TripSailor.com® Sailing Blogs

We left in the car at midday and the roads for the first hour were dreadful, full of pot holes and it took us 1 ½ hours to get to Bodrum, passing cows, goats and donkeys in the road along the way.  Mesut took us to get photocopies of all the documents we needed, Ray and Val went to have their photos taken, and then to the Tax Office.  We had to get a Tax number first and then pay the fee of 152 TL each.  Ray and Val needed a form from the Port Police before they could pay so we went next to the Port Police in Bodrum harbor.  By this time, we were running out of time – the Tax Office closed at 4 p.m. and the Port Police at 4.30 p.m. – it was now 3.30 p.m.  The Port Police told us that it would take a week to get the residency visa and we had to stay in Bodrum, we should have applied in Marmaris if we leave the boat there – what !!!!!!! Brian’s instincts had been right not to do this I the first place.  We then went back to the Tax Office to get our money back arriving just before 4 p.m.  They told us we had to go back to the Port Police and get them to cancel the payment slip before we could have a refund – the situation was getting worse by the minute!  We complained bitterly saying we could not come back in time but no – they would not give us our money.  So basically we have lost 304 TL (£100) to the Turkish Government – not a good day at all.

Jonny and Laura’s flight had been delayed two hours and Brian went with Mesut to the airport at 10.30 p.m. arriving back at the pontoon at 2.30 a.m. – A long and frustrating day.