Granny and Dave Visit ….. Finally some company from Home

From November 15th to the 21st we had our first visitors … Granny Sharon and Dave from Montana. They were on an annual trip to Europe to collaborate with some academic muckity-mucks and tour around Prague. For Sharon it was a bit of a farewell tour because she is retiring in January. (As I have been heard to say, the Canucks can now win the Stanley Cup because hell must have frozen over now that Sharon is retiring)

We had a whirlwind 5 or 6 days with lots of activities. I picked up Sharon and Dave at the airport with a ridiculous amount of luggage – most of which were care packages for the family … new toothbrushes, lots of Ibuprofen, an Apple Mac-Mini computer, an AIS Radio, a wireless autopilot controller, new heads for our navigation instruments, clothes, etc. etc. There was an entire big suitcase crammed full of our stuff.

Thankfully there were no customs issues and they sailed right through immigration. I picked them up at the Antalya International Airport – Antalya is a city of about 1,000,000 people on the coast of the Med, they had staged through Istanbul. We piled their luggage in the rental-car, came back to Kemer Marina, and then enjoyed Happy Hour in the Navigator. Many or most of the cruisers are retired and live on their boats part of the year and in their homes for the rest of the year. Sharon and Dave fit right in with a bunch of the cruisers – they found fellow PhD’s, former pilots, nuclear physicists, University Professors and the like – we were worried about whether they’d like it before they arrived – good conversation and cheap liquor is all you need to keep them going.

Rather than stay on the boat they stayed at the Meder Hotel – an all inclusive 4 star hotel near the marina. While the amenities are nice, the hotel has been well used over the summer season and while it could have been great, it was well on the grotty side of the ledger. It was, however, much larger than the cabin we were offering plus it had its own washroom – probably a big plus. So rather than move in with us for a couple days they stayed at the Meder.

We went touring around quite a bit when Granny and Dave were there, we took a day excursion to Olympos, an ancient town about 60 klicks down the road from Kemer, then to the Chimaera, a place where natural gas escapes to the earth’s surface causing fires to burn out of cracks in the rock. Homer wrote about the Chimeara, a fire breathing monster, part lion, part goat and part snake, that was immortal. The hero Bellerophon, who could ride Pegasus, errantly charmed the queen, so the King sent him on a quest to slay the Chimaera thinking he would lose which would rid him of his competition. However, Bellerophon was a clever man and once he saw the Chimeara in its valley home, he had Pegasus stand on the overhanging ledge and stamp its feet, causing a landslide covering the Chimaera – and the fire from it’s breath is what comes through the rocks today.

The Chimaera is located on a mountainside and is about as easy to get to as the Grouse Grind … Dave advised Sharon that he wasn’t going to make that kind of walk and they prudently stayed behind. The four of us walked all the way up (Ross was a bit grumbly because he was hungry and wanted to meet a friend at the Marina). We made it all the way up to the top – the stairs are spaced so that one leg does all the stair climbing, so I would time twenty right, then twenty left. The trip was worth it though, it’s like there are a bunch of BBQ pits with glowing coals and flames. We had seen them from the road (most of the way up the mountain) and had we known what a tough climb it was going to be we might have opted out – or at least brought some hot-dogs, marshmallows or the makings for Smores.

We also took Tara out for a day sail (Marina moved us in and out of the dock like a pro) and anchored in an ancient bay called Phaselis. There were ruins to see but everyone opted to sit on board the boat and soak up rays. The Alexander family all took a jump into the Med. Water temp was still in the 20’s so we had a nice swim. We had lunch, picked up the anchor and started sailing back to Kemer. We set the spinnaker (Granny brought us the new snatch block I bought from EBay) and had a nice sail back towards the marina.

 Another day we went to the Berke Ranch – a local dude ranch just outside Kemer. They have about 25 horses and a beautiful setting. We spent most of a day there riding and having a great time. Granny was very generous and paid for our horse excursion ….(It was most welcome and one of the most memorable things we’ve done on the trip so far – deserving if its own blog entry).

Then just like that – the trip was over. We decided to take Sharon and Dave to Antalya to stay their final night … Kemer is about an hour from the airport and they had a 7:30am flight so back up the time and you’re leaving at 4:00am, so closer to the airport is better. There were closer places but they weren’t up to Sharon’s standards so …. They stayed at a big beach-side resort with a fabulous pool and garden. We had a late snack and said our goodbyes. I think they had a great time and we sure enjoyed having them visit us. Granny was making some noise about coming back in the Spring with my sister and her daughter Chloe … that would be awesome too. Our best times are happening when we meet new people and hang out with friends.