back in Trinidad. We recall you commenting on how the Caribbean was rather uninteresting and at that time we suggested you might consider exploring Europe in Tsamaya. You’ve obviously not looked back since then and have travelled extensively. By chance we now find ourselves in the same area as you and wondered if a little ‘reunion’ drink might be appropriate if you were free? We expect to be at anchor in the Orhaniye Bay area, just to the east of Marmaris around the 27th of June for a few days and wondered if, between us, we could come up with a plan to say ‘hi’. If you are up for the idea then any suggestions you might have would be good. Hope to speak soon and hope all is well. Peter and Bridget PS Your verification email system does not appear to be working!

[Naomi]

The Y says hi!
Dear Janice and Bob, This is Naomi from the Battenkill YMCA! I want to let you know we received your postcard and are so glad to hear you are both doing well. We miss you here, and look forward to your return. Janice, I hope your arm is not causing you any trouble. Stay cool and hydrated, guys! Best wishes, Naomi and your other friends at the Y ?