David's Diary: Saturday, August 9, 2003

What A Birthday in Bodrum

It's my forty-sixth birthday today. My reward is that I get to do our last short passage to the Yat Lift boat yard to lift Dragonsinger out of the water. I get up early and get the children settled in the local hotel where we are going to stay for the next few days. I need some cash, so I walk down the waterfront looking at the people up early on the Gulets moored next to the quay.

Yat Lift Dock

Karalee and I pushed to get everything ready early in the morning, but it's after 10:00 by the time we leave the dock. The daily wind has already started to blow. The wind doesn't bother Dragonsinger, but we know it will make things tricky when we go to pull into the narrow dock at Yat Lift.

Dragonsinger Out of the Water

Karalee is at the helm for the final time as we approach the dock. She points Dragonsinger in and just as we are about to arrive four men come out to help us. One of them waves frantically to us and moves his hand in a circle. With less than half a boat length to go to the dock, Karalee and I realize that we have to spin Dragonsinger around and back it into the spot.

Karalee slams the boat into reverse and hands the helm over to me. She has never been happy steering Dragonsinger in reverse. I turn the boat around and take us away from the dock. I put the engine in reverse and use a lot of power to get Dragonsinger moving well in the cross wind and small waves. As we approach the narrow dock I get Dragonsinger exactly lined up and slip in between the two concrete quays. Karalee throws our dock lines to the people waiting ashore and in a few moments we are safely tied up.

Dragonsinger Among the Olive Trees

It takes a half hour for the lifter to be put in position and the straps led under the hull of Dragonsinger. Given how hard it has been for Karalee to stick out our whole adventure, I'm somewhat surprised when she bursts out in tears when Dragonsinger comes out of the water. She is more attached to our floating home than perhaps she even realized. Rather than be sad, I think of coming back to launch Dragonsinger back in the Mediterranean and I make an internal commitment to somehow find a way to bring Dragonsinger back to Canada.

Birthday Party

After being pressure washed, Dragonsinger is moved to a spot among the olive trees. Karalee and I spend the rest of the afternoon putting things away and doing maintenance. The dodger and bimini need to be removed and folded. The stainless steel fittings are all cleaned and treated with some preservative. Salt water is drained from the engine cooling system. Finally, around 6:00 PM Karalee and I call it a day and catch the Dolmus from the boat yard into Bodrum.

The kids have spent the day at our hotel, swimming and lying around in the sun. While I have a cold beer Karalee and the kids go for a swim. We all have a shower, then I get my Birthday presents while we sit in the kid's room. Afterwards, we all go out for dinner and have a birthday celebration at Sunger Pizza.