In this episode of Sailing A B Sea we get ready for a 3.00am Didim departure and head further north up the Turkish coast to Kusadasi.

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Closed Captions (CC):
Set your alarms three o'clock, three a.m  Yeah. On deck please. Coffee. Coffee coffee  

Just go. At three o'clock go. See ya! See ya. So excited!

I'm Barry. I'm Aannsha. This is the  continuing journey of Sailing A B Sea.

A budgerigar!

Are you okay? What are you doing here? Are you okay? Aw, sweetie tweety

Well he must be somebody's pet hey? Must be yeah. Hello.

Oh, ah no. Ah, tch

Good morning from Didim in Turkey and this is the  uh third Tuesday morning we're spending in Didim and  

you might think: Wow it must be a fascinating place.  Well it is and there's lots to see and do and it's  

a big tourist town. I'll get into that when I explain a bit more. We arrived here on Tuesday  

12th of July and we parked in the big bay and it was a little bit too loud so we moved into the middle  

bay and it was okay. The fairground at night was  a bit loud with people screaming in excitement  

We stayed there and then on the Friday of that  first week uh the coast guard came and visited all  

the little boats and basically just checking up on  papers and we handed him our paperwork and he said  

oh it looks like your transit log has expired  and we were like oh my god didn't realize that!  

Luckily when we entered Turkey this time around  we entered at Didim so Attila the agent here  

has all of our details on file and we said look we'll  go see Attila tomorrow Saturday morning and we'll  

get a new one issued, sorry we didn't realize and  the coast guard said, okay that's fine carry on  

you might have a few problems with the Bayram  holiday. Bayram holiday is a huge holiday  

across the muslim world and everything just shuts  down. All administration officers shut. Went in to  

see Attila on the Saturday, he said well no your  transit log hasn't expired it doesn't expire until  

next Friday. Okay cool can you issue me a new one?  Yes I can? Where's your insurance document? Ah  

well our UK insurance expired and we are in the  process of getting new Turkish insurance issued  

but unfortunately that's not going to happen now  because: Bayram. So long story short uh absolutely  

nothing happened while we sat throughout the week  of Bayram, so that was uh Saturday Sunday Monday  

Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday.  And then yesterday Monday we got our insurance  

documents through thankfully. Passed those on to  Attila but it was late yesterday so I don't know  

whether he's actually done anything to process  them. I've got to go into his office here at the  

marina at nine o'clock when he opens see what  the situation with that is. If we get the Turkish  

transit log issued today then at three o'clock  tomorrow morning which is Wednesday morning  

we will be upping anchor and making a seven  hour run up north to Kusadasi marina which is  

part of the Setur marina chain. The reason why we're  leaving at three o'clock in the morning is because  

uh it's maybe 7:30 right now and the wind  is already up and it's coming from the north  

and we don't want to be battling into that, so  the wind at three o'clock in the morning is  

at its lowest possible so we can actually  get north before the wind gets out of bed  

hopefully. I'll update you as soon as I know  more about the transit log and our definite  

leaving time and our definite approval to  arrive into Kusadasi marina. Boat life eh!

Oh look you're all right. See I have to give  up to a bad hair day on a day like this

it's so windy!

Okay it's four o'clock now on Tuesday  afternoon.Things we've accomplished today  

uh, printed out the insurance documents, all good.  Turkish and English versions. I paid for the  

insurance that's all done. Paid for the brand  new transit log and that's been issued to us  

we also had to pay a teeny weeny  little fine um because there was a 

not a continuous date from one transit  log finishing to the other one starting by  

two days, three days. Yeah and that that was because  of Bayram, because of the holidays so the teeny  

weeny little fine was uh 10 euros and 90 cents.  Can't complain. So not a big fine but you know  

that's the way the cookie crumbles.  Just had word from Kusadasi marina which is  

part of the Setur marina group uh they've got a  space for us so we're going in there tomorrow

Woop woop woop woop!!

Probably going to spend at least a week there. Yeah. Maybe  a little bit longer. I'm going to spend one whole  

day of that week in the shower. Long hot Hollywood  showers. And and and. And we can have a meal on the 29th  

because it'll be my birthday. Yeah birthday girl  here so uh this year's birthday is in Kusadasi

So we'll be getting the boat ready. Once the  sun drops, it's really really hot today. Once  

the sun drops below the horizon and things  cool off a little bit we'll prep the boat so  

that everything's good to go and we'll set our  alarms at three o'clock in the morning and uh  

we'll head up there.It's a seven hour run and  we're basically leaving at that time so that  

we get there at 10 o'clock in the morning before  the north wind gets out of bed and starts blowing  

like this yeah. Yeah I mean one of the good  things is the closer we get to Kusadasi the

less effect that the Meltemi has because it's kind of like

yeah like where we are at the moment it's  sort of very close to the edge of the  

where the Meltemi is blowing but Kusadasi is set in a little bit further so  

hopefully the closer we get the easier it will get.  So I'm just watching over here there's a catamaran

just dropped anchor next to us uh we all just  recently had a power boat - nearly it us - dropped anchor in front  

of us dragged like crazy and the guy was just  like, oh what should I do? I'm like well for a start  

bring your anchor in. So he did. He brought  his anchor but he didn't turn his engine on!  

So he's like oh yeah that makes sense anyhoozle  I'm just watching this guy even if he drags anchor  

he's going to blow past us and yeah head out  to Greece and I've been watching the one right  

in front of us um and he's not likely to drag  because he hasn't dragged for the last hour or so  

Okay so set your alarms three o'clock three  a.m. Yeah. On deck please. Coffee. coffee coffee!  

Just go! At three o'clock go. See ya! See ya. So excited!  In preparation for leaving at 3am uh we've got  

to take into consideration where our anchor  is in relation to the other boats that are  

anchored in the bay and we've got one that's  dead ahead of us and so what we're going to  

do is Aannsha's now going to get in the water,  she's going to try and follow our anchor chain  

and find out exactly where our anchor is  to his boat and we might need to say hello  

we're leaving at 3 o'clock, can we do some manoeuvering  now? We're quite happy to up anchor if need be  

and re-anchor so we're away from him um rather  than wake him up at three o'clock in the morning  

Well they're lovely people. Our anchor is right  underneath their boat. He said he's happy to  

do whatever we want to do so whether we  ask him to move at three or whether we  

you know we relocate now so I said,  probably now because at three it's dark  

so he said what do you want us to do? So I said  how much chain have you got out? He's got 50 metres of chain  

out so he's now going to bring up 20 metres which  should give us enough access to our anchor. Once  

we've got our anchor up he's going to let his 20  out and he's quite settled that he's not going to  

drag. Then we're going to reposition ourselves  right there in between both of those boats

and pull back into clear water

Not sure how much this camera will pick up  anything in this low light situation. It's  

just before 3 a.m Wednesday morning, uh the  wind is now coming sort of out of the northeast  

and uh that is good because uh even though  we moved ourselves to be uh free and clear of  

having our anchor underneath one boat surprisingly  another boat came in after the fact and parked in  

front of us and we thought parked right over  our anchor. Now with the wind blowing this way  

we should have a free and clear path to get the  anchor up without disturbing anybody at this time  

of day. Um wind is uh unknown at this point, this is  a localized wind that we're feeling right now so  

we won't really know how the northern wind  

is is going to affect sea state until we put our  our nose out there and get around the corner  

but yeah we're all good to go. Aannsha's  just brought down the anchor ball with the  

flashing strobe on it so once that's done  uh next thing is to bring up the anchor

and head off. And of course say  goodbye to Didim for a while

We're about uh I don't know 20 minutes out  from Kusadasi and the plan is [VHF noise] Shush! The plan  

is we're going to go in and pump out our black  water first, fill up our fuel tank because this  

is the last stop for us going north this  particular trip, then come out of the bay 

and drop our dinghy alongside and then go back  into the marina, radio the marineros and they'll  

lead us to our berth and assist us getting  tied up. That's the plan, we'll see how it goes

Been on the go now for four hours and 20  minutes so we're well over the halfway  

mark to get to Kusadasi. We're just actually  passing Samos, coming up to the southern part  

of Samos where we like um pass  between the Turkish mainland and Samos. If you're looking at it it'll be

that way and yeah there's a bit of strong wind and  waves as we were coming around the corner but now  

here the wind's dropped significantly  and there's absolutely no wave  

uh to speak of. I'll just show you what it looks  like on the chart. This is uh mainland Turkey, this  

is uh the southern coast of the Greek island of  Samos and I'll just zoom out a bit. Here is Pythagorio

where we stayed for quite some time and that there  single AIS blip is uh someone parked in the marina  

so we're coming through this channel and then  we'll basically just head north up to Kusadasi

So it'll be interested to see what the the water  state is uh what kind of waves we're going to  

get when we get to here and what kind of  wind we're going to get. Wind prediction  

website says we should get bugger all at this  time of the morning expecting around about  

eight knots of wind gusting up to  twelve or fifteen. We'll see hey?

Greece

Turkey

About a stone-s throw between them  

On our starboard side as we head to the marina we  can see a very conspicuous fort and a lighthouse  

Probably going to go and explore that at some  point. We've got our museum cards which will uh get  

us in there. Also another big feature of Kusadasi area is the cruise ship terminal along here. Big  

cruise ships when they're in operation uh bring  thousands of passengers here throughout the week  

and yeah that's what all that area  is. But right now cruising is a no-go

If we weren't sure where we were we  certainly are now, a nice big sign

That was very helpful, thank you. Tesekkurler. Thank you very much. You're welcome

We're in!

Kusadasi. Kusadasi.

This is the furthest north we've been... so far. Yeah.  In Turkey yeah. Marineros here really helpful guys. Really really hellpful.

Very friendly. Great English yeah um know what  they're doing. Yeah the guy at the diesel and the pump out  

was really helpful as well wasn't he? Yeah yeah they made it  happen. So all in all a good first introduction to  

Kusadasi marina one of the Setur chain . And of course because we have a 12 month contract  

with Setur, we get to stay for free in this marina  for 30 days or any of the other Setur marinas yeah  

For 30 days each and you don't have to do it in  one block you can do it over the contract. Yeah  

So that's uh one of the reasons why we're here  another reason is because we want to check this  

place out. I didn't realize that this place was  so big! No no the the actual, well - the town - the marina

is quite spacious isn't it? Yeah. But the town seems  to go on forever. Yeah. And we are really close  

to Ephesus. The ruins of Ephesus. I heard about  them when I was a little girl so like we're going  

We're going. We're gonna hire a car but that that's  another story for another day,. You'll like that one Murray

Right now we're going to put the boat to bed  then we've got to go and take our paperwork to the  

office and say we're here and they take copies of  everything, they'll tell us about toilets and about  

water and electricity and uh then it's time to  just chill out because we've been on the go since

half two this morning. Or two, I mean I didn't  really sleep because I knew I had to be up so

I'd probably have an hour. So yeah we're gonna  chill. All right so we'll show you around very soon.