Turkish Tax Haven

Would you believe - it's Delaware?  Seem's a large number of boats here, power and sail, are part of Delaware dummy corporations set up to avoid the payment of taxes.  We knew several US boat owners who set up Delaware dummy corporations so as to avoid the payment of sales taxes on their boats.  Seeing all of the US registered boat here was a shock.  WiFi here is pretty poor at the moment but when I have better service I'll upload the photos of the boats here on our dock (J). 

Plastic Tanks

Can told me about a place in Marmaris that fabricates plastic tanks for any use.  This place was great - wish they had an outlet in Florida!

While exploring the industrial area in Marmaris came across this great place.  Fabricates beautiful plastic tanks for any use.

Cruising - yacht maintenance in exotic places

Tomorrow we are headed back to town for bilge pump wire, waterproof terminals for the new bilge pump float switch, some lumber for the chain slide, you get the idea - more boat units......  Hope to head out west along the South Turkish Coast for a few days on Tuesday.  More later.  Now it's time for an Efes' - which is of itself an interesting story - in the Southern Caribbean you can only get baby beers - 275 ml.  Here in Turkey the come in mansized 500ml bottles!  I use the excuse in the Caribbean when I drink 3 that they are small bottles - trying to dream up an excuse for Lesley when I tell her that I had 3 mambo bottles......  Must be all the good food that I'm eating along with them, eggplant, green beans, yogurt, tomatoes, will that work!  Healthy, yes...............

Marmaris

We went in to Marmaris yesterday afternoon to have some Doner Kebap and after dinner took a walk around the downtown area - very nice, lots of sights, sounds, smells.

 We asked the parking lady where the locals go - we found it.  I had Doner Kebap (lamb), spinach with yogurt (won't eat yogurt in the US - here it is to die for), hot peppers, bread, pickles, green salad.....

 We were stuffed so decided to take a walk around town - this is the day trip and local charter boat dock.

Old Byzantine Fort in the downtown area.

Traditional Yacht - for hire.

No stop in Turkey (or elsewhere in the Middle East) is complete without a look at carpets - these were cheaper "tourist carpets" but when I say "Hey honey - I'm bringing home another carpet....... I move straight to the dog house - long story for another time.

Everywhere you look there is a nice place to eat with incredible atmosphere.

And what would a stop in the area be without a bit of old fashioned hookah time!

Lunch

We needed to pick up a plastic panel for the Blue Sky Solar controller that we were installing so while we were waiting Can (Jon) took me to a local bakery for a lunch treat - thin rolled phyllo dough, meat, potato, spinach with garlic and onions.

Yum...

 After the lady cooked the delicacy she rolled it up and gave it to the proprietor who rolled it up and used a knife that looked like a smaller version of the blade from the "Pit and the Pendlum" to cut these slices.  Was really good but would have loved to add some Siracha Sauce....

Yat Souk

I finally had a chance to download the photos that I took of the Yacht (YAT) Market.

 These photos are just a sampling of the shops in the market - probably 2 square blocks of boat stores - I was in heaven!  Here is Jon paying for some of the things that we needed for the solar project.

I even tried to use my West Marine "Port Supply Card" they would not honor it!

A day in Turkey

Actually several days.  Eating lots of great food, enjoying the local beer (Efes) and enjoying shopping in the Yacht Souk.  Souk is a term we learned when we lived in the Magic Kingdom (Saudi Arabia).  Merchants selling specific items gathered together in specific areas, and as was the case in Saudi Arabia, Rug merchants were in the Rug Souk, Jewelry (gold) in the gold souk, cookware, etc.  Well there are probably 5,000 or more boats in the Marmaris area so there is a Yacht Service Souk here.  I'll try to post some photos in the next several days or so.  Really cool as you can find almost anything boat related that you might need.  But, having said that, I have to qualify that I cannot find a counter sink, a regular pair of pliers, a drill bit set, etc.  Hard to find items take on a whole new meaning here!  ACE HARDWARE WHERE ARE YOU?

More to follow....  Getting late and I'm tired.  Just Skyped Lesley.  Good night!

Turkey

Arrived in Turkey Saturday and waited for IP-38 Owner "Can" (Jon) and then we took another flight to the South Coast of Turkey, Dalaman.  Can owns a small hotel in the town of Dalyan, on the way to Marmaris so we stopped there for the night.  Beautiful place on an inlet with a nice view of some 2500 year old cliff tombs.

The garden in the hotel is beautiful.

Were not in Kansas anymore!

Arrived in Marmaris a day later.  Note the small travelift on the left - that is the "normal" size that is used to launch boats like ours!

New Neighbors?

While we were in the Islands this past winter we had a few new neighbors arrive at the house!