David's Diary: Friday, June 27, 2003

Kos, Greece to Bodrum, Turkey

We have been in Greece for exactly seven weeks. We have traveled a long ways from the Ionian Sea to the border of Greece and Turkey. We plan to travel to Bodrum, Turkey today. It will be our shortest passage between two countries as Bodrum is only ten miles from Kos.

Gulets in Bodrum

We leave Kos after lunch, fill with fuel, then head towards Turkey. The Meltemi is back and we have to put in a couple of reefs to keep Dragonsinger under control. Bodrum is built up with many hotels and buildings surrounding the bay. Despite having a detailed Pilot Guide for the harbour, we still find it hard to see exactly where the entrance is. Entering a new harbour is often difficult, but we do safely find the entrance. A call to the marina brings a dinghy racing out to where we are waiting and we only have to wait a few minutes before we are led to a spot on the dock.

Sunset in Bodrum Marina

SARs, a highly communicable disease, has broken out in the world this year and Canada has had many cases of this serious disease. We have noticed that our Canadian flag is drawing the attention of health officers and we are barely tied up before the Turkish health officer is on board and getting me to fill out endless paperwork. This is the fourteenth country that we have entered this trip and the arrival in a new country is always different. After registering with the marina, I head out into town with a list of five different offices that I have to visit. It takes me more than an hour to work through the paperwork. We are charged two hundred and thirty five Euros for our five Visas (the most expensive of our entire trip). I don't have that much cash, so I have to walk from the customs office back into town where I have search for a bank machine and attempt to determine the exchange rate. It is after 6:00 PM when I'm finished and I still haven't seen some of the officials on my list. Since the offices are now closed for the day, I had to finish clearing into Turkey the next day.