Makarma's log: Kekova Roads

Looking out from Yasemin bay

Kekova in summer is swarming with gulets and day tripper boats but you can still find quiet places to anchor. We’d been told about a narrow inlet too small for gulets but with enough space for one or two yachts. It isn’t in Heikell but after a little sleuthing on the charts we worked out where it was, and when we got there, it was deserted - what bliss! We’ve christened it Yasemin bay as the name is daubed on a rock inside.

The 1 metre long resident turtle at Yasemin

The anchorage to ourselves

After a couple of days idyllic seclusion we motored to Ucagiz for a planned rendezvous with Colin and Bronwen Thompson who’d chartered a 40 foot Bavaria from Gocek with New Zealand friends Ben and Jan. Colin and Bronwen live in a huge Victorian house in Richmond which we call Hotel Thompson because they’ve generously extended an open invitation for us to stay with them whenever we’re in London.

Bang on time at 18.00 they arrived in Ucagiz in time for a quick swim before drinks on Makarma’s foredeck followed by a delicious supper at Hassan’s ashore. It was great to link up with them all.

Next morning after visiting the local Lycian tombs and browsing the local carpet shop we agreed to meet up later in Yasemin bay for the night. Apart from a couple of tripper boats that came and went during the course of the day, we had the place to ourselves again. Wonderful! We all squeezed into Makarma’s cockpit for a convivial supper of chicken and couscous washed down with copious quantities of wine.

All too soon it was time to go our separate ways with promises to meet up again before long.

A week later and we were back in Kekova again - this time with Honor.

Serious business of shopping in Finike market

...and the rudimentary changing rooms

Her holiday with us was overshadowed by the sudden death of Oina, her beloved Little Granny and Cathy’s first mother-in-law, but with the funeral set for a date after her return home she was still able to come out and see us as planned.

The price of a well-earned break from work to relax in the sun with a book was putting up with the discomforts of sleeping in the forepeak but apart from a bad reaction to mosquito bites, she coped fine and we really enjoyed having her.

It’s the first time we’ve had a visitor onboard since we’ve fitted the new holding tank. We’ve added ‘tank watch’ to our usual watch on the fridge temperature, as the level in the tank is a matter of guesswork at the moment. It doesn’t bear thinking about if the thing overflowed, so we reckon life with visitors onboard will be simpler once we’ve installed a guage to measure the contents.