We were rudely awoken, early, to a chorus of a host of Greek cockerels, but later were soothed by a slightly melancholic Muslim call-to-payer. We left the blue domes of the orthodox church behind, to be replaced later by the silver-grey dome of the village mosque. The bell-tower was replaced by the needle-like minaret with its sharp, pointy, missile-head, blue hat.
At the half-way point from Symi, we dropped the Greek courtesy flag, to replace it with the crescent and star of the red Turkish flag.
And we also hoisted our yellow ‘Q’ flag. Not that we were carrying any goods that required duty to be paid (the ‘Q’ flag is a courtesy to be flown when arriving in a foreign country, until you have cleared the border control and customs. It was originally the quarantine flag).
Turkish duties must be significant judging by the number of Turkish-flagged yachts that were carrying boxes and bags of duty-free on board in Symi. In fact, the white van from the duty-free shop was whizzing up the quayside doing ‘home-deliveries’.
So, we had left our picturesque Greek island, and 10 NM later we had landed on Turkish soil at pretty Bozburun, sitting at the top of a huge, wooded and sheltered bay, speckled with a myriad wooden gullets.
Our Greek agent, Costas, had helped us with our check-out procedures, and we were now met on the quayside by our Turkish agent, Gurkhan, to facilitate our check-in. Our passports already had the Greek exit stamp and would shortly have a Turkish entry stamp, both showing a little ship icon denoting our mode of transport.
The Greeks had kept our Greek transit log (required to prove our movements in a foreign land), and Gurkhan now brought us our Turkish version.
He also brought us our blue card.
Well, it wasn’t actually a card, but a sheet of A4 with a QR code. It now belongs to Missy Bear and concerns her holding tanks, or, rather, the contents therein. In Greece, holding tanks are mandatory on yachts and one should only empty them a good way offshore, say 1.5-2NM. Many years ago, when I was skippering a bare-boat charter, Thorne was being towed behind on a long line. Alix had not realised this and decided we were far enough off-shore to empty the tanks. As a slick of unmentionables streamed behind, we yelled to Thorne in the water, “Keep your mouth shut!!!”. But it was too late. [Alix: I have never been allowed to forget this].
But there is no-one in Greece to police your holding tank operation; it’s just a common-sense, good-citizen, honesty system. Not so in Turkey. You shouldn’t really empty holding tanks at sea. The Turks have had some pretty nasty algal blooms up north in the Sea of Marmara. They call it ‘sea snot’. And so, quite rightly, they want to limit the amount of nitrogen and phosphorous entering coastal waters. The irony is that in many settlements, e.g., Bozburun as Gurkhan admitted, there aren’t totally land-based effective waste water treatment facilities. We first parked up outside an outfall pipe in the quay wall, but quickly moved Missy Bear to a spare slot further away from the slight whiff in the 35 degree heat.
From now on, we have to pump-out Missy Bear’s 65-litre holding tanks at a proper waste station. We have two deck fittings, one above each of our two holding tanks to which the pump-out hose is attached before sucking commences. This has to be done every 14 days minimum, and the blue card is our log of this (if you excuse the expression.) We may have to prove to the Turkish authorities that we have been compliant, else face a hefty fine of a few thousand pounds!
This is quite a consideration.
For example, in Kos, we met the Yorkshire-born owner of a new superyacht that was less than a year old. He had five en-suite double berths with electric flushes. Very nice, I’m sure. But he bemoaned that each of the five holding tanks was tiny and filled quickly. If a guest hit the flush button when the tank was full, he admitted that a horizontal jet of unmentionables shot outside. Not much fun if you are in the next berth! It is such a problem that his boat is not even allowed into Turkish waters. How embarrassing, given that was his prime destination. I think some serious re-fit is in order, and a harsh word with his yacht designer.
And consider the story of our neighbours, from Durham, alongside us at Bozburun. They had reached Day 14 and had not pumped out. Worse still, there is no pump-out facility in Bozburun, which is quite a busy and popular destination. (We think the gulets have a facility, but the fittings are much larger than the average yacht and don't fit.) The skipper had heard that there was a man here who could provide a certificate of pump-out even though one hadn’t occurred. Gurkhan informed him that the practice had been stamped-out.
“Merde!” [Alix: nice pun], Mrs Skipper was getting quite agitated. But there was a pump-out ship around the coast who he could call to arrange a pump out elsewhere. So off they set in search of the poo-boat, although Gurkhan suspected it was a fake certificate scam that hadn’t yet been quashed.
Gurkhan acknowledged freely that the new Turkish rules were in place and being enforced, but that the infrastructure in many locations – away from the expensive marinas - simply was not in place. This is now another item for ship’s Passepartout to monitor and manage. I’m very good at delegation.
So now Missy Bear is heading east along the south west Turkish coast towards Lycia, which was our destination when we launched and named her:
“From the Catalan shore, to the Lycian seas,
she’ll sail the ancient Route des Isles.
Our Champagne wine, Poseidon share,
and keep all safe, on Missy Bear.”
With Tony and Rachelle’s help, we managed to fly our asymmetric/Code 0 for the first time. And how beautiful it looked! We managed 4 knots boat speed in 2.2 knots of true wind on the beam, and in a stronger, backing gust she accelerated rapidly to 7.5 knots. With just two of us on board, we’ll have to wait for light and steady winds to avoid any dramas…
Missy Bear is now moored stern-to a rickety-looking pontoon owned by a small restaurant. It nestles below the watchful eye of a fluttering Turkish flag atop the ancient citadel of Bozukkale (Loryma). Depending on what you read, this sturdy edifice was first built in 700BC, else is of Hellenistic origin which would put it a few hundred years younger. But it commands fine views including towards Rhodes and this harbour would have been a fine haven from which to attack the island in ancient times.
Apparently, the British navy have used the bay in the past. Missy Bear’s ensign is red, not white, of course, but is flying here again today.