Canceled=Destroyed

We had a full boat today. Ishmael finishing up the head, Steve (another cruiser) who is a marine electrical engineer came by to do a survey of our electronics. Then Engin from one of the local upholstery shops came by to talk about canvas work we need done for our new dodger. It was a little cramped at first but everyone seemed to find their spots. I attempted to start sanding the starboard toe rails but the next boat over kindly asked me to not sand today because they were varnishing. I can’t say I put up too much of a fight, but I did manage to get a coat of Teak oil on the port toe rail. Later in the day, we took ‘Herbie’ into town for some errands. We are now a part of a car share and this was our first outing. We already look forward to the day when we can take a leisurely drive down the Datca peninsula….. But our first errand was to stop by the bank because the ATM in the marina ate Mike’s debit card last week. I guess we forgot to inform our bank that we were going to be out of the country. All of the cash withdrawals and transferring of money must have finally looked suspicious to them. After his card was swallowed Mike immediately went into the marina office and the receptionist phoned the local bank to inform them that Mike needed his debit card returned. She said that they would not service the ATM until the next Monday or Tuesday and his card would not be available until Wednesday or Thursday. So we went in today (Thursday) assuming it would be an easy retrieval. The first woman looked up the information and told Mike that his card had been “canceled”. Mike was trying to ask her what canceled means exactly but her English was limited and she became a little flustered and sent us to customer service. This is where a very professional and nice woman made some phone calls and told us that indeed Mike’s debit card had been canceled. A nice word for destroyed. They only hold a card for 24 hours and if the owner does not claim it then it is destroyed and sent to Headquarters ‘for security purposes’. Fortunately, it will just be a slight inconvenience because I have a debit card to the same account. Lesson learned…go to the bank immediately if you are in a foreign country and your card is swallowed by an ATM! After a few more errands in town, we headed to ‘Orange’ for dinner. We ate at this restaurant several times a couple of years ago and it was always a treat. We sat outside despite the staff thinking it was too cold and enjoyed a cocktail as the sun came out from behind the clouds. It is a gorgeous spot on the bay and look forward to coming back when it is a bit warmer. We moved inside for dinner and enjoyed watching a group of older, very matronly looking Turkish woman play poker with the whole works…green tablecloth, chips and cash in hand. We also had some giggles while watching the owner trying to train a young waiter. He looked a bit like a deer in head lights and seemed almost afraid to approach us. But the food was delicious and it was nice to get out of the marina for a bit, although the boat was never far from our minds…