Village life in winter

We've been living in the small village of Orhaniye, tucked into a deep sheltered bay of the southern Mediterranean coast.

The view up our street

We are making slow headway on the boat. We've decided to just seal up the hull for this season, we will come back next winter and haul the boat in Bozburun. We were able to get a quote for E 1400 to haul for 6 months. Its a primitive yard, the boat comes out on hydraulic skids, but it will allow us to peel off the gel coat and let the hull dry for 6 months. In the meantime, we will find an apartment in Bozburun, as well as spend 3 months or so back in Australia for Sophie's wedding.

Scraping off the old antifoul

So, we've stripped all the old coatings off, and can now evaluate the extent of the osmosis. The osmosis  is confined to the gel coat on the hull, it appears to be originating in tiny voids between the gel coat and the first layer of CSM. It means that the gel coat must come completely off to get a good repair.

Osmosis blisters in the hull

You can see the osmosis blisters in this photo, they only penetrate the gel coat. The rudder was a different story, it had no gel coat and the water had penetrated more deeply. We stripped the top 5mm layers of glass off, back to sound laminate. The core was wet, so we opened a window in the rudder, pulled out all the foam (it looked like aerosol foam). We'll let the rudder dry thoroughly, re-foam it and then lay up cloth to re-build the exterior. We'll do it all in epoxy, then barrier coat it so should have no more problems.

Pavlov naked!

Meanwhile, we've been immersed in Turkish village life. Expat's seem to form communities all over the world and Orhaniye is no different. We've found some wonderful friends in Kevin and Sarah, who run a yacht charter business, 'Perfect Sailing'.

Megan and Sara on the road to Datca

They drove us to a Christmas ex-pat market in the pretty village of Datca.

The inner harbour of Datca

The market was dominated by German cruisers, who had some pretty yummy wares to sell.

Expat market in Datca

German Kuchen for sale

Even Santa's presence was felt. Shame really!

We've also become more of an accepted part of the local village. We've been invited to two weddings, which are multi day affairs, with lots of live music and Turkish dancing. The whole village is fed, so it must be a huge expense. Frightening really, since Sophie (Megan's daughter) is getting married this year.

Village mosque

Small village hamlet

We enjoy wandering around the village, and will often have conversations with the local villagers. These two ladies allowed their photo's to be taken, but then turned their back at the last moment.

Shy locals?

There's been heavy rainfall this winter, with lots of local flooding and rock falls.

Fallen rock slide

Heavy rainfall

A flooded street

The village is mainly small holdings. Every house seems to have orange or mandarin trees, a few olives, chickens, goats, and a large vegetable patch. Self-sufficiency is an economic imperative.

Typical small holding

We live on these sweet mandarins!

The local topography is wild and mountainous. Not the worn ancient hills of Australia, but young, sharp and energetic. The beauty of the scenery is entrancing.

Wild cliffs and landscapes

Cliffs behind the village