We have just spent two weeks in Mersin Marina, the recently opened facility that lies South West of the commercial harbor.

We found the Staff very friendly and willing to help with our small problems. The Marina is currently at only 10% of its capacity, so plenty of room for all. Transit Yachts were all on the same jetty, only eight boats in September 2012. Water and electric is credited to your supply box but our unit was not calibrated correctly so we used €9 of electric in six days. They will need to sort out this calibration problem.

The Marina is part of a larger complex of up-market shops and designer outlets. Several restaurants front the marina, including Burger King and Starbucks. A large Migros supermarket is also present. No chandlers yet. The gymnasium has two swimming pools, but these were not available to marina guests unless a years membership was bought. I explained that this should be open to guests as there are no beaches to swim from for 3Km. No WiFi was available except in the marina office, but as Turkcell have excellent 3G coverage I would suggest buying a dongle. Three washing machines and a dryer were free to use in a locked room. The shower facilities are high quality but sadly only four showers in all at each of the two buildings (two men, two ladies in two blocks – making eight showers for 500 boats). Security seemed very good with a private firm employed to secure the whole site.

The bars were not noisy during the late hours. Regular buses go into town where the ‘Forum’ shopping center will keep the ladies happy for hours, even has a Marks and Spencer. We managed to get vaccinations done in town at a private clinic, very cheaply.

No facilities have been provided for winter live aboard’s yet, so those coming from established marinas (Alanya, Kemer or Finike) will be without a meeting point for socializing. The management does not yet understand the requirements for this type of customer.

They also do not have any idea of the cost of providing outside services, such as Fridge repair. Make sure a written quote is obtained before any work is undertaken (as you would anywhere in Turkey).

The ‘Blue card’ scheme does not seem to be applied at Mersin and the black water pump out machines I saw was unusable.

Obviously, it’s a new marina and many of the small problems can be sorted out. One major problem that cannot be resolved is the growth of Barnacles and Coral Worm. This is a serious problem. In the two weeks we were in the marina, (our yacht had only been anti-fouled six weeks before), our underside had become infested. Our log stopped and any parts that were not painted, ie the propeller, the depth sounder, bow thruster, became encrusted. I scuba dived the bottom a week after leaving to clean off the offending crust. After six months stationary your underside would need to be pressure washed before you could sail and without a travel lift, it would require a diver to do the job by hand. Any Marine Biologists out there?

The planned 150ton Travel lift has not yet been installed, so no work can be done at present on the huge hard standing area.

Mersin is also an excellent place to visit Nemrut Dag as well as many of the other famous sites that dot the east of the country. Car hire can be arranged through Gonca, the Marina front office girl who speaks English. Most of the staff speak no English, including the boss.

I hope this report will speed up progress?

Graham Smith

SY Christina

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