I didn’t sleep well last night. Various boat noises kept me awake, and then live music at a marina bar played until well past 02:00. I found myself singing along to “Gimme gimme gimme a man after midnight”, although by that time I was praying for headphones. I finally drifted off to sleep only to be woken at 03:00 by Richard, who had slept through all of the above, but was now complaining of voices chatting on a nearby boat.
So, I wasn’t at my most alert, when Richard jumped out of our bunk at 07:00 and proclaimed the day to be absolutely calm, and therefore perfect conditions to motor across the bay to the fuel dock and pump-out station.
For those of you who have been following this blog closely (and some of you have commented how closely we follow our own effluent), you will remember that here in Turkey, we are obliged to have our black-water waste tanks pumped out at least every two weeks, or we may incur a hefty fine. Since we have been in the marina, we use facilities provided on-site, but nevertheless, this coming Friday (two days away) will be the first two-week anniversary of our need to pump-out.
We’d sort of been putting it off: the marina had brought us in on the mega yachts’ quay, and mooring and fending off between two much larger vessels than Missy Bear had not been the easiest experience. This was despite having our friends on board to help. But since then, one of our neighbours had departed, and it would be good to get this done before he returned tomorrow.
The marina had also promised us that they would move us from the poor-relations quay to a pontoon where Missy Bear would feel much more at home. So, while Richard started getting the power cable and water hose back on board, I forced in some contact lenses and trotted up to the marina office to see if we could come back to a different pontoon. But of course, they had not yet opened for the day.
We were ready to leave not long after 07:30, and called the Marinero on the VHF to come and help us out of the berth. We had a bit of a debate with him as we believed he’d used two of our mooring lines to connect us to the lazy-line (such is the size of the mega yachts’ pontoon), but he swore it was only one and promised to check. (We did feel a bit embarrassed when we later counted our lines, and found he was correct! We apologised)
Over we motored to the fuel/pump-out berth for D-Marin, arriving just after they opened at 08:00. The dock guys were already there, sitting at a table, eating something with bread rolls from a bag. They helped us come alongside. The screw caps to our waste tanks are located on our starboard deck, we unscrewed them, and basically, they stuck a big hoover nozzle into the tank, and started sucking. The next job was fuel, and fortunately it was a different nozzle into a similar unscrewed hole, and fuel got pumped in. [Ed - imagine if one day that that actually worked, i.e., you could run an engine off your own black water...]
We handed over cash for our pump-out, and a debit card for the fuel (why?). [Ed – you know why] They whisked away our precious Blue Card (i.e., the QR code on a bit of A4), to register that we had pumped out, which means we are now clear for another two weeks.
They commented how nice Missy Bear was, we agreed, and we all parted cheerfully with lots of thankyous and good-byes. The men went back to their breakfast (hmmm), and we chugged away, waving at the coastguard boat approaching to dock, who, to be fair, waved back at us with lots of smiles.
On our return, the Marinero told us to follow him, and roared off to the other end of the marina. We are now parked up in a much more suitable berth on B-pontoon, where Missy Bear is now an average-sized vessel.
We may have sacrificed our open view of Fethiye Bay, but we have also lost the swell caused by tenders porting their clients to the quay. Our view is now of trees and mountains, and we are also much nearer to Gocek town. Happy days.
[Ed - Addendum: I have been chatting to a few ex-pat yachties about Gocek in general, and why the place is expensive and rammed full. It wasn't so three years ago, apparently. Generally, there are fewer British yachties here after the security issues surrounding the failed coup. (Apparently Turks in Dalaman were openly carrying weapons!) But the rising Turkish middle-class is more than filling the gap.
It was Covid that was a game changer. Lockdowns here excluded being able to visit or live on a yacht, so many Turks bought boats (including old, ex-charter boats) to live on and escape the cities. Further, many Turkish boaties travelled south, away from Istanbul, Bodrum etc, to escape the cities. They arrived in sleepy Gocek. And they are still here! They may never go back? And if you want to know where the Russians have gone on their holidays? They are here!
As a result, there is no spare capacity, and the marinas realise they can charge whatever they like for a berth. It's bad for non-Turks, but those paying in Turkish Lira are really hurting, because inflation has been running 70%+.
But, to get back on topic, "no", the Turkish boats don't all pump out every 14 days. Their logic is: how can the authorities know how long we have been on-board? Notwithstanding, the crew of Missy Bear are good, up-standing, law-abiding citizens of the sea, and will follow diligently all the necesary ins-and-outs.]