*You’ve got to hand it to Bitez! Finally someone remembered Bodrum peninsula’s symbolic fruit, the tangerine, and cobbled together a celebration. The Bitez Tangerine Festival is to be held on Sunday, 10 Feb. ’08, starting at 11:00 a.m. on the shore in front of the Sah Bar. The festival is organized jointly by Bitez Municipality, Bitav (Bitez Foundation for the Protection of Natural Resources), and the Bodrum Chamber of Commerce. The afternoon segment of the festival begins at 14:00 hrs on the grounds of Bitez’s old marketplace. The festivities include various contests (like sack races), prizes given to the oldest tangerine grower and the owner of the best kept tangerine grove, music by Mustafa Ergene, grill party, etc. This effort may be a little late in the tangerine harvest season and a bit rustic in scope, but let’s hope that it’s just a start to something much more distinct, original and prominent, an event that will become truly attractive like the many varied nature/agricultural/harvest festivals celebrated in European towns and villages.

**The acronym AKUT  (standing for the Turkish Emergency Search & Rescue Team) and the name of its founder, Nasuh Mahruki, were first recognized by international media during recovery activities after the Marmara earthquake of 17 August 1999, and their reputation was further enhanced when they responded to the Athens earthquake of 7 Sept. that same year. These Turkish rescuers also responded to disasters in Taiwan (’99) and India (2001). The purpose of the AKUT meeting in Bodrum is to alert and inform local residents, particularly young men and women, about search and rescue efforts that may become necessary should a disaster strike Bodrum or nearby. The conference will lay the foundations for an AKUT team to be formed in Bodrum and Mr. Nasuh Mahruki will also be available to sign his new book. The Bodrum conference is to start at 13:30 hrs on Saturday, 9 February, in the conference hall of the Bodrum Chamber of Commerce.

***B.A.Y.K., the Bodrum Offshore Sailing Club, will host the second sailing race of the Winter Trophy Series on the weekend of 9-10 February ’08. The first races of the series held on 12-13 January ’08 with some 36 boats participating in Cruiser and Racer classes, but winds were either not existent or fluky. This time we wish all participants fair winds, not too gentle – but no gales either!