On the 27th April we found out that there was another full lockdown announced, just a day before we wanted to head for Marmaris. So we decided to stay in the Gorcek National park instead, as there are so many places to tuck away for all wind directions. We left Buyukage Koyu and sailed back to Gocek. The lockdown sounded so strict, so we had to get more gas for cooking, more data for staying online and seriously stock up our boat with groceries. So the next 2 days were spent going back and forth filling the boat and organising as much as we could to hopefully get through the 3 weeks.

For the people who know me, our pantry and fridge was always well filled. It might be a left over fear from the war passed on by my grandmother and mother and east germany that I inherited, so the possibility of not being able to get food when we need it unsettled me . Nobody really knew what the rules really ment, but they sounded super strict to start with and it seemed that we would not be able to lift anchor for the next 3 weeks and we weren’t sure yet if the Groceries boats would come around.

It soon turned out however, that all my worries were unfounded. We had the Migros and Carrefour boats come every day on top of bread, vegi and icecream boats. Plus it was announced after a few days, that boats that people can live on could move about and we could even go back to town if we wanted.

We decided to settle in Wall Bay, because we knew, its pretty and well protected, there are good walkways to take Lucy exercising and the water is clear enough to make water and swim. We were soon tucked up comfortably. At first it was just us and another boat, but the next day the bay really filled up and we were joined by 2 other kid-boats we had been in touch with. The family of 4 from No Worries from Australia and the family from Risling from Germany/Switzerland were soon tied up beside us and we had sundowners on our boat. We hadn’t personally met the Risling crew before. The crew from No worries we had already met in Finike marina. It will be great for kids to be able to meet for a bit of fun & games and have our own little bubble during lockdown.

The next few days were spend schooling, playing, crocheting, cooking, paddle boarding, walking Lucy. The crew from Risling have a cute little Banana boat as a dinghy. Its a german make and you can attach a sail to sail around in it. Tim and Luca had a go in it with the sail up.I really got back into my yoga practice almost daily on the foredeck now that the weather is better and I feel so much better for it.I made Cinnamon buns a few times and we shared them with our friends, as everyone loves them and they are so easy to make and so yum.

Risling also had a snuba, which is similar to diving equipment, but the mouthpiece is attached to a hose and generator/pump. Luca and Tim spend 2 days cleaning Polly’s bottom, which looked rather bad from all the green growth that collected over winter. They had to do it in spells and wear wetsuits as the water was still pretty cold and they got tired and cold relatively quick. Its quite hard work, but so much better with a snuba, rather than having to hold the breath and going up and down often. I am no good at diving and decided I have cleaned enough dirty bottoms in my lifetime so leaving Polly’s one to Tim and Luca.

There were a few days of just much the same, school, blogs, newsletters, washing, cooking, baking, walking Lucy, tidying up, yoga, cleaning.

One day Tim and I gave Polly a deep clean upstairs. I scrubbed Polly’s deck thoroughly with saltwater first and then wiped everything with fresh water. It took a good few hours and amazing how dirty, dusty and salty everything gets. Tim polished the deck with a product he uses to protect the top coat and we looked all sparkly clean for a few days.

One afternoon all the girls had a crochet afternoon on No worries. I showed Dagmar how to crochet and explained the shell stitch I did for my blanket to Annabel. The girls had taken to make friendship bands from Julia’s book.

Luca went for a paddle on our paddleboard and the wind all of a sudden really blew up. I got worried and we looked out for him. Tim was just taking the dinghy motor apart once again and our dinghy was out of action. And then we saw him walking barefoot back through the woods carrying the paddle board. The paddle had broken and he managed to get to shore. He was so lucky he didn’t hurt his feet walking all the way back. The paddle had broken before and Tim had repaired it, but it was done for now for good. The board also had a hole in it that he had mended, when the generator exhaust melted the board by accident one day. Oh dear. The paddle board is such a good thing to have on the boat to explore and exercise and take Lucy to shore. Lucky Tim found another paddle in a shop in Gorcek and managed to make a new one out of the 2.

One day Tim was a bit panicked, because we woke up to our batteries completely empty. But after a bit of investigation it turned out our 2nd fridge that we can’t use, because we don’t have enough power had been turned on by accident. Phew! That was an easy solve.

Eventually we all had to go to get things organised. No worries moved on to Marmaris for more boat work, The Rislings moved on to Gorcek to get their Life raft serviced (also a fail like ours – and a purchase of a new one) and we moved on to another Bay called Yassica Adasi for one night. Tim was enquiring about getting some Carburetor spare parts for our dinghy motor from Gorcek and also we needed more gas after all the cooking and baking.

Shortly after we anchored a luxury launch pulled up next to us. When we tried to lift our anchor the next morning to go to Gorcek to pick up the boat parts it turned out we could not lift it and we had our first anchor salad with another boat. They had put their anchor over ours and we were hooked in their chain. Luckily the captain saw us struggling and offered to help. The Luxury launch let out more of their anchor chain and him pulling our chain with his powerful dinghy and our winch grinding away on the last breath pulling our anchor AND their anchor up we managed to untangle them and release ours from theirs. There were moments when I thought our whole winch would get ripped off and it got really hot, so we had to give it a break now and then. That was a bit of excitement, but a good outcome. I am sure it won’t be the last anchor salad we will come across.

We anchored up in Gorcek and Tim went to organise the gas and get the spare parts and then set to replace the carburetor bits and pieces in our dinghy motor and fingers crossed it will work better now. We also stocked up on groceries and data again and did our usual rituals of schooling, admin, cooking, cleaning, maintenance, repairing.

The next day we moved to Tomb Bay and the Risling family joined us for a few more days. . The girls played together and we had a potluck dinner and movie night for the kids, we had coffee’s, ice creams, swims, walks and the weather was really nice, so I also did another big washing session, to empty our dirty clothes bin.

A couple of days before lockdown was over the weather was right for us to move on to Marmaris to do some shopping and organising. It was a whole day trip, and we had good wind for most of the trip with 2-8 knots.

Unfortunately Nina has had a sore shoulder and neck for the last week and it was getting worse rather than better and she felt pain often. My usual home nursing was not successful in this case, and we didn’t know why it was sore. She hadn’t had a fall or bump that she or we were aware of. I called the Hospital on Sunday and they said to come on Monday.

So Monday morning Nina and I headed off to Marmaris hospital once again. Our memories weren’t great from the last visit with the sliced open toe. The whole process was very efficient. A translator was called immediately and she was seen by a doctor, who ordered an x-ray to be taken. The translator walked us to the radiology department and the x-ray was taken, and back to the doctor we went. Nothing was broken or unusual on the x-ray and the doc said it was unlikely that it had to do with the tick bites she had back in March. I was worried about Lyme disease. The emergency doc. Organised for us to see a Pediatrician. He looked at Nina’s shoulder too and said they could not make tests for Lyme at this hospital, we would have to go a special University Hospital in Mugla to see a Pediatrician Specialist. They gave us some anti inflamm cream to put on the shoulder. All was done and dusted within 1 hour and we paid our $55 incl. Taxi rides. We still didn’t know what was causing the pain, but at least we knew nothing was broken.

We met back in town with Luca and Tim. Tim has been shopping in Chandlery shops for bits and pieces and Luca had been downloading at a cafe. I went to a pharmacy to get some vitamins for the kids and the cream for Nina. The kids and I went to a stationary shop we knew to stock up on arts materials and stationary and I had another stock up in a yarn shop, which had loads of natural yarns, which are really hard to find here. I found some 100% bamboo, some 100% cotton and a cotton and silk mix. We gathered all our treasures and had a quiet afternoon in the boat.

I was still really worried about Nina and kept longing for our Chiropractor, Homeopath and Physio at home to assess the situation. I googled Chiropractor and Physio in Marmaris without much success, but found a website that offered other health services and had physio services on the site. I called them and it turned out they had ceased offering Physio due to Covid, but I was recommended someone private to contact with lots of experience. We got an appointment the next morning and Nina got adjusted by an Osteopath and I also got my neck looked at and it feels so much freer now. Nina said she felt slightly better after the treatment, so I have all my fingers crossed, that it will help to improve whatever ails her. I was so grateful to have found this person. At least its another try.

While we where at the Osteopath, Tim went for more explorations in the chandlery shops and found us 2 second hand items that we had been looking for, a small winch for our head sail to furl in and a spare prop for our dinghy motor. We met back at the Migros to do another grocery stock up. I will never take a car boot for granted again. Every bit of grocery we have to fit into carry bags and backpacks, lug it from town to dinghy from the dinghy to the boat, from the deck to the kitchen and then try to store it all away in sensible places and fill the fridge a quarter of the size we had at home. Provisioning for a family of 4 and a dog is not all that much fun on a boat, although at least its easy to get everything we want here. Tim, me and Luca always feel a few inches smaller by the time we come to the boat. Nina only has to carry light things like loo paper or chips.

Back home we settled in for schooling, doing the budget, writing blogs. Tim installed the new winch and tried out the new second hand dinghy motor and filled our fridge lid with expanding foam for better insulation.

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