By Tradewinds Member Ernie G.
For my 50th birthday, my wife cooked up the idea of chartering in the blue waters of the Mediterranean, on the Turkish coast. We made it an extended family plan, with my father and stepmother, and my brother and sister-in-law and my two teenage nephews, plus our own two pre-teen kids. Couldn’t have done it without Brandy’s and Matt’s help this year in getting my bareboat and extra docking lessons.
To accommodate this group of 10, we chartered two boats—one bare for me to skipper and one with a hired skipper.
Here’s the route:
I won’t go day-by-day. We spent six days hopping from harbor-to-harbor, mostly spending the night at docks attached to restaurants. We spent one night at anchor in a long inlet. The food was good. The water was warm enough to swim and clear enough to see your anchor chain on the bottom.
The sailing highlight for me was learning to med moor. Some places had “lazy lines” so we could leave our anchor in the locker. Others were traditional med moors. Here are some photos:
One of our two boats. This was a Jeanneau Sun Odyssey.
The boat I skippered, a Bavaria 38. Typical med mooring posture:
(note from Matt – don’t try this on a boat with separate throttle/transmission controls!)
A typical restaurant dock. This one in a remote harbor, Dirsek. Taken from my boat while I’m backing in to med moor right next to these other boats. Americans would naturally try to dock in the middle of the big open space. That’s not allowed in the Med. They need all that space for more boats.
Here I am med mooring before I figured out that it is easier to stand behind on the forward side of the wheel. Really, I didn’t figure it out. Somebody told me.
The other crew watching me approach. Do they look nervous?
My kids hiking with the goats above the quay, looking down at our boats.
The kids were mostly into warm water and hanging out at the dock–
View from the goat hill in Dirsek
Moonrise in Bozukalle (Loryma)