Having arrived in Turkey from the Red Sea at the end of March 2002, we spent some time sorting out the boat before returning to the UK for a few weeks at the beginning of May. We then returned to Gocek in July and spent three months sailing the wonderful cruising grounds of SW Turkey, not being too adventurous, but venturing up to Ekincik, and east as far as Kekover. Despite the hordes of charter boats and flotillas, this is a lovely area with plenty to see and enjoy. During these weeks, we had visits from my brother David and his wife Geraldine, from Peter and Kathrin Bowen-Simpkins, and from Tony and Liz Pearson.

We finally laid the boat up ashore in Gocek in October, and returned to the UK for the winter. We aim to be back in early April 2003.

POSTSCRIPT
Since coming home we have heard sad news of four boats and their crews that we got to know on our way back from the far East. Mercifully, there was no loss of life.

1. Chamoise. We first met this boat in Darwin, and had come across her from time to time on our way to the Red Sea. She hit some heavy weather in the N Red Sea and while trying to get shelter in Marsa Mubarak, went on to the reef, and was unable to get off. They were able to rescue some personal effects, but the boat was lost.

2. Cariad. We had been in contact with them on and off since Djibouti. Sadly, they also went onto a reef on the Egyptian coast, and the boat was wrecked.

3. A large German catamaran with a young couple on board that we were moored next to in Sri Lanka. They were hit with strong winds as they went through Bab el Mandeb, lost their mast and eventually had to be evacuated by helicopter. We gather the boat was eventually located wrecked on a reef in Yemen.

4. A large Chilean ketch that we first met in Sri Lanka, and subsequently got to know in the Maldives. Details are sketchy, but we understand they went on to a reef, probably in Saudi Arabia, having lost their engine, and were unable to get off. The boat was wrecked.

We understand that there may have been a fifth boat lost, though we have no details on it. Friends of ours who went through on a 25 ft boat also got on to a reef, but luckily were able to get off without major damage, and they made it safely back to the UK.

All this is rather sobering, and makes us all the more grateful for having got through without major incident.

CURRENT PLANS
We return to Hygeia on the 12th April and will spend a couple of weeks getting her ready for this years sailing. There's not a great deal to do, and most of it cosmetic. Some repairs to the teak bulwarks, at the port bow and on the transom, taking off the windpilot and fitting a boarding platform, repainting the waterline stripe, and anti-fouling, for the first time since we left Darwin in August 2001.

We will then head west through the Dodecanese and Cyclades, will traverse the Corinth Canal in mid-May, and then plan to meet up with our children in Corfu. In early June we are joining a group of RCC boats in Croatia for a week or so, and will then probably head for Sicily, the Straits of Messina and the West coast of Italy.

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