We’re in a different part of the Mediterranean, Karpaz Gate Marina. The nearest town is Yenierenkoy. Not sure what to call North Cyprus though Cyprus is an independent country. There is a "green line" that divides north from south but we haven’t seen that point yet. We checked into North Cyprus. We will leave DoraMac here while we’re home in the US and then spend the winter here until cruising season begins next Spring.
Ru
DoraMac
All passages should be like this passage (except for the dings in the boat from pulling up our Paravane fish Sunday morning.) It was almost boring.
Afternoon nap time for me (Randal is at the helm)
During the “dark” we each stand two formal watches. Mine were from 8 pm to 11pm and then 2 am until 5 am. And I never had to wake Randal during his so you can see what an uneventful passage it was. We passed ships but with our AIS and Radar it was no problem and there were no fishing boats that we ever encountered.
After those harrowing, frightening, awful passages (Langkawi, Malaysia to Sri Lanka and then to Cochin, India,) boring is GREAT!!! The weather was sunny, the winds died down Sunday morning and our speed was as expected. AND NO PIRATES TO WORRY ABOUT!!!! As a matter a fact, we kept hearing the Israeli navy checking on ships. They either have a powerful radio system or I don’t have a clue actually. Or maybe it wasn’t Israeli; maybe it was some other navy that sounded like Israeli.
Checking into Cyprus at Girne Monday morning was simple, quick but not cheap, 120 TL, $73. There might have been a “free” option but we didn’t have the time to anchor out, take the dinghy to shore….. We still had 48 miles to reach Karpaz marina. So we opted to pay the docking fee at the marina and let them handle it all. The passage from Girne then on to Karpaz Gate marina was calm with good speed to get us by 4:30pm Monday afternoon, August 1.
Late Sunday evening Randal caught a tuna! I don’t mind the cooking or eating, but I really don’t like the part that comes before that. I was actually rooting for the fish. However, hypocrite that I must be, I ate some of the fish Randal cooked for dinner but I did remember to thank the fish for his sacrifice! Randal shared some of the fish with our marina neighbors but we still have lots to eat before we leave here.
Big Tuna: Randal stopped smiling by my 5th photo because the fish was heavy. (That’s our Paravane fish on the railing behind the tuna.)
Leaving Marmaris was more than a bit sad. We both really like Turkey and had sort of grown attached to Marmaris and the surrounding area. We’ll miss our agent who was really quite helpful, our favorite guy at Aciktim where we always ate lunch, our buddy at the Shell Station and the great Gokova cheese guys at the Thursday market. We still owe our Dost Hotel friends a visit to the boat. Next time. And all of the wonderful people we met on our motorbike travels. It’s hard to believe we only spent 3 ½ months in Turkey. I hardly remember our time in India (a month and a half) and the month in the Maldives we’d rather forget.
Cetin Aktepe
Cetin was always friendly, helpful, knowledgeable, and luckily for us he could speak with us in English to make up for our itty bit of Turkish. I expect him to be managing a station or mayor of Marmaris one day. Nice guy.
Just before leaving Marmaris I talked Randal into loading up our cell phones because: 1) The Turkcell people said it would work in Cyprus and would be active for 6 months and 2) our radio Sailmail wasn’t working so we could always call people on the phone mostly being close enough to the coast. Wrong. The phones stopped working away from the Turkish coast and never started working near the Cyprus coast. The marina manager in Girne told us that they won’t work. Rats! But the good news is that we can continue to use our motorbike under our Turkish registration and insurance. That means we can go exploring Cyprus, at least the northern part above the Green Line. The larger part of Cyprus belongs to Greece; the smaller northern part Turkey claims and, at this time, no one is telling Turkey they can’t have it or going to war over it. Apparently it’s an issue effecting Turkey’s admission into the EU which recognizes all of Cyprus as part of Greece. ( I think.) When we return to Cyprus and have more time, then we’ll look into heading for South Cyprus on the bike. It’s enough of an issue that when we checked into North Cyprus, our passports weren’t stamped. We were given a separate piece of paper so if we choose to go to Greece we won’t be blocked because we have a North Cyprus stamp. I’m not making any editorial comments other to say our own country had to have a horribly bloody war to settle issues between north and south and that wasn’t impacted by two bigger countries involved.
Looking back towards the marina offices, restaurant etc.
Looking back at DoraMac
We’re at the end of the dock so can be tied on our starboard side rather than Med moored from our stern. Much easier this way and makes it possible to take down the motorbike. Most of the boats are tied this way; maybe because the marina is still mostly empty. www.karpazbay.com is the website showing the future rather than what presently exists. There are some docks with water and power. Just now, 10:37 am we aren’t using the AC because the breeze makes it not necessary. I washed our passage clothes this morning and you can see them hanging on the line. It isn’t supposed to rain until September! Our nice neighbor, Louis, next door is hosing down his catamaran. The opposite boat seems to be empty as are many of the few boats that are here.
You can see the outer wall what protects the marina.
There are men working, mostly underwater I guess hooking up what looks like water and power for what we’re guessing will be berthing spaces in the future.
The entrance and exit into and from the marina makes it well protected.
Leaving, the red marker is on your right where in the US it would be on the left
Now it’s dirt and construction, sort of like where we were in Puteri Harbour in Johor, Malaysia.
The marina is one huge swimming pool!
Our neighbors swam over to say hello! I just stuck my feet in next to our boat and it’s not so warm as the Tropics but not so cold as the Atlantic off Massachusetts where I grew up swimming and was “Not Cold, MOM!”