Bodrum and Beyond

Well it looked like a perfect anchorage - good shelter, solid holding, right under a very atmospheric Crusader castle - what more could you want? We settled in and prepared the dinghy for the short trip in to a restaurant quay for dinner and a look at the town. We noticed that a French flagged cruiser nearby launched its dinghy at the same time, so we had an opportunity to try out our slogan for the year, "Follow the French!" especially where eating and drinking are concerned. We ended up at a pleasant waterfront tavern, but when the French crew decided to leave a little later, they found that their dinghy was sinking. Terry ferried them back to their boat, then ferried their little dinghy back as well. I guess that's another reason to follow the French - they might need rescuing!

 

St Peter's Castle

Anyway, we had a wander around the lively waterfront of Bodrum, enjoyed a meal then tootled back to Common Sense for a sleep. No such luck. The huge party catamaran docked next to the castle erupted into raucous life at midnight and didn't let up until 5am, blasting out techno dance music that reverberated through the hull and our heads relentlessly, making sleep impossible. The massive Halicarnassus nightclub (capacity 5000) sent back its own soundwaves from the other side of the bay. We got up and watched the laser light shows for a while and tried to remember if there had ever been a time in our lives when we would have enjoyed this.

As soon as we 'woke' the next morning we motored around to Gumbet, a bay further to the west, in hopes of a quieter second night. Gumbet is another "corner of a foreign field that is forever England" with its pubs, fish and chippies and Full English Breakfast signs everywhere. We didn't spend any time there, but caught the dolmus back into Bodrum proper to visit its most famous attraction, the Castle of St Peter, another fortification of the Knights of St John, now home to the marvellous Bodrum Museum of Underwater Archaeology.

This is really something. The castle itself is wonderful - one of those Lego castles with moats, turrets and even a real dungeon including some of the implements of restraint and torture. It has commanding views of the surrounding bays and the harbour. The different 'Langues' (language-based units) of the Knights of St John each had its own tower within the castle, and these now house armour, furniture and weaponry of the time. The stones of the English tower were engraved with the names and crests of residents - fine examples of medieval graffiti! Apparently the castle's formidable defences were never really tested: it was simply handed over as part of the package when the Knights' main stronghold on Rhodes was lost to Suleiman the Magnificent in 1522, and the Knights took possession of Malta as their new base.

 

The underwater archaeology exhibits cover a range of ancient shipwrecks from the surrounding coast. Most of them were located, researched and excavated under the direction of Peter Throckmorton, then George Bass, with lots of assistance from their students, local historians and enthusiastic local sponge divers and fishermen who had previously had little time for the vast hoards of pottery, marble and skeletal vessels that they often encountered on the sea floor. Apparently the locals contributed so many artefacts once the archaeologists had shown an interest that the then derelict castle was the only place with lockable rooms big enough to store it all - hence the birth of the museum.

I think the museum's design work must have been done by a theatrical designer. Far from dull, dusty cases of exhibits, these are showcased in dramatic and interesting ways. Shipwrecks are displayed as they were found, with blue-green lighting and sound effects simulating the deep ocean floor. The fine glassware from several wrecks is in a darkened room, with each piece backlit to show its delicate structure and colour. Getting around the museum's multiple towers and halls is quite a challenge (there are lots of steps and they are big steps - I thought Medieval people were meant to be short?) but it is well worth it. Even the gardens are great, with a fine collection of Mediterranean trees and interesting artefacts - amphorae, wells, grave markers - strategically placed.

 

Wreck with amphorae and copper ingots

Well that was the good part. Hot and exhausted after a long day and quite a drive/walk back to the dinghy, what's the last thing you want to see? Or rather, not see? That's right, your yacht isn't where you left it. Aaarggh! Common Sense was not bobbing quietly at anchor where she'd been that morning - she was tied up to one of the big tourist gulets further in. The wind had changed and picked up, and the good old Manson Supreme anchor that we celebrated in the last blog had dragged! The gulet guys, champions that they were, had rescued her from going aground or doing some damage to another boat. Now came the challenging part: getting the anchor up - and of course it had snagged the gulet's mooring line and had to be wrangled free. Anchor up and we had to manoeuvre in the tight spaces between the gulets and fishing boats near the shore - and of course we strayed a little too close and got stuck in the mud. None of the usual tricks worked so Terry used our dinghy and another gulet used theirs and eventually pushed us back to open water, though not without further dramas as I narrowly missed a few neighbouring craft. Phew! Well away from the scene we made another attempt to set the anchor, but it didn't hold. The conditions were windy and unpleasant and I think we'd lost confidence a bit. At this point we noticed two yachts tied up alongside a big concrete pier behind the gulet dock. This looked like an attractive possibility, so we eased in and tied up. Terry asked a Turkish woman in one of the yachts if it was OK to be there and where we should go to pay; she shrugged her shoulders and said, "No need to pay!" and indeed, on closer inspection it was clear that the pier was unfinished and wasn't even connected to the land. What a relief to be securely tied up and to know that we would still be there in the morning!

Next day was another dinghy trip + dolmus into town to do a bit of shopping and visit a hidden gem - the Bodrum Maritime Museum. This small museum is financed by the local Chamber of Commerce and is dedicated to Bodrum's relationship with the sea through sponge-diving, fishing and travel. The ground floor is filled with beautifully detailed models of the boats that have been part of the town's history, accompanied by pictures and stories of their captains and crew. There is a display dedicated to the writer Cevat Sakir Kabaagacli (referred to as 'the Fisherman' in English, for obvious reasons) who popularised the idea of coastal cruising by gulet for pleasure, now a huge tourism industry. The top floor is a glorious collection of seashells from all over the world, which I could have studied for hours while the Captain looked at the boats.

 

The best looking of the Kaptans

 



Back to Common Sense, dropping off a couple of bottles of raki to our saviours of the previous day on the gulet. There she was, resting quietly where we left her, thank goodness, and we were set for a good night's sleep ... but wait ...tonight was obviously Gumbet's night out. The doof doof music resounded from party boats and bars til the early hours, in the words of Rod Heikel's Cruising Guide "like a heart monitor in overdrive". That was enough. Great town, lots to see and do but we really needed some sleep so it was off with the lines and on to the next (quiet) destination...