written by Kerensa, on 27/06/2025 At sea 2 comment(s)

Marmaris back towards Bozburun, Sperm whale sighting!

Last week we were ready to leave Marmaris after our repairs, nearly a week later and we hadn't left. A night ashore, stinking hot weather (41 degrees was seen on the thermometer), no wind and a feeling of "what do we do now?" (No plans in place) all lead to us staying put for a few more days. We enjoyed life ashore, trying to avoid the chandlery, visiting bars and restaurants and exploring Marmaris. Eventually we were forced to move due to our black water tanks being full. In Turkey it's a requirement to pump out at least every 15 days and each one is recorded on a central database for the coastguard to check as the need arises. We pumped out at the local marina, of course there's a charge to pay, in this case around £7, we have been charged £15 elsewhere (without any actual pumping out being done). Most boats still dump at sea, but still manage to get a certificate and so this requirement is mainly seen by all as another tax raising activity. Incidentally,  although we visited the pump out station and the nozzle was attached to our boat it became clear that no pumping was actually done.....

We headed off up the coast towards Bozburun, our first stop being a bay called "Pregnant church" so called because there is a ruined church on the sides of the bay, legend has it that female visitors will get pregnant if they visit. We didn't go this time as it didn't work the last time we were here! Or maybe it did, Amanda now being a Grandma! There were alot of flies in the early evening, locally known as 'vampire goat flies', these look like a small bluebottle but bite and are extremely irritating.  Amanda is an expert fly swatter and soon had the cockpit looking like the Somme, but they kept coming, often settling on the dead bodies of their mates......    Wasps also put in an appearance and even a couple of hornets. Nice. On the upside, snorkeling in the bay is lovely, we saw various fish, the highlight being a Remora and a turtle. We didn't remember this bay being as rolly as it was this time and so after two beautiful nights, (the stars are so clear with the Milky Way standing out), we left. 

We sailed up the coast in a gusty 20 knts, the wind coming down off the nearby coast,  pretty unpleasant and we ended up reefing the main and using the staysail. We were aiming for a small sheltered inlet , not shown as an anchorage.  It looked very tight, room for only one boat so we were praying no-one else would be there. Also, when we finally arrived there was one day boat already there. We dropped anchor and tied the stern to shore, but it wasn't a secure position for the night. Eventually the dayboat left and we tried to reposition ourselves, by this time the wind has changed direction, opposite to forecast, and made it very tricky to get a good position. After one attempt which left Amanda with a long swim back to the boat and almost hitting the rocks with our rudder we gave up. Amanda kayaked to collect the shore line we had had to let go and once she was back on board we headed around the corner. Our little bay was very sheltered and by contrast we anchored in 30knts in the new anchorage. We dropped our large anchor and settled down, only to watch the boat next to us start dragging their anchor! An eventful evening and we slept well. 

Next day we headed back to the centre of the cruising universe in this area, Bozburun, to meet up with Barry and Lynn Shotton on Waltz. We had a lovely sail in 20 knts, this time with full rig and flat water, Kerensa felt great. Halfway, between Rhodes and Turkey, we saw the unmistakable sight of a whale spout. It was big, really big. Kerensa in 14m long and it was much larger. As it crossed ahead of us, and got closer, we watched for ages as it kept swimming on the surface blowing air, clearing its lungs as it prepared to dive. Eventually it dove and we lost sight of it, we were in 90-100m of water depth. Convinced we had seen a Sperm whale (in the Med?) about 20m long, we did a bit of research and yes! although very rare they do inhabit the Med. There is a small population in the NW Med, mainly males, and the females and calves are in the Southern Med. On that basis, it must have been a female - or a male on a weekend jolly! We were very excited to see such a rare animal.

Not the greatest photos but......

We enjoyed the rest of the sail into Bozburun and the evening with Barry and Lynn. We are on a slow trip North now, planning to check out of Turkey in Didim, checking into Greece at Leros.


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Comments (2)

Carol Baker on 01/07/2025

So fabulous seeing a whale!!🐳

Admin on 01/07/2025

It was very exciting. We had no idea Sperm Whales inhabited the Med.

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