We were up fairly early in Antalya for breakfast at the Crowne Royal – a very nice buffet.  Then we taxied to the Antalya Otogar (bus station).  It was a great shock.  We were expecting a bit of a grot hole, like most bus stations in the UK and elsewhere to be honest.  But no: it was set in a lovely park, a very nice building, more like a good airport terminal than a bus station.  Our bus was a large a/c coach much like National Express and it left bang on time, full up.

The journey to Fethiye which took 3.5 hours was spectacular.  Did I mention it cost £4.5  each????  Crazy.  We couldn’t go from Hawkinge to Canterbury on the local bus for that.  Anyway, the road went through enormous mountains and along the edge of deep valleys, all carpeted green with conifers.  At times we traversed alpine plains planted with crops.  It was very much like Switzerland.  The road was excellent.

We stopped at a cafe about an hour from Fethiye and I called Stuart.  He, Fi and John were already there and the good news was that our boat was already cleaned and ready and we could get right on.  This meant that we could get away a lot earlier than we’d thought.

Took a cab from the bus station down to the marina and quickly found our yacht there.  The others had gone to the supermarket to buy supplies which were conveniently delivered to the gangplank for us.

Very pleased with the yacht.  Things have clearly come on a long way in charter yachts since I was last aboard!  Lots more hatches, a/c, a massive cockpit, larger sails….. All very good.  Our briefing was probably the worst ever in very poor English so we will still be “discovering” things over the next few days.

We cast off our lines at about 330 and headed off on the 17 miles to Kerkoreun, a small sheltered cove where Bob and I have overnighted twice before.  There is a taverna there and he has laid moorings and comes out in his little boat to help you secure for the night.  There was little wind and what there was, was in our face, so we motored.  It took a shade under 3 hours.  There were probably about 6 other boats in.  The location is idyllic and people were swimming.  Stuart went in but the rest of us were a bit too knackered.

They came and picked us up for dinner as arranged at 7pm in their little boat.  We ate overlooking the cove: meze, village bread, large salad, endless chips, bottle of wine, beers, water, mains (I had lamb chops, Stuart had seabass, everyone else had lamb stew), dessert.  We paid £10 each which we thought a bargain.

Turned in. I woke up about 0230 and the boat was moving a bit so I went up to just check on things.  We were all secure but swinging a bit on the mooring.  The stars were absolutely spectacular.  No light pollution at all, and just endless bright points of light.  I was thrilled and stood for a while watching.

Eventually got back to sleep but it was all too soon 630 and time to get up.  Today we had one of our long legs – 40 miles – so we wanted to get an early start.  Again there was no wind but for the first few hours, there was quite a swell.  We went out deeper from the cliffs to try and find calmer waters.  I had started to make breakfast on the move but it was a mistake as I started to feel grim down in the galley.  Got it out, but then retired to my cabin for the rest of the morning and slept it away.

When I woke up at midday, it was glorious and the sea had calmed right down.  Lots of islands to sail through and we got into Kas around 1:30.  We’d telephoned ahead to Smiley’s taverna on the harbour and he was there waving us in to a perilously tight spot amongst the gulets and dive boats!!!!  Bob held his nerve – not bad for his first stern-to in a few years!!!!!

We had a nice alfresco lunch on deck and Smiley came back with a big plate of meze starters for us.  It’s boiling hot and not a cloud to be seen.  Kas is very scenic.  Built from the harbour trailing back up a steep hill, mountains all around.  We are here for two nights now, diving tomorrow.