Winter 2021 in Marmaris.

/ Türkiye / By

With our old boat now sold we started preparing TWO B for the 2022 cruising season, alternating between boat work and exploring the area around Marmaris. 

Buying delicious pine honey at a rural bee-keeper.
These locals were collecting wild mushrooms in the pine forests and selling it along the road. We bought a "bucket" and were told to eat it the same day since shelf-life is extremely short.
We were invited to share their lunch. Wild mushroom fried in olive oil on wood-fire, salt, pepper and some bread to dip in the pan. Simple and delicious. Türkisch people are very hospitable and welcoming.
Road-side restaurant in an old airliner. No, we never dined there.
When visiting a road-side pottery, Frits became excited about these two "rust-barrels". These are JAWA 250cc two-stroke motorcycles and Frits used to own one, his first bike and almost as rusty, 45 years ago. At that time they where made in Prague, Czechoslovakia (now Czech republic) and were later made in India by Ideal Jawa India Ltd. in Mysore and sold as Yezdi.
When traveling between Marmaris town and the marina at dusk we were persistently greeted by this pack of dogs near the trash containers at the Adaköy junction. Look at the "dog" on the left side!
This old boar, probably lost from her sounder as a result of the July wildfires, has joined the dogs begging for food at each passing car. Unfortunately she died about three weeks after this foto was taken.
Marmaris Yacht Marine is one of the largest marinas in the MED with a hard-stand capacity on land for more than 200 yachts. Because of the high density of marinas in Marmaris bay, there is an extensive yacht service industry making it an ideal place to work on your boat.
There is a large canteen on the yard where we usually take our lunch. The food is cheap and there is enough variety in the menu to not make it boring. It is very convenient since you do not have to spend time on cooking and washing up.

All recent models from Fountaine Pajot have a big “hole” in the bottom of the bridge deck, closed with a lid using some flimsy latches. This opening is also accessible from the top via a storage locker under the central seat in the cockpit. The idea behind the design is to access a life raft when the boat is upside-down, provided the life raft is actually stored there. We ordered the boat with the factory provided life raft and surprise; the yard does NOT install the life raft in this dedicated space!! Reason; it is too difficult to get it out during an emergency!! They install it under the stairs going to the bridge (steering position). None of the FP owners we know store their life raft in that locker. Most of them keep it under the stairs and some of them, like us, have moved it to the transom for BEST access. The lid of that hole doesn’t close properly and each time a wave slams under the boat the content of the locker gets sprayed with salt water. We also know of one boat that lost the lid at sea, leaving a big hole in the boat. So we decided to fibreglass the lid in the opening and make it one solid, strong piece. This is an example of one of the larger projects we did, next to a dozen of smaller ones.

Bevelling the holes for the old latches to the correct angle so the fibreglass patches can be epoxied in.
Working on the inside. On top of the lid we placed 2cm of closed cell construction foam that is then glassed over to create one solid flush floor. The project turned out very well and we have now a waterproof storage locker and no more fear to loose the lid when at sea.
Celebrating Christmas with the crew of MV Louisa in Arif's flat. Arif owns a stainless steel workshop in Marmaris and is married to a Filipina. He has done a few projects on MV Louisa and one for us.
We celebrated New Year in Marmaris town. On new years eve there was an open market on Marmaris Plaza, centred around produce of local farmers.
Home made pickles, tahini, pomegranate molasses, honey, nuts, jams, olives and more.
Türkisch national drink: Ayran, a mix of yoghurt, water and a pinch of salt stirred until frothy. Very refreshing with ice during summer or with spicy food to reduce the "burn".
This elderly couple is making "gozleme", Türkisch flatbread filed with cheese and spinach or with mashed potato, cheese and parsley.
This could be a Dutch market stall with all those different cheeses and butter. The delicious smells over the market were tempting and made us hungry.
New Years Eve dinner Türkisch style at "Golden Plate Restoran" along the boulevard. See the aluminium foil incense burners. Frits drinking Raki (anise drink in hand) and Shalgam (fermented turnip with straw), Liza drinking white wine.

Partying at New Years Eve in the hip bars along the boulevard of the old port.

With all below bridge deck - and below waterline projects finished we put our floating home back in the water in Jan 2022.

There was one major project left on our list: Upgrading solar capacity. The boat came with four 100Watt PV panels installed by the yard. When we upgraded the boats’ E-systems in 2019 in the Netherlands (https://www.twobatsea.com/e-power-system/), we increased the PV capacity to 1000 Watts by adding 6 more 100 Watt panels. By now two of those panels had already failed and one of them had a drastically reduced output. The project included: Remove the 4 rigid 100 Watt factory installed panels and replace with 3 rigid 400 Watt panels. Remove and discard the three broken flexible solar panels and replace with three out of four 100Watt factory panels. Remove four 100 Watt charge controllers. Install three 400 Watt charge controllers. Modify wiring and fuses for increased capacity.

The three broken flexible solar panels where glued on. Removal was a tedious and time consuming job resulting in blisters in the palm of Frits' hands. It took a full day per panel to take one off and clean the gelcoat of the glue. He doesn't look happy on this foto.
Installing the three new 400 Watt panels. The St.Sl. frame is made by Arif. All in all we are very satisfied with the result. We now have 1600 Watt of (working) PV installed. With careful load planning in the sunny summer months we do not need to run the generator to use our 240 Volt water maker.
In the meantime Liza ensures that we eat healthy food on board when we are not eating in the canteen
Easter celebrations in Marmaris with our Dutch friend Marc.

We had these white see thru sun shades made by one of the canvas tailors in Marmaris. These shades protect three sides of the cockpit from the blistering summer sun. One of the reasons that we opted for the cruising lifestyle is that we like the sun and warmer weather. Now we are living it, we keep protecting ourselves from the sun.

With the list of projects completed we start planning for exploring Türkiye, but that is for a next story.

Thank you for reading this post until the end and we hope you liked it. Warm regards; Liza and Frits.