We arrive at SERENDIPITY IV

June 2022

A week ago we said: "...and now it starts." The last errands were done, a final appointment with the hairdresser and then an additional suitcase was bought so that everything at the top of the packing list could still be included. At the airport we then had the challenge of bringing all of our luggage, an incredible twelve pieces, from the taxi to the check-in. But Michael had taken precautions at the last second, so to speak, and ordered a luggage service. We didn't even know such a thing existed, but it was worth it and worked very well.

Before check-in at Zurich Airport

When we arrived in Izmir, Turkey, we still had the same amount of luggage. Fortunately! But again the same problem getting all twelve pieces from the baggage carousel to the exit and then to the car. First the young gentleman at the 'Airport Ground Services' counter didn't want to help us. Only when he saw how many suitcases and bags I was lifting off the conveyor belt and piling them up, did he soften. He organized someone with a larger luggage cart to accompany us and our luggage through the security check to the exit. Thanks to this escort, we probably only had to send three selected bags through the security scanner. Such security points are often overstaffed, with four to five men and women standing bored around a scanner and looking at screens (some of them on their private cell phones). This shift probably didn't want to take on any extra work late in the evening and turned a blind eye to our mountain of luggage.

Sunset on the way from Izmir Airport to Didim, Turkey

In the end it was a long journey, exhausting days before and generally little sleep because something kept going through your heads. And in the end I worked until three days before departure. But we arrived safely in Turkey on the SERENDIPITY IV, our new home.

We arrive on SERENDIPITY IV shortly after sunset and enjoy a welcome drink on our foredeck

We knew it would take several hours to unpack all of our belongings. And again several more laborious and intensive hours to find a suitable place for everything. Often it is the supposedly perfect place that later has to be given up because something else needs to be stored there and only there. But that's how it is on a boat: nothing is definitive and everything is in a state of flux. We open each locker what feels like a hundred times and rearrange everything just as often.

We need to find a perfect place for our belongings - at the moment it looks like a bomb has hit

The matter is further complicated by the fact that you always get your hands on something that 'absolutely' needs to be cleaned, repaired or installed. Pure distraction and chaos. In the end we get to know our sailing lady (and ourselves…) better and better. And learn to move on her like cats on the rolling cabin roof covered in rope.

Michael checks our inverter, which keeps coming on under our bed and disturbs our sleep

We spend long days getting shipshape. This means preparing the boat for departure, i.e. stowing, tidying and securing everything so that nothing can fly around when we are under sail at an angle. We also have people from the shipyard on board again and again who need to adjust something, change or explain something to us. We also install everything that we brought with us from Switzerland, which is quite a bit, and familiarize ourselves with all the electronics.

So the Whitsun weekend, of which there is no sign in Turkey, is over quickly and the new week is already half gone. We also have to fill our ‘cellar’ (starboard bench seat), i.e. stock up on provisions so that we have a basic stock of food. We prefer to go to local markets for fresh things. There is a busy atmosphere at the market in Didim and we enjoy checking out the colorful, fresh vegetables just like the locals and strolling through the rows of stalls. For lunch, we eat typical Turkish Gözleme (stuffed flat bread), drink Turkish tea and watch older gentlemen play a game similar to Rummikub. Fully loaded, we ride the approximately six kilometers on our bike and scooter (which broke down halfway and I had to walk) back to the marina.

There is a large selection of fresh fruit and vegetables at the local market in Didim

On June 11, 2022 the time has come – we let the lines go and leave Didim. The destination is Samos, Greece, slightly north of Didim in the Aegean Sea. Shortly before arriving in Samos we encounter our first thunderstorm and can't see the island for a short time due to poor visibility. Luckily it clears up and we tie up the lines in the harbor of Pythogorio. An agent helps us to complete the not easy procedure of clearing in a former Turkish and now Swiss boat.

Ahoy!