Home but still blogging

We are home but still reflecting on our trip.

Also I wanted to put a little explanation on as to how to leave a comment, as several people have told me they are having a problem leaving a comment.

If you click on "comment" on any particular blog a page will come up where you can leave a comment. Before sending the comment click the "Name/URL " box below the comment you have just left.
A box will show up where your can leave your name.

Type in your name and click on "post comment"

I hope this helps for those who want to leave a comment.

An other trip comes to a close.

We are home!!!!
It is good to be home, however the trip that took us over the Rhine, Main, Main Danube canal, Danube, Danube Black Sea canal. Black sea, Bosporus,Sea of Marmara, Dardanelles, and into the Aegean Sea is one we will look back on and have fond memories of.  We locked through a total of 70 locks which took us 406 meter above sea level and back down again.

The different people and cultures we met has enriched our lives.  Before and during our trip we heard  horror stories about crossing boarders, especially in the former east block countries. Our experience is quite different in that most everyone we met was friendly and helpful.
The Aegean sea where le rêve is resting on the hard right now is an absolutely wonderful cruising destination. It is always a bit questionable, and nerve wracking, if we can find a good and secure place to leave Le rêve when we go home. We could not be more pleased to have found Didim Marina to keep her, and  Yachtworks to look after her.

Some interesting statistics.
The total trip from the time we started till we reached our end destination took 90 days of which 60 days we were boating. The total distance covered was approximately 2300 nm ( 4250 km ) 38 nm  (70 km) per day. Total engine hours for the trip was 385 hours or just over 6 hours per day of running.
Le rêve performed exceptional at 3.2 miles per gallon or 1.8 gallon per hour on average. Keep in mind that we did have the current in our favor for most of the trip. The Rhine was the exception where we had the current against us however this was only about 150 nm.  Sometime we encountered a very strong current. the strongest we saw was a current that pushed us along at 12.9 kn SOG at 1600 RPM Average was more like  8 knots at 1600 RPM.

In closing I want to say that sometime I wonder why I take the time to keep this blog. But I know there are many people following along, and that more than makes the afford of keeping the blog worth while.  
We thank you for your interest and comments and say good bye till the next leg when we will once again continue the "lerevereport".

Home via Istanbul

 We traveled from Didim (the marina) to Izmir, a 2 hour car ride. In Izmir we boarded a plain to Istanbul. We had one overnight in Istanbul before we continue  to Toronto via Kiev.

We arrived in Istanbul mid afternoon so that gave us just enough time to go to a couple of the attractions, the Grand bazaar and the spice market.

I have never seen so much stuff in my life. You name it and you can find it. And it goes on and on and on....

Not only is the market very interesting the trip (by taxi) to and from was something else as well.
I believe all taxi drivers are former race car drivers. Part of the reason they drive like maniacs is that they get paid by the km not by time. So the faster they can get you to your destination  the sooner they can pick up some one else.
Some of the roads we traveled were two lanes without the lines painted on the road and they made a three lane road out of it.

 Ont thing you see at the market is some one walking around with a tray with tea on it. (Turk's really like their tea.)
So when we wanted a picture of the tea delivery man, they were all to glad to pose.

 

Next thing they insisted WE sit down and have their tea.  The guys offering the tea were rug salesman and of course they were hoping to sell us a rug.  Real Turkeys rugs are beautiful, good quality, and plenty of shops selling them.

The spice market also was very interesting. you can't think of a spice or it is offered for sale. The minute you walked into the building ( which was large) the aroma meets you.  

Didim marina and Yachtworks

Didim Marina is a brand new marina. It opened in 2010 and has room for 580 boats in the water of which 41 can be over 30 meter.
We were told that you don't want to go there because there is no infrastructure and it is away from everywhere. Yes it is a couple of mile away from town, but for 1.75 Turkish lira ( aprox. .75 euro cents) you can hop on a shuttle bus which comes around every 10 or 15 minutes.  Further more the marina has on site a very large and beautiful swimming pool, a restaurant, a cafe, beach access, exercise facilities, a sauna, a steam room, hotel rooms, and a chandlery.  This super facility cost 70 million Euros to build. 

A super yacht is taking on some diesel fuel. This boat had to be over 150 feet long

An other large yacht from Malta is moored.

The larger boats have their own storage garages along the dock.



Le rȇve is moored with boats of it's own size, proudly displaying the solar panels.
They have worked 100%. We can now stay at anchor indefinitely and not worry about draining the batteries. 

The service in the marina is top notch. Right from the minute you enter the marina you are guided into and assisted with the lines by one of two pilot boats. These are 15 ft hard bottom inflatables with a 60 hp outboard. When you want to leave your dock for a cruise they again are there to give a helping hand.

And while you are docked all you have to do is call for the shuttle service on VHF 72 and VOILÁ  you are whisked away to where ever it is you want to go within the marina.

I introduced you a couple of postings ago to Yachtworks.

Let me introduce you to Can Sürekli.  Can and his partner Yosuf Civelekoǧlu started yachtworks about ten years ago. Can has been on board several times and addressed some of the regular maintenance issues as well as some additional work we wanted to get done. Can and his partners are both sailors and they " have been there, done that". I must say I am very impressed. We have had other very good and professional work done on the boat by different individuals but seldom do you find a company who can address every issue you could run into and have the in house expertise and facilities needed to get the job done. 



Le rêve is being lifted out of the water with on of the two travel lifts they have here.

This one is capable of lifting 70 ton Le rêve is ony 25 ton so not a problem.

This is the other one capable of lifting 400 ton.  The tires on it must be close to 10 feet tall if not taller.

Here is Can ( pronounced  "John")



and his technician





checking the main bearing.


First indication is that it is still OK. But Can wants to check the manufacturers specification to see if the movement (which is very minimal) is with in the acceptable limits.

 1000 square meter of under cover yardworks facility.

Just a over view of the yard area of Didim marina.

Square meter for hard standing of boats 45000

Total (cemented) square meter of yard 60000

Enough room for storing 600 boats out of the water.

A shave and a hair cut "two bits"

 In Turkey getting a shave and a hair cut is a real treat.  They go all the way!!!

 Harold sounded a bit apprehensive when they got the torch going to get rid of unwanted hair in the ears.

A couple of final snips and, voila, we looked and felt like a million dollars.

Yacht works

yachtWORKS. 

Your peace of mind at sea.
Our service provider for Le rȇve in Didim Marina.

WE HAVE ARRIVED!!!

D-MARINA in DIDIM is where we will leave the boat

We thought we had a big boat until we got to DIDIM.

A view of the Aegean sea from the deck of the pool at Didim Marina.

Le rȇve (back row second from left) at rest in D-Marina

An other view from the pool.

Visiting Ephesus

 

Joanne in front of the shrine of the virgin Mary. According to archeologist and  theologians Mary left Jerusalem after the crucifixion for two reasons. 1/ she was grieve stricken and 2/ it was not safe for her, or other Christians for that matter,to be in Jerusalem at that time. 

According to the gospel of John. Jesus before dying on the cross entrusted to him the care of his mother when he said "here is your mother" and from that time on John took her to his own. Jesus's followers were persecuted in Jerusalem as you can read in the acts of the apostles.

Steven was stoned in the year 37 AD

James was beheaded in the year 42 AD

You further can read how the world was divided between them for the preaching of the gospel. John was given Asia Minor. Mary was given to his care and with the persecution he probably took her with him to Asia Minor (Ephesus)

From the house of Mary ( the shrine which is build on the original foundation of the house) we went to the ruins of Ephesus.

It takes two and a half hours to walk through the ruins and it is quite a sight.

Kusadasi

 KUSADASI

A city with approx. 60.000 inhabitant's.

Large cruise boats line the main dock. Everyone who comes here want to go and see the ruins of Ephesus, as this ancient and important city is less than 20 km from Kusadasi.

One more anchorage

One more beautiful anchorage.









And there are caves with HOT SPRINGS !!!!!












It was a very peaceful anchorage with just one other sail boat anchoring out.
Just after we took the dingy over and checked out the caves three tour boats came over and anchored out in front of the hot springs.

All of a sudden we are surrounded by LOTS of "Turkeys"

Anchoring out

 Where the "Burgees" fly!!!!
AGLCA in TURKEY!!!!!!

 A Wonderful breakfast at a wonderful anchorage!!!!

If you look close you can see Joanne taking her early morning swim.

 Sun sets at anchor.











 In the morning we went out to search for a store to buy some bread. We could not find a store but ran into a delivery boat which was on the way to a nearby resort and lo and behold they had two baskets with lots of fresh baked bread. We asked if we could buy some but we could not however they gave us two loaves and we had a wonderful breakfast at anchor

When it was time to move on we came across these three men in their fishing boat. A typical small fishing boat in the Med.

A tour of Bozcaada Island

 We took a sun set tour of the Island and saw lots of interesting sights as we toured.

A nice home on the sea side of Bozcaada.









A contrast of the big beautiful home is this lady milking the goat.

What can I say about this picture!!!!!

And here we are at the west side of the Island to see the sun set.
And what a beautiful sun set it was.