After the excitement of the England win and the arrival of the Jones family the night before, the first full day in Ekincik Harbour was spent resting which for the Jones’ meant taking the paddle boards for a spin!!

Ekincik is an unusual place for us in that the harbour is not the main source of tourism. There is room for only a few boats and generally it is a destination for local Turkish holiday makers. Around from the harbour is a long beach which you can see in the photos above and below. It has a few ramshackle cafes on the beach serving the people who are camping there. Behind the bars are what appear to be about fifty semi permanent tents, with families cooking up on their BBQs and kids squealing with delight as they run across the burning hot black sand! Despite all of this energy, the place has a strange downtrodden feel to it but it was clean and the harbour master, Aladdin, was a great help with everything we needed.

This included arranging a day trip for the Jones’ to see the sights that we have enjoyed so many times in this part of the world. The small boat would take Joe, Jo, Maddie and Ella down the Dalyan River to see turtles close to Turtle Beach, the tombs in the rocks on the approach to Dalaman where they would have a splendid lunch in a Pasha Restaurant and also the ruins of Ancient Kaunos. A trip to the mud baths was aborted due to the soaring heat!

Off they go!! Have a great day! Yes, of course we’ll still be here when you get back!!!

As the day trip had ended earlier than expected, we took the opportunity to get going. We were longing for some solitude and to be able to swim off of the boat and after an hour we came across a small bay that we had not visited before. We were all pleased, after the excitement and heat of the day, to be somewhere beautiful and to have dinner on board. The Jones’ rustled up one of their family favourites involving a mountain of tomatoes and it was gorgeous!

The bay we had opted for was called Blue Grotto – very secluded and the Jones’ first experience to swim off the boat. It was also Joe’s first experience of helping with the mooring by swimming to shore with the mooring lines and tying us up to a suitable rock! This procedure emulates the one we have in harbours or marinas where we have fixed mooring lines that we attach to. Joe did a great job!

Next on the agenda was to move further east towards the Bay of Fethiye and the many stunning anchorages and small bays in the area.

One of my all time favourites (up there almost with Sailors Paradise!) is Kapi Creek. An inlet within a bay, offering a small pontoon and a restaurant. The way the pontoon is positioned means that if you are on the right side of it you effectively have your own sheltered swimming pool! This is where, many years ago, Jacques taught Charlie how to row the dinghy but that success was only achieved after a few false starts along with some frustration and bad temper from Charlie which resulted in him being thrown overboard off of the dinghy!! He is now a fabulous rower and chief of trips ashore when needed!

Our Kapi swimming pool!

Back at home on the following day, July 4th, was the General Election. Those of us on board that were eligible to vote had done so in advance and like most of the UK we were all hoping for change! To mark this momentous occasion our stopover would be another favourite – the anchorage at Bum Sting Bay!

Bum Sting is not the bay’s official title, I’ll leave to your imagination to guess why we have named it so! Some of you may have heard over the years my tale of how I nearly floated off to Greece in a dinghy from this very bay! Long story but with Jacques and other competent sailors having gone on land for a walk, when trouble in the form of higher winds pushing us onto the rocks was perceived, the task of taking the dinghy to the beach to alert them and bring them back was left to me. A couple of issues with this plan of action:

1. Instructions were given to me in a panic by a co crew member, a French friend who spoke no English and with my French being extremely limited, trying to convey that I was not Steve Redgrave was somewhat lost and most importantly
2. I had never rowed a dinghy before or in fact any floating vessel actually!

Once in the dinghy I quickly realised that rowing was not a skill I possessed and decided to try and style it out like Pocahontas paddle boarding! This was not at all successful as by now the wind had turned and was pushing me away from the beach and out to sea!

Despite my frantic ‘paddling’ I had no influence at all over the direction of travel and my progress was only halted as I bumped in to a small fishing boat tied up to the rocks. The sleeping fisherman looked quite shocked to have been woken up by a crazy woman standing up in a dinghy and in true British fashion I blustered ‘sorry’ and ‘thank you’ and ‘can you help me??’ as I tried to push the dinghy off of his boat each time it whacked against it!!!

Just about then two things happened! A man from another boat moored in the bay, having seen the disaster unfolding, got into his dinghy (with a motor) and started to head towards me and secondly Jacques and Bernard arrived on the beach, looked at the situation and remarked ‘ What the f**k is going on’ followed by Jacques’ instruction to Bernard ‘You get the boat, I’ll get Tracey!’ Hence they both stripped off and swam out to rescue their allotted target!!! A short video of the scene I took whilst back in the bay this time!

Being two hours ahead of UK time, it was a challenge to stay up to see the start of the election results but we managed to keep awake for the first flurry and then set our alarms for 5am UK time to be able to watch the majority of the later declarations. Yippee!

Two nights in Bum Sting were fabulous but the time had come to go to town for food shopping, a visit to a Pharmacist and to see a different aspect of the Turkish coast. Short hop of two hours and we were in the marina at Gocek.

Who knows if it has the best food of the many restaurants in town but we always head to the Gocek Kebap Hospital!!

After our one night in the busy metropolis, next stop was to a nearby and beautiful anchorage, the Yasica islands. Once the day boats had gone is was literally a sea of tranquility – until of course England v Switzerland quarter final that night!

There had been a great deal of media, pundit and fan speculation re Southgate’s selection, formation and match tactics. The 90 minutes were, as ever, nail biting and heart racing/stopping but it was Gareth’s genius in making sure we had all of our best penalty takers on at the end of extra time that saw us through to the semis – and Trent scored the winner!

Penalties and then champagne!! Not a combination I ever thought I would experience!!

Enjoying the location so much we stayed for a second day to enjoy the opportunity of more messing about on the water and the added bonus of the floating ice cream van!! Take that Mr Whippy!!!

Weekend aperitifs on foredeck!! Fab selfie courtesy of Ella!

The clock was sadly ticking to the end of the Jones’ time with us and we had to plan our last few days so that we would be back in Ekincik ready for their departure. A MUST for a trip to this part of Turkey is Fethiye and we treated ourselves to the luxury of the marina attached to the Yacht Classic Hotel. It is very difficult to swim in most marinas so the use of the hotel’s pool, including its swim up bar, was very welcome!!

And whilst in Fethiye, the theatre of the night time Fish Market is a sight to behold! The market is circular with many vendors touting their prawns, sea bass, octopus etc. You roam around the various stalls and choose the guy you want to do business with and buy your fish. On the outer circle, surrounding the market, are at least ten restaurants and they all have their own ‘runner’ trying to lure you and your newly acquired fish to their place!

You choose your mezes, starters and drinks whilst they cook your fish – fabulous entertainment.

It is always a very bustling, vibrant experience complete with roaming musicians and wonder at how it all works as well as it does.

After our meal we spent some time wandering the streets of the town, more colour and energy at every turn. We stopped for a Chapeau Nuit at a small cocktail bar – young lovers and old friends were everywhere!!

Next stop on our return tour was to another old haunt that had definitely had a makeover!! On our first visit here 15 years ago, the restaurant was a small shack, quality of food was dodgy and the showers and toilets were wooden cubicles inhabited by a plague of wasps! In fact, much to my parenting regret I remember insisting that Charlie would be fine in the shower cubicle – I would ward off the wasps and all would be well. Except it was not! Charlie got stung on his hand and the swelling was of epic proportions. Thoughts of anaphylactic shock and EpiPens ran wild in my mind but thankfully ice and rest did the trick!

Beautiful though the new Tomb Bay restaurant was we only had time for an aperitif and to take part in the slightly confusing process for ordering food to take away! Tonight was the Euros semi-final, England v Netherlands and we had to be back on board to watch it!

During the day whilst swimming we (or rather I) had a made a new friend, Mike from California. Mike informed me that he loved watching the ‘soccer’ and could he possible watch the game tonight with us on Mossy Joe. Of course I said ‘Yes, the more the merrier’ and then faced an interrogation from the rest of the MJ crew re the mental state of our potential guest and had I just invited a deranged axe murderer to join us!!

Once back on the boat with our luxury takeaways, we prepared ourselves for the game and no sign of Mike so far! We were ‘double VPN’d’ so that we could watch UK TV in Turkey and this added a slight delay to the transmission – this was not an issue we thought as no one else was watching or listening. We were wrong! Somehow, still in the restaurant, our new friend Mike was tuned in and when England scored he jumped up, pumped the air and gave out an almighty cheer. We were only confused for about 15 seconds as we then watched Kane put away a most excellently taken (albeit dubiously awarded) penalty to equalise Netherlands’ early goal.

And then of course we won!!! Just like buses, you wait 55 years for England to be in a final and then two come along in three years!! No champagne this time just pure elation!

We set off early the next morning to get a few steps closer to the end destination but not before we had time to see the, not uncommon, sight of man, dinghy and dog!!

Out at sea the morning mist gave an eerie appearance to the incredible landscape.

Our one but last overnight stay was another new find for us, the small cove of Baba Adassi – goats and rabbits on shore and the chance to try out one of Jacques’ new toys, the hookah! The hookah allows underwater swimming – a cross between snorkelling and full deep sea diving. It will support breathing up to 10 metres depth without having to use an oxygen tank. We all had a chance to try, Joe being the most enthusiastic having been a few years since he had scuba dived. Sadly, I don’t seem to have any photos of this event, just stills and video of the goats!!

We felt that to spend the last night together back in Ekincik Harbour would not be satisfactory so we bit the bullet and headed to My Marina just opposite the harbour. The food and the cost might be painful but it would be worth it for the superb swimming area.

As it turned out the food standards had returned to their original best. Hooray! Our last dinner together was in a stunning setting with cocktails and food to match.

The Jones’ and I headed the following day to Dalaman for flights back to the UK. I had some engagements to fulfil – with Lily for her Graduation at Winchester Cathedral – this is the evening before reconnaissance.

and with Charlie for the Euro Final. Well we all know how that turned out!!

Whilst I was alway Jacques busied himself with a variety of boat jobs, not least removing the old solar panels which were still underneath the new ones and were causing leaking of water and gunk! Everything had to come off, be cleaned and replaced – all in 40 degrees sun! Well done Jacques!

Five days later I was back on board ready to set sail for new destinations, I had no idea of the drama that was about to unfold! More on this next time and meanwhile here is a super picture of Tilly Turtle having a swim around the boat in Kalkan!

Sail Safe, Be Kind.

Tracey xxx