The Catamaran Adventures of Noel and Ceu

Dodging Fish Farms and Oil Slicks

Current Location: Asin Limani, Turkey
Current Position: 37 16.71 N 027 35.55 E Click to view map.
Distance sailed since last post: 93 nautical miles. View the map of our voyage track here

After nearly a month at anchor in Teos Limani while Josh came over and learnt to windsurf, and Ceu went to the Big Fat Portuguese Wedding in Edmonton, it was good to get under sail again.

In a nice following breeze we headed south for a brief visit to Samos again. There we managed to stock up on cheap beer and the last two cans of ginger ale in the supermarket. Last time we were here we cleared them out of their last 15 cans. That stuff is SO hard to find.

While at anchor outside Pythagorion we had another brief anchor dragging episode. Fortunately the neighbouring yacht from Tenerife shouted to us and we quickly fixed the situation. But I can’t believe how much trouble we have had with anchoring this year – and that despite our heavy new Rocna.

Anyway, from Samos we sailed south in brisk winds with just the jib up, and rounded to corner to anchor nice and securely in some sand at Cukuruk (37 21.0806 N  027 12.5150 E). The land is low, and the wind sweeps across it, so it is kind of desolated. But it was a peaceful stop.

Sunset in Cukurcuk Limain

Sunset in Cukurcuk Limain

From there we went a bit farther around the corner to Altinkum. There is a big marina there. And a noisy town.

We didn’t stay.

We then went farther south into Gulluk Korfezi (Gulluk Bay) looking for a nice place to stop.

At first we aimed for Shiero Bay (37 14.7813 N 027 32.3703 E).  This sounded nice in the cruiserwiki guide.

To get there we had to dodge countless huge fish farms. And between two of them we sailed through a large oil slick. At least one can say one thing for sure: pouring oil over troubled waters does indeed calm them down, as you can even see from the photo.

The oils slick between fish farms. You can clearly see how much smoother the water is in the foreground than the background where there are regular white horses from the 20kts of wind.

The oils slick between fish farms. You can clearly see how much smoother the water is in the foreground than the background where there are regular white horses from the 20kts of wind.

 

One of the many fish farms we had to dodge

One of the many fish farms we had to dodge

The landscape around us was rolling hills covered with brush, small pine trees, and olive groves. It was not particularly pretty, and looked a bit like the Greek Cyclades islands.

And all the huge holiday village developments did not help. At all.

The scenery around Gulluk Korfezi

The scenery around Gulluk Korfezi

Well, when we got to Shiero Bay we were unimpressed with the huge, I mean HUGE, white hotel dominating the hills. So we sailed on another couple of miles to Asin Limani.

This is a tiny bay with a small town quay to which one can med moor. However, just the other side of the ancient Iassis ruins is a larger bay in which we anchored. We then kayaked ashore to the ruins and walked through the olive groves and around to the little town. Cute.

Looking into the entry to Asin Limani. We anchored to the right of the photo

Looking into the entry to Asin Limani. We anchored to the right of the photo

But the water is murky, and the scenery not that impressive, so tomorrow we shall move on westward to the ‘Turkish Riviera’ to see all the mega yachts.

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