Just like when traveling west along the Datca Peninsula, the same wind conditions prevailed along the northern coast of this gulf. Upon receiving a favorable weather window, we departed English Harbor on Thursday, September 20, and headed west to Bodrum, 39 nautical miles away, stopping overnight in Cokertme. As we motored to Cokertme on Thursday we ran several tests as we had been smelling diesel in the bilge for the past few days. Our tests confirmed our worst fears; we did indeed have a leak in our fuel tank. With this depressing news, we changed our time frame for returning to Marmaris. Now instead of eight days, we wanted to be back in four in order to see what resources were available for fixing the tank before leaving October 3rd on our road trip to Cappadocia.
Bodrum, a port town of 25,000, lay on the ruins of the great ancient city of Halicarnassus, the center of Caria during the reign of King Mausolus in the 4th century BC. Our English word �mausoleum� comes from the magnificent tomb, the Mausoleum, that King Mausolus began building in 355 BC. His wife completed it in 350 BC, 3 years after his death. The Mausoleum was considered one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and it stood for over 1700 years before being destroyed by an earthquake. Also noteworthy was the city�s 5th century BC native son Herodotus, considered the father of written history due to his extensive writings.
Upon our arrival in Bodrum on Friday morning, we anchored in the bay by the restored 15th century Crusader Castle of St. Peter, built by the Knights Hospitaller of St. John based in Rhodes. At night the castle lit up, and we had a beautiful, unobstructed view from our boat. In summer, Bodrum came alive with tourists. Its Halikarnas Disco, with a capacity of 5000, was one of the loudest and biggest discos in the Mediterranean. Thank goodness we were upwind from it during our stay as the disco was located in our bay. |
