The Western Med

Our next sailing trip is upon us!

We've sailed with Leah and Ian before, in the British Virgin Islands, and off the coast of Turkey.  This time Leah and Ian are bringing a couple (Celia and John) and we are bringing a couple (Lisa and Seth) for the one week sail around Mallorca.  Then, for the last few days it will be just Jason and me, here we are just days from our trip and we've only just decide on those last days... southern France. The itinerary is below, and I'll update as often as I can, stay tuned!


July 25 | Fly to Spain with Lisa and Seth

July 26 - 28 | Barcelona, meeting up with the other couples

July 28 |  Fly to Palma, Mallorca to get our boat

July 29 - August 5 | Sail one week around Mallorca

August 5 - 8  | Jason and I spend a few days in the South of France

August 8  | Fly home

Side note:  I hurt my foot a few months ago and was even on crutches for a month.  I'm still not healed from the injury, so I'll be limited in the adventuring I can do this time. Wish me luck! 

Where should we sail next?

We are trying to decide where to sail to next year.  There is a poll on the column to the right here, just under our bio.  Read though our options and let us know what you think!

Mauritius

A volcanic island nation in the Indian Ocean, Mauritius is known for its beaches, lagoons and reefs. The mountainous interior encompasses Black River Gorges National Park, with rainforests, waterfalls, hiking trails and native fauna like the flying fox. The culture and the landscape are very diverse.

Galapagos

The Galápagos Islands is a province of Ecuador, lying about 1,000km off its coast, and considered one of the world's foremost destinations for wildlife-viewing. Its isolated terrain shelters a diversity of plant and animal species, many found nowhere else. Charles Darwin visited in 1835, and his observation of Galápagos' species later inspired his theory of evolution.

French Riviera

Villefranche-sur-Mer

The first of two options in the Mediterranean, the Mediterranean coast of southeastern France includes famously glamorous beach resorts such as Saint-Tropez and Cannes, and the independent microstate of Monaco. Each year the Riviera hosts 50% of the world's superyacht fleet, with 90% of all superyachts visiting the region's coast at least once in their lifetime. 

Balearics

Ibiza

The Balearic islands are an archipelago off eastern Spain, in the Mediterranean. The four largest islands are Majorca, Minorca, Ibiza and Formentera. There are many minor islands and islets close to the larger islands.  Mallorca, the largest island, is known for its beaches, scenic coastline and the Serra de Tramuntana mountains to the north, popular for hiking. Ibiza, of course, is known as an international party destination, attracting many of the world's most popular DJs to its nightclubs.

Seychelles

The Seychelles is an archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean off East Africa, known for its beaches, coral reefs, diving, nature reserves and rare wildlife such as giant Aldabra tortoises. Mahé island, with an international airport, is a key transport hub, home to capital Victoria, the mountain rainforests of Morne Seychellois National Park and white-sand beaches including Beau Vallon and Anse Takamaka.

Thailand

Thailand is on Southeast Asia’s Indochina peninsula.  Known for exotic tropical beaches, opulent royal palaces, ancient ruins and ornate temples displaying figures of Buddha, a revered symbol. Off the east coast of the island of Phuket, towering pinnacles of limestone jut from the emerald-colored and sheltered waters of Phang-nga Bay. To the south, the famous Phi Phi Islands stand as jewels of the Andaman Sea. 

Grenadines

The Grenadines is an island chain that is part of St.Vincent and Grenada. There are 32 islands and cays that make up St. Vincent and the Grenadines.  Included are the Tobago Cays, consisting of five uninhabited islands inside a massive horseshoe reef with white sandy beaches, crystal clear water, palm trees, and peerless Caribbean land and seascapes.  Grenada is also home to the famous underwater sculpture park.  

Sailing Turkey

Days 13 – 15 Butterfly Valley to Gocek

Day 13

When we woke, we set off to hike up the cliff to the restaurant above for breakfast.  There were two trails, so we took the first of which led us to a waterfall and butterflies.  This valley has many species, but they are usually all out in the spring, so we only really saw the one species. 

Then we took the other trail up to the top of the cliff.  It was a challenging climb at times, but loads of fun.

And the view and the breakfast was well worth the climb.

We noticed how the Turks had well mastered what Leah termed the art of lounging.  All along this trip, we saw people of various professions finding a shady spot and resting, lounging, talking, playing games… the good life. 

As we descended from our mountain top, we could not believe the number of noodlers surrounding our boat.  The thumping music and loud horns to call noodlers back to the boat were an assault to the ears!  This was becoming a theme for us, we find a spot for the night, wake up to hike or swim, and then come back to a swarm of noodlers so we have to hightail it out. 

Our next destination was Gocek, another place we remembered very fondly, so we gave that part of this trip 2 nights as well.  As we approached the Gocek Bay, our first stop was Ruin Bay (also known as Cleopatra Bay because it was said that she and Antony honeymooned here).  Much better than Kekova, these ruins we could actually swim in and around, and, while while there were a lot of yachts around, we didn’t mind these, they were other sailers like us, not noodlers. 

After some fun swimming, we decided to head to the bayside restaurant for some dinner.  Turns out they don’t take cards and this was our most expensive meal so far, but the owner said, “No problem,” and gave us the name of his fishmonger brother in the town of Gocek who could run our card whenever we got to town.  Very trusting of him.

Day 14

Today, inspired by the Turks we’ve met along the way, and by the thought of Cleopatra enjoying this bay, we decided today we would devote to the Art of Lounging.  We woke up when we felt like it, did a little paddling around the bay at our leisure, read on the boat for a little bit, then casually made our way to the town of Gocek.  Leah and I wanted to get some shopping in, while the men looked for a part they needed for the boat, paid for our dinner last night, and got some more food for the boat.

First we had to eat at Jason’s destination:  Kebab Hospital.  He took a picture of the restaurant last time we were here because he thought it was a funny name, but then a friend of his saw the picture and remarked on how much she enjoyed eating there, so we had to go find it and try it. It was worth the trip!  Another fantastic meal.

Leah and I shopped for gifts for friends and ourselves, she even had a necklace made right there on the spot.

Then we skipped off to a beautiful little anchorage for the night

Day 15

We woke up and hiked up a little ways to the ruins of an old Roman town that was pretty amazing.  Honestly, these ruins really looked so well made and there were villagers who still live among them. 

When we returned, guess what we found?  NOODLERS!

It is uncanny how this keeps happening, we anchor in a spot that’s beautiful, wake up and have it to ourselves, then run off when the crowds of noodlers arrive.  Actually, turns out we’re doing it right.  So, we pushed off to make it to Ekincik for dinner.  Along the way  (as our intrepid captain is want to do) we found a little private cove to pop into for a quick dip.

Finally, we made it to Ekincik for dinner, and it was lovely.  Such a pretty spot for our last night, and they brought out the freshest fish for us to choose from.  It was honestly so delicious.  We keep saying how great the food has been, but in every spot the food is great, we drink amazing local wines and beers, and have desert but still pay way less than we would anywhere in the US. 

Sailing Turkey

Day 12 Kaputas, Patara and Butterfly Valley

This morning we left Kas for the last time this trip and we wanted to show Leah and Ian one of our favorite spots in Turkey, Kaputas beach.  This is how we remembered it…

And this is how it looks now…

A little disappointing, but we came, we saw, and then we left.  We decided to go to Patara, which we actually didn’t like as much last time, but this time we loved it.  The wide sandy beach was a welcome change of scenery from the majestic cliffs and mountains we were used to seeing. 

As we anchored the boat off the shore, we saw an adventurous young couple in the distance.  I leave you to find them in the picture. (NSFW)

Also, last time we were here we didn’t go to the ruins of Xanthos, which were really something.  Every time we see different ruins, we remark on how different they seem from each other.  These were being rebuilt to look like they once did, it was so interesting to see the process.

We had a long sail ahead of us, so we pushed off and went along our way to our next eventual stop, Butterfly Valley.  On the way there, though, we saw what looked to be a restaurant tucked away in the landscape and we decided to scope it out.  As we got closer we noticed something not quite exactly right, so through the binoculars, I tried to read the signs in the distance.  It was a backpackers hippie camp, filled with interesting characters… dreadlocked young men, fit older men with long hair, leathery skin and exceptional frisby skills… free-love, organic, granola, bean baggers with questionable hygiene.  We didn’t exactly fit in coming in from our yacht anchored off the shore, but they accepted us just the same and we broke bread together.

While sipping on mojitos, Leah and I remarked on a very attractive woman in a sexy bathing suit, Leah said, “what great shoulders,” Ian noticed some “unfortunate” acne which he attributed to her youth, then Jason chimed in by saying, “I’m pretty sure that chick pees standing up.”  Once that was on the table, we all saw it, too.  And it was all accepted in hippie camp.     

After the nice little stop with our young friends, we set off to see Butterfly Valley, and boy what a sight.  The stop at hippie camp meant that we would be turning the corner into butterfly valley as the sun was setting, which made it a stunning entrance.  The orange glow of the low sun gave the mountains an even more majestic feel as we slowing made our way.  It was breathtaking.

For perspective, we came around from the left of this picture toward the beach in the video

We dropped anchor and sat on the back of the boat in this magical spot and watched the sunset.  Our most beautiful anchorage yet.

Sailing Turkey

Days 9-11 Kas and Kekova

Day 9

Ian and Leah woke before the sun and got us the hell out of Greece. We sailed all day back to the Turkish side of the world, more specifically one of our favorite towns – Kas. The sail was long and (I’m not going to lie) a little boring.  We read, did some laundry, Ian and Jason did some MacGuyver-esque electronic repairs to our faulty GPS display, read some more, and really just tried to stay out of the sun as much as possible.  There weren’t any other boats around, we couldn’t see land, and we couldn’t really sail because there weren’t any winds, so we just put it on autopilot and motored for 10 hours.  You read that right. 10 hours.

The destination was worth it, though. Kas (pronounced kash) is our favorite town in all of Turkey.  It’s a little bohemian resort town with a lively downtown that has beautiful little shops, restaurants, and bars.  

It is a tourist town, but they are a mix of Turks, wealthy yachtees and vacation home owners and backpackers.  It’s San Diego meats Cannes, meats Positano without any pretension whatsoever.  Ian says, “ritzy, but laid back ritz,” there were over 100 fully crewed superyachts that he was drooling over, and beautiful homes built on the edge of the cliffs with infinite pools overlooking the Mediteranean that I was drooling over.  

We walked around town, did some shopping (Leah and Ian bought a carpet) and we had our best dinner yet at a little restaurant where there was live music played on an oud. Just beautiful!

Day 10

Jason and I enjoyed a delicious traditional Turkish breakfast while Leah and Ian went back to pick up their rug from last night, then we left Kas to head to Kekova.  None of us had ever been and we were all excited to check out this spot with sunken ruins and ancient towns.  As soon as we got there we hiked a small hike to ruins that proportedly dated back to 2^nd Century AD. 

Then we found an anchorage right next to some sarcophagi and ate dinner at a little restaurant nearby.

Day 11

In the morning we took to the dingy and the paddleboards to explore the sunken ruins.

It was really amazing, but the noodlers became too much to bear, so we got the hell out of there.

Noodlers (n. pl):  Sunburned Northern European tourists packed tightly on a large, loud boat which takes them to beautiful spots throughout the Turkish coast.  The tourists themselves cannot (or choose not to) swim, so they float in the water on pool noodles until a loud horn is blown and they all swarm back into the boat ready to be unleashed in their next beautiful spot. 

We had planned on two days in Kekova to explore, but we decided instead to have two days in Kas since we loved it there so much and the noodlers were overtaking Kekova, so we went back to our place.  This time we pulled into the marina like grown ups and filled up our water and power and took long luxurious showers in the marina.  In town, we did some more shopping and had another lovely dinner with a fabulous view, then back to the boat to sleep.  

While sitting at dinner, Jason and I decided (read: I decided and just need to convince Jason) that we should build a house here.  Honestly, I think it’s a great idea.  We could build it to our specifications, with an inlaw suite for my mother, and rent it out to offset the cost.  Stay tuned for more on that as I do some research, and then you too can vacation here by renting out our perfect little house on the hill.