36 hours after we said ‘Goodbye’ to our daughters and with a speedy return back to Turkey we welcomed Charlie (aka The Boy Child) and his friends!!

Charlie and Beck arrived to meet us late at night in Ekincik and a swift change of plans along with the last minute confirmation of the arrival of Jake saw us heading back to Fethiye Bay the following morning.

We had one day and night before we had to be in Gocek to meet Jake so it was an opportunity to head back to Bum Sting! Hooray!

The guys earned their keep by tying up the lines to the shore and then spent hours messing about on the paddle board and playing water keepy uppy!

Fully at one with the Paddle Board, there were reports of fishing taking place but all I know is we had pasta for dinner and no sign of any sea food in any of the courses!

We had a special ‘moment’ when Beck decided to try out the sea scooter and managed to catch the drawstring of his trunks in the spinning fan!! Jacques to the rescue and all ended well but it did put me in mind of the time when my Dad caught a delicate part of his anatomy in his trouser zip!!

Trying to get out of the water with the scooter attached was a very tricky exercise – not helped by the amount of laughter from all in attendance!

Back to Gocek the following day to pick up Jake which of course resulted in dinner at the Kebap Hospital! We now have an official loyalty card! Two more main meals and we get a free set of M&S Autumn Leaves Egg Cups!

Jacques made a new friend and I was surprised not to find a small furry stowaway on board the boat the next morning!

There was even an attempt to soften me up to the proposition!

A few days of general silliness in and out of the water ensued, lots of lounging around, fabulous food, strange cocktails (Ouzo, Limoncello and Disaranno mix anyone?)

We also had the now compulsory trip back to Kapi Creek, where Mehmet was expecting us – again! He was very interested in the relationship status of the guys, who had a girlfriend? who did not? He was keen to dish out advise on how to achieve ‘Kissy, Kissy, Paradise’ along with some supporting hand gestures!! The boys had great fun, laughter and ‘banter’ managing to transverse any language barriers!

Mehmet had his usual question for me ‘Do you have a sister?” and my response as usual would be ‘yes’ but this time I could say “Yes, and she will be here with us next week along with my cousin Tina’. The gleam in his eyes! More on this next time!!

The guys enjoyed some more paddle board exploits in Kapi before we set of for another remote bay for swimming, snorkelling and relaxing.

Except the weather had other ideas!!!

The downpour also highlighted a couple of areas in the boat that were not as waterproof as we had thought…….

But it did allow for some indoor lounging around!

The sun came back to shine on us again the next day which prompted the traditional sport of swinging off the boat from a rope!

Our last port of call was planned to be Tomb Bay, another of the bays where it is free to use the quay but you are expected to eat at the restaurant. We had been there before and found that although the food was expensive, the quality was far superior to any other we had experienced in the area.

I had booked in advance and as we approached we could see that there were many spaces on the quay and got the boat prepared to moor up stern to. We were surprised then when the mooring staff indicated that we should head ‘inside’ the quay and alongside. We understand why this as on the outside quay we take up the space of at least two monohull boats who would not be able to moor up ‘inside’ as it is too shallow for them. Multi hulls either have no keel or need less depth (draft) than mono hulls.

The last time we were here the same thing happened – they asked us to go inside on the left and as we headed around our alarm went off indicating that the water was not deep enough for our keel. The staff helping us to moor understood and gave us a place outside – all was well!

This time they had indicated to head to the right hand side and we thought it was worth a try as perhaps the water was deeper there – but no! The alarm went off and we retreated outside of the quay – waving at the guys on the quay and pointing at the many suitable spaces that were free, we lined ourselves up to reverse into one of them. We were then amazed to be waved away to shouts of ‘no space, no space’. Pretty fed up about this we left! I was in WhatsApp communication with the lady who takes the bookings, her asking if we were still coming and trying to convince me that it was deep enough for us!

I wanted to text her to say ‘up yours’ and that we were off to their closest competitor in Wall Bay but as we really wanted to be able to go there the following week thought best to be civil!

In Wall Bay the guys found the pool table and the beach whilst Jacques and I set off for a wander along the signposted track through the woods. Beautiful!

Wall Bay, like Tomb Bay, has become much more sophisticated since our first visit 14 years ago. This includes comfortable seating areas, very luxurious showers and toilets (except Beck and Jake experienced less than warm water apparently when they went to use the facilities!) and a weird glass library type building which holds a series of semi pornographic books!!

Photos below are not mine but hope they give you some idea of the vibe of the place!

This was the last night we would have with Charlie and his friends so we were happy to have a great meal in the Adaia Gocek restaurant.

After dinner there was DJ ‘spinning some tunes’ at the other end of the restaurant so Jacques and I left the young people to go enjoy themselves. Conscious that this holiday was not a ‘typical’ choice for three 22 year olds I was always pleased when there was some entertainment available. There are only so many games of Uno and Rummy that can be played but I’m sure there were other card games taking place late at night that involved more bizarre alcohol concoctions as forfeits!

We had a few hours before setting off to Fethiye where the guys and I would be heading to the airport early evening.

The ‘last swim’ is always a special moment and for Charlie this involved more jumping and launching himself off the boat in the noisiest way possible. His usual trick is to wait until I get in and then jump close enough to me to send shock waves and actual waves splashing my face which I am never happy about. Not this time though!

There were a couple of dramas during this trip, one being that the anchor got stuck in the bay where we had the rain. It took some manoeuvring and circling to release it from where it was planted – probably a rock that the anchor had moved around during the storm.

The other drama manifested itself when we left Wall Bay when try as we may it seemed we would not be able to leave at all!

In the previous week the bow thruster had been making a terrible noise and on closer inspection (Jacques using the Hookah system again to get under the boat) there was no obvious cause. When we got to Gocek to pick up Jake, an engineer came to take a look and to make a long story short he proposed to have the boat lifted out and a new bow thruster to be installed – all for the bargain price of 15,000 Euros!!!!

We said no thanks!! But that did mean that any mooring up especially in wind would be tricky.

Lo and behold when we set to leave Wall Bay the wind got up and with boats behind us and across from us, without a bow thruster we were going nowhere!

Charlie, Beck and Jake all took up positions (Beck having to go back on shore) with ropes tied in various configurations, fenders being held to stop the boat crashing back on the quay and then other people stopping to help ‘push’ the 20 tons of boat sufficiently away from the quay so that Jacques could reverse the boat out! That was a really scary episode but the whole team stood by their instructions and after 9 or 10 attempts we were off!!

We anchored in Fethiye Bay and took the dinghy to the marina so that the guys could have a wander around the old town which is an experience in itself! Meanwhile, in the knowledge that when I came back in four days time I would have Princesses Trish and Tina with me, I set about cleaning (in some places full disinfection of!) the three cabins and bathrooms that the guys had vacated. Three hours later (!) just had time to pack a few things, shower and go back in the dinghy to have a farewell drink and jump into the taxi to Dalaman airport.

Sad to leave Jacques again but knowing that four days of peace and quiet, after the guys and before the gals, he would probably really appreciate.

Arriving home at 3am (my Turkish body clock on 5am) stupidly went to the kitchen and noticing that the freezer drawer was not shut properly found myself laying on the floor pulling chunks of ice off of the back of the freezer!! As you do!

The next three days were a whirlwind of seeing family, going to the theatre, hair cut and nails painted, packing all the items that needed bringing back to the boat along with the obligatory trip to Home Bargains with my Mum!

The evening before the trip back to the boat the ‘Terrible Two’ T’s came to stay for the night to make the early journey to Stansted in the morning.

The week with the two T’s was a remarkable contrast to the time with Charlie, Beck and Jake, not least because we had to prevent Tina being whisked off by Mr Mehmet! Fun, laughter and in this case, rosé wine, were also had in abundance.

Much, much more to say on all of this next time!

Thank you for reading.

Sail safe, be kind.

Tracey xx