Rush hour at the Golden Horn is to be avoided!”, so said our wise local informant as we chatted at anchor in the Prince's Islands, just east of the entrance to the Bosphorus. Hundreds of ferries can cross the Bosphorus every minute, so forget your right of way, you must try to avoid them, a challenge with up to a 4 knot current against you. Rush hour lasts from 7 to 11, s
o at 11am we were at the foot of the Bosphorus. Even then there were ferries everywhere. Watching for a gap in the procession of cargo ships, we crossed over the shipping channel to the east by the magnificent Dolmabahce Palace to take advantage of the counter current there, but oh! what a view of the Palace and Istanbul we had.
The rest of the passage up the Bosphorus was straight forward. Crossing over to the east of the channel again, the view did not fail to astound, as we slowly went up we gazed at forts, silent witnesses to the armed struggles for this valuable stretch of water. We admired the picture perfect old wooden houses that line the waterfront with their shining power cruisers moored outside and tried to imagine how much these properties would cost. The palaces of the Ottoman empire and modern commerce vied for our attention whilst overhead the civil engineering masterpieces of the suspension bridges soared from side to side way above our heads (no need for tide planning for air draught here!).
Alexina completed one last bend in the Bosphorus and saw the Black Sea dead ahead. We'd had just about as much excitement as we could take for one day, so we stopped at Poyraz Harbour for a rest.
Northern Turkish Harbours are not always the cleanest of places. Poyraz is an e
xception, priding itself with its clean harbour and beaches. They send a boat round the harbour pulling any rubbish from the water, then collect rubbish from the boats too. It's a great place to lay anchor and watch the cargo ships go by. Perhaps if you are really lucky you might see a submarine plough up the Bosphorus. A stiff climb up the hill rewards you with great views and ruins to explore, then you can take Tiger off to the sandy beach for the late afternoon sunshine.
Our first taste of Black Sea hospitality was unforgettable. After a straight forward 20 mile passage, we were a little apprehensive of our arrival at Sile, our first Black Sea port, as the pilot book mentioned silting at the entrance and and lack of space. Instead a plentiful channel had been dredged para
llel to the harbour wall, the quay was large and our reception committee even larger. Locals helped us moor then plied us with freshly caught mussels stuffed with rice, followed by water melon. With our tummy's full we were able to admire the harbour with it's walls that link and incorporate a number of small islands, each with a ruin of some kind. Sile is a large town, popular with tourists from Istanbul. It is well known for Sile Bilaz, a light cotton material, ideal for mediterranean boat wear and the captain now sports a new shirt (which he has promised not to wear whilst changing the oil.) Tiger choose a bright, green fabric to make new curtains for her heads. Here ın the photo Tıger and Tony and Pat from Full Flight help clean mussels on the waterfront.
The pilot book had warned us we were in an earthquake zone where the land and sea borders change continuously. As we approached our next port of call, Kefken Adasi, we checked our charts. Both our electronic and paper charts showed deep water all around the harbour and island, but our eyes could clearly see solid white water for the passage south of the harbour, a clear indication of rocks just under the surface. Seismic activity had pushed the land up so much it would be difficult for a dingy to pass through! So number one lesson for this area, do not trust your charts. We anchored in a large, empty man made harbour attached to the small island. By the way, Tiger loved exploring the little island as it was full of the largest variety of spiders we have ever encountered.
Approaching the small fishing harbour of Acakoca we saw what looked like an escapee from the 1960s Soviet Space program towering over the town. This was the mosque. Later that evening, whilst having drinks on board our friend's boat Full Flight, a visiting local explained that the mayor had visited Islamabad and had been inspired by the mosque there. Upon his return he built one in Acakoca.
The Turks are enormously proud of their flag, hanging it from everywhere and placing large flagpoles on every island and rock, sometimes 50m high. Peter and Tony from Full Flight were well onto their second glass of red wine when the harbour master came by and pointed out that our Turkish courtesy flag, veteran of two long years cruising in Turkey, was faded and beginning to fray a little at the edges. Full Flight's was no better. Though eight o'clock at night, the captains were duly escorted to the nearest shop to buy new ones. Did we mind? Not a bit. We have received such welcome in Turkey that perhaps we felt a little foolish for our thoughtlessness and lack of courtesy.
Zonguldak is a working harbour, dirty, smelly and full, but the fishermen welcomed us to their quay with typical Black Sea hospitality - as I passed them a mooring line they passed me a cay (glass of tea)! The quay was almost three times the height of Tiger so my first venture up the side took the combined efforts of Peter pushing up my bottom and a fisherman hauling me up. The fishermen had adopted a cat, and it's four kittens were frolicking all our the nets the fishermen were mending, with Tiger hard on their heels following them.
Our final destination in the Black Sea was the beautiful harbour of Amasra. For those English readers amongst you, try and imagine the beach at Weymouth on a rare sunny day with a backdrop of minarets and castles. There, you have it! School had just broken up and the b
each was full to the brim with Turkish holiday makers. We anchored up for five days, enjoying the views and made a 90 km trip inland to see the Ottoman houses at the Unesco world heritage site of Saffronbolu. Tiger made friends with the local English teacher and his wonderful children and was made to feel completely at home. Peter impressed the local fishermen by whipping up a dish of Hamsi, fried anchovies, a Black Sea delicacy.
During our research phase back a the bar in Marmaris, we had been assured there
would be few other cruising boats in this region. Instead we were surprised to find quite a few, and even more surprised to find that we knew most of them. Here's the role call......Delicatus we first met in Mykinos, Crystelle Venture, Venus, Emocean I, Mary Hay, Joy, Sugulite, Tara Lee, Subeki all from last year's EMYR, Full Flight, Malua and Kelibek from Marmaris Yacht Marine, Radiance from Simi and Ocean Gem whom we have met regularly since Rome. Here we are enjoying cocktails on Mary Hay. Next day it would be Chocolate brownies on board Sugulite. Yum!
From Amasra we decided to sail a straight line back to the mouth of the Bosphorus, some 160 miles away. The passage took nearly two days and nights as the captain was determined to sail (have you seen the price of diesel these days?). This gave us plenty of time to enjoy the abundant marine live of this area. Cormorant, dolphins and Manx Shearwaters (Puffinus Puffinus). Here is Peter and Tıger provisioning the boat for the trıp.
The long running battle with our solar panels continues. Peter thought he had fixed them by changing their shape using a series of blocks, but they fail as soon as it get hot. Our temporary solution is a kitchen sponge on a string! You dunk the sponge in the sea then spread cold water over the solar panel. Within a minute the panels are cool enough to work. Great, except five minutes later you need to do the task again. Does anyone want to apply for the job?
Today we are in Port Marmara, on the island of Marmara, in the sea of Marmara! . We have had a great month exploring the Black Sea, so it feels very strange to be saying goodbye to Turkey. Now that we are moving on I keep trying to find excuses to stay a little longer. Once the boat is full of all those bits you can only buy in Turkey, we shall head back down the Dardanelles to the Aegean.
o at 11am we were at the foot of the Bosphorus. Even then there were ferries everywhere. Watching for a gap in the procession of cargo ships, we crossed over the shipping channel to the east by the magnificent Dolmabahce Palace to take advantage of the counter current there, but oh! what a view of the Palace and Istanbul we had.The rest of the passage up the Bosphorus was straight forward. Crossing over to the east of the channel again, the view did not fail to astound, as we slowly went up we gazed at forts, silent witnesses to the armed struggles for this valuable stretch of water. We admired the picture perfect old wooden houses that line the waterfront with their shining power cruisers moored outside and tried to imagine how much these properties would cost. The palaces of the Ottoman empire and modern commerce vied for our attention whilst overhead the civil engineering masterpieces of the suspension bridges soared from side to side way above our heads (no need for tide planning for air draught here!).
Alexina completed one last bend in the Bosphorus and saw the Black Sea dead ahead. We'd had just about as much excitement as we could take for one day, so we stopped at Poyraz Harbour for a rest.
Northern Turkish Harbours are not always the cleanest of places. Poyraz is an e
xception, priding itself with its clean harbour and beaches. They send a boat round the harbour pulling any rubbish from the water, then collect rubbish from the boats too. It's a great place to lay anchor and watch the cargo ships go by. Perhaps if you are really lucky you might see a submarine plough up the Bosphorus. A stiff climb up the hill rewards you with great views and ruins to explore, then you can take Tiger off to the sandy beach for the late afternoon sunshine.Our first taste of Black Sea hospitality was unforgettable. After a straight forward 20 mile passage, we were a little apprehensive of our arrival at Sile, our first Black Sea port, as the pilot book mentioned silting at the entrance and and lack of space. Instead a plentiful channel had been dredged para
llel to the harbour wall, the quay was large and our reception committee even larger. Locals helped us moor then plied us with freshly caught mussels stuffed with rice, followed by water melon. With our tummy's full we were able to admire the harbour with it's walls that link and incorporate a number of small islands, each with a ruin of some kind. Sile is a large town, popular with tourists from Istanbul. It is well known for Sile Bilaz, a light cotton material, ideal for mediterranean boat wear and the captain now sports a new shirt (which he has promised not to wear whilst changing the oil.) Tiger choose a bright, green fabric to make new curtains for her heads. Here ın the photo Tıger and Tony and Pat from Full Flight help clean mussels on the waterfront.The pilot book had warned us we were in an earthquake zone where the land and sea borders change continuously. As we approached our next port of call, Kefken Adasi, we checked our charts. Both our electronic and paper charts showed deep water all around the harbour and island, but our eyes could clearly see solid white water for the passage south of the harbour, a clear indication of rocks just under the surface. Seismic activity had pushed the land up so much it would be difficult for a dingy to pass through! So number one lesson for this area, do not trust your charts. We anchored in a large, empty man made harbour attached to the small island. By the way, Tiger loved exploring the little island as it was full of the largest variety of spiders we have ever encountered.
Approaching the small fishing harbour of Acakoca we saw what looked like an escapee from the 1960s Soviet Space program towering over the town. This was the mosque. Later that evening, whilst having drinks on board our friend's boat Full Flight, a visiting local explained that the mayor had visited Islamabad and had been inspired by the mosque there. Upon his return he built one in Acakoca.
The Turks are enormously proud of their flag, hanging it from everywhere and placing large flagpoles on every island and rock, sometimes 50m high. Peter and Tony from Full Flight were well onto their second glass of red wine when the harbour master came by and pointed out that our Turkish courtesy flag, veteran of two long years cruising in Turkey, was faded and beginning to fray a little at the edges. Full Flight's was no better. Though eight o'clock at night, the captains were duly escorted to the nearest shop to buy new ones. Did we mind? Not a bit. We have received such welcome in Turkey that perhaps we felt a little foolish for our thoughtlessness and lack of courtesy.
Zonguldak is a working harbour, dirty, smelly and full, but the fishermen welcomed us to their quay with typical Black Sea hospitality - as I passed them a mooring line they passed me a cay (glass of tea)! The quay was almost three times the height of Tiger so my first venture up the side took the combined efforts of Peter pushing up my bottom and a fisherman hauling me up. The fishermen had adopted a cat, and it's four kittens were frolicking all our the nets the fishermen were mending, with Tiger hard on their heels following them.
Our final destination in the Black Sea was the beautiful harbour of Amasra. For those English readers amongst you, try and imagine the beach at Weymouth on a rare sunny day with a backdrop of minarets and castles. There, you have it! School had just broken up and the b
each was full to the brim with Turkish holiday makers. We anchored up for five days, enjoying the views and made a 90 km trip inland to see the Ottoman houses at the Unesco world heritage site of Saffronbolu. Tiger made friends with the local English teacher and his wonderful children and was made to feel completely at home. Peter impressed the local fishermen by whipping up a dish of Hamsi, fried anchovies, a Black Sea delicacy.During our research phase back a the bar in Marmaris, we had been assured there
would be few other cruising boats in this region. Instead we were surprised to find quite a few, and even more surprised to find that we knew most of them. Here's the role call......Delicatus we first met in Mykinos, Crystelle Venture, Venus, Emocean I, Mary Hay, Joy, Sugulite, Tara Lee, Subeki all from last year's EMYR, Full Flight, Malua and Kelibek from Marmaris Yacht Marine, Radiance from Simi and Ocean Gem whom we have met regularly since Rome. Here we are enjoying cocktails on Mary Hay. Next day it would be Chocolate brownies on board Sugulite. Yum!
From Amasra we decided to sail a straight line back to the mouth of the Bosphorus, some 160 miles away. The passage took nearly two days and nights as the captain was determined to sail (have you seen the price of diesel these days?). This gave us plenty of time to enjoy the abundant marine live of this area. Cormorant, dolphins and Manx Shearwaters (Puffinus Puffinus). Here is Peter and Tıger provisioning the boat for the trıp.
The long running battle with our solar panels continues. Peter thought he had fixed them by changing their shape using a series of blocks, but they fail as soon as it get hot. Our temporary solution is a kitchen sponge on a string! You dunk the sponge in the sea then spread cold water over the solar panel. Within a minute the panels are cool enough to work. Great, except five minutes later you need to do the task again. Does anyone want to apply for the job?
Today we are in Port Marmara, on the island of Marmara, in the sea of Marmara! . We have had a great month exploring the Black Sea, so it feels very strange to be saying goodbye to Turkey. Now that we are moving on I keep trying to find excuses to stay a little longer. Once the boat is full of all those bits you can only buy in Turkey, we shall head back down the Dardanelles to the Aegean.
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