Getting out of bond

Trying to leave Kusadasi

On Wednesday 28th August we arrive back in Kusadasi after a five week break in Devon. When you leave your boat to go back to the UK, the authorities expect you to put your boat in customs bond. When we go along to the marina office on Thursday afternoon we’re told that the customs people only release a boat from bond on weekdays. And they’ve shut up shop early today because it’s a public holiday tomorrow. So the upshot is they can’t let us out until Monday. Grrr!

We fill the time stocking up at the market, topping up the tanks, etc. You’re not supposed to swim in the marina, but Leighton slips into the water when no-one’s looking to scrape off the barnacles and weed that have sprouted on the hull in our absence.

A band of meltemi is blowing hard out in the Aegean when we finally get to leave the marina. To start with the only sign of it is the swell, so we adopt the ultimate idler’s technique of motorjibbing - low revs with the genoa out to steady the boat. This saves us the work of hoisting the mainsail and allows us to reduce sail quickly if it gusts up.  Which it does as we approach the island of Samos and it’s rough enough to get spray over the decks.

We’re bowling along at 7 knots as we turn the corner on the east end of Samos to enter the narrow strait between the island and mainland Turkey. At its narrowest the strait is less than a mile across and a current runs eastwards (i.e. against us) at anything up to 4 knots, often kicking up uncomfortable overfalls. We heel over as 30 knot gusts off the high land hit us beam on and we reduce the genoa to half its usual size. We’re thankful we have a strong boat as she just digs in and powers ahead. With no sign of the adverse current, we reckon meeting any overfalls is unlikely today. We decide to brave it and push on to Pythagorian at the far end of the strait.

Pythagorian is not one of our favourite anchorages. The wind turbines on the ridge tell the story. This place is wind central. Two years ago we spent a whole week here waiting for the wind to calm down enough for us to leave the boat and explore the island. Once we’re hooked, an Englishwoman swims over and offers to check our anchor.  There’s a lot more weed on the bottom here these days and she reports that our trusty bugel is lying on its side. It refuses to right itself and dig in when we go astern on it. After re-anchoring the woman gives us a thumbs up. Knowing we’re properly hooked this time gives us a crumb of comfort as we lie awake much of the night listening to the wind in the rigging. 

In the morning the gusts into the harbour are still dreadful even though it’s only a F5. A F6 is forecast, so we need no encouragement to uphook and head out for one of our favourite boltholes - Port Augusta on the Dodecanese island of Arki, a 23 mile downhill ride from here.  We’re the only boat leaving - I wonder why?