Friday 11th December 2020

After being pretty stationary for a few days we decided it was time for a family walk and took Jaynee and David along to the tombs in Fethyie, which we hadn’t been to. Birgul and Freddie had left for Izmir where Birgul is from to deal to Freddie’s visa extension and visit Birguls home.

The magnificent tombs are just mind blowing. Cut in rock at a time when there was no technology as we know it around. They withstood so much over the centuries and are still there to be admired by us. Such beautiful works of art.

The tombs in Fethiye where for the king and queen and their children. The kings one singular and the Queens a bit further with her children’s tombs around her.

Walking back through the back streets of Fethiye we saw a sarcophagus in the middle of the road and chickens walking in gardens, washing hung on the park fence, old woman sitting and drinking tea and chatting. Old rustic buildings and newer ones and really old abandoned ones. There was apparently an earthquake that destroyed much of the old Fethiye, so most of the buildings are newish.

If you want to read a bit more on the history of Fethiye, check out this link: https://www.traveltofethiye.co.uk/about/culture-history/history-of-fethiye/.

We quickly popped into the wool shop once more. Nina is already a well known authority in there with all the shop keepers calling her little old woman, because she knows exactly what she wants and what she looks for and comes pretty much every 2ndday to spend her pocket money on more treasures.

We stocked up on groceries at the Migros store and went back on our way to the boat or so we thought. 2 minutes into the journey the outboard motor died again with petrol leaking out of it. Great, with the whole family, a big grocery shop and a 15 minute ride to the boat WITH the motor working. So with Tim saying a few expletives he started taking the blimmin’ thing apart again, luckily having tools with him since it has been dodgy for a while. We repositioned the family and the shopping and started rowing us in the right direction while Tim tried to fix the motor. This time the fuel line split.

A little while into rowing back another dinghy approached with a seasoned sailor by the looks who cut a bit of his luckily long fuel line off for us. He had a sharp swiss army knife to do so and a cigarette hanging out his mouth all the while. We where so grateful and so lucky. Tim put the new fuel line in and we made it all the way home and I had free additional workout of rowing the whole family for some time.

The next 2 days where lockdown routine. Baking apple cake, making nourishing warm soup, doing crochet, watching movies. We even attempted to make Chinese dumplings as the crew of Pisces had treated us twice to a delicious dumpling dinner and we loved it so much we wanted to try it ourselves. They worked out alright although the dough was a bit sloppy cooked first so we added some more flour. We had some leftover and fried them in a pan the next day – so called pot stickers. They where even yummier. So glad to learn new tricks.

Once Monday arrived Tim went to the marina with David to top up Petrol and find a dehumidifier. We all have so much moisture in the boats and on the rainy days when we can’t open up to air it just accumulates with 4 of us breathing and cooking etc. David has a dehumidifier and it works well. They couldn’t find one in town, but Tim ordered one online. In the evening Jaynee and David came over for dinner and we had a nice time sharing a meal.

Tuesday saw us doing washing in the marina again and showering, changing sheets and drying the mattresses out, because they do get bit wet sitting on the bed base. There was more crochet and schooling and cooking – our winter rhythm is repetitive and simple. The weather on the nice and sunny days is still beautiful once the deck has dried out in the sun we can still spend the early afternoons sitting on deck with bare legs and a singlet soaking up the sun mid December. It feels so mild compared to the German winters I can remember. I am so grateful the winter is mild here, it makes it so much more enjoyable on the boat.

On Wednesday I finished Luca’s blanket. I was so worried I wouldn’t finish it, I used every spare minute to get mileage in. Excitedly I went to the deck to take photos of it like I had done for Nina’s blanket, spreading the blanket really wide over the open hatches. Took a few photos and stepped forwards to re arrange it – right into an open hatch landing hard on one arm and shoulder and bruising my leg and knee most thoroughly. I got such a fright, I thought I might have broken something. After a bit of shaking and deep breathing I assessed the damage and realised nothing broke off.

Tim had just taken Lucy to shore, but the kids heard the thump and came to the rescue. The knee soon swell to a reasonable size, so I was stationary on the bed for the rest of the day with the leg up, popping my arnica pills at regular intervals and embalming my leg in the appropriate essential oils.

We had invited Jaynee and David and Paul and Lori over for dinner that night. Tim made spaghetti Bolognese. We hadn’t seen Paul and Lori for a few weeks, so another beautiful reunion. Lori and Paul have a freezer, so they brought some ice over to cool the bruise down and by the end of the night it was about half size. We had a typical girls / boys catch up with the girls keeping me company in the bedroom and the boys sitting upstairs in the cold. The kids checking in here and there. They where also excited to see all our friends again. Nina had made gifts for Lori and Jaynees birthdays and was so excited to give them to them.

The next day was more leg resting for me with more crochet – how inconvenient 😉 I made a soup and cake, wrote some e-mails and did some admin. Tim went to town to buy some Oil for the generator and did the oil change. Jaynee and David got a rental car and left early for Izmir to extend Jaynee’s visa. Luca’s birth certificate arrived from New Zealand – yay! And we had Lori and Paul over again to share our dinners and company. Being away from our families and friends and security networks back home it feels so good to have those friendships at sea to support and be there for each other. I am so grateful for all the lovely and kind people we meet along the way. It wouldn’t be the same without them.

Its Friday again and now we have all the paperwork together to drop off at Immigration, so off we went in the morning, all fingers and toes crossed that all goes through this time and it did. Yayyy, pheewww, what a relief. Now it takes 2 months to wait for the yay or nay, but while they decide we can stay here tucked up safe in Turkey.

On our way home we stopped over at our usual grocery store – Migros to top up for lockdown weekend. Our motor got us home well this time too, phew! Back home I set to writing my blogs, which I had badly neglected over the past month in favor of finishing Luca’s blanket. I also updated our budget, which I keep track off on a daily basis in my paper diary. We created a budget we try to stick to, and I keep track of our daily costs, so we know roughly if we are on track or not.