Canine Thief

The Skyros blog I had originally written is stuck on the computer on the Pipedream.  I have the photos I was choosing to use so I’m just going to showcase the photos and tell the story in captions.

This was where the boat eventually ended up.  We started by anchoring out and taking the dingy into town.  When we tied up a very nice Austrian couple informed us that the catamaran that was at the harbor before had docked side too and there was no problem with that.  The couple was planning on leaving super early the next morning so we could move our boat in where theirs was.  They pointed out that to drop an anchor would be problematic because of the piles of rocks in the harbor area and because of the mountain of silt that had built up around a town drain.  We thanked them, went back to the boat, raised the anchor, and took the boat in side to.  Well a restaurant owner along the waterfront didn’t like the idea of us keeping our boat there and came out to yell at us.  He said we had to drop an anchor and back in for all of the other boats that were coming in.  We said if any other boats came in we would go back to anchor and he eventually left us alone.  Sure enough, no other boats came into the harbor.  When the nice couple left the next morning we swung the boat around with the help of another boater and we were there.  Later that day more boats did come in and they had to drop anchors and back up to make more space.  We were happy to be tied up to the wall, but then we were pinned into the space and had to wait for the others to leave before we could get out.  So we hung out in Skyros for awhile.

There was one bus that went into town twice during the day and came back to the harbor two times a day.  The bus went into town at around 7:30am and the only thing that was open was this coffee shop and a local bakery.  Twist our arms to have a fresh loaf of bread and our own coffee press of fresh black coffee.  It was delicious and a lot of fun to sit and watch as the town began to wake up.

If you look at the top of this hill/mountain you will see a monastery.  This is an old Venetian castle and is now the Monastery of St. George.  The highlight of Skyros town.  So it was only natural that we continue our tradition of climbing to the highest point on any Greek island because that is generally where the coolest things are.  Dad was looking for a plumbing store to purchase a part for the engine’s water pump and he said he would meet us at the top. 

There weren’t any real signs leading up to the monastery so Mom and I started walking up.  The roads in the Greek Islands are a labyrinth of paths, stairs, and people’s homes.  Knowing the general direction the castle was we picked random stairways to climb and as we got further out of the main town we started meeting more of the locals.  This was the best part of the entire trip up.  We would be walking along and men and women would stick their heads out of their doors and greet us with a “Kale mera!” which translates to “Good day!” and we would say “Monastery?” and would get lots of smiles and pointing up another flight of stairs.  One woman got a big smile on her face and lifted her arms to show how strong we were for walking up that far.  We ran into a number of dead ends that were people’s front doors, but had a blast getting there.

At the top we stopped at a park bench to take in the view and catch our breath.  Maybe 5 minutes after we sat down Dad came walking up behind us.  He cheated and took a cab to the top. 

Fodor’s said there was a great garden inside of the walls and that was a single monk still living at the Monastery of St. George.  What we didn’t know was that about 10 years ago there was an earthquake and they closed the doors to the entire building.  We thought there may be another entrance and it was just the basilica part that was closed so we walked down a few flight of stairs and walked back up another flight… and we ended up in the same place.  The entrance was the same and it was closed. 

This was one of the homes by the monastery.  I would love to have a balcony hanging off a cliff overlooking the entire town.  I love Greece.

This was our pet dog for the day.  The dog started to follow us after our morning coffee.  It followed Mom and I up to the monastery and then followed all three of us down through the town.  Once we got into the town people reacted very differently to it.  There was one restaurant owner who fed it and there was a woman who yelled at it when it got close to her shop.  I didn’t understand the hostility until I saw it walking down the road with a rabbit toy she was selling secured between its teeth.  The toy was covered in “real” rabbit fur and had a rubber ball in the center.  The dog had lifted the toy from the basket and claimed it as its own.  I saw it and my first reaction was “Our dog stole a toy!” and then I remembered it’s not our dog at all and started to laugh.

The flowers in town were beautiful.  I would love to have a wall with a blue door like that to just decorate with flowers.  I think it would look a bit odd in central Florida though.  I’ll just have to buy a Greek villa.

We had to wait for the 2:30pm bus and were running out of things to do so we decided to go for a walk.  The hike to the monastery wasn’t quite enough activity for the day so we decided to try and follow a road down to the water.  So we picked one and started walking down the winding road.  As we lost more and more altitude it became more of a quest to find the water and this donkey was one of the obstacles we encountered along the way. 

We didn’t quite make it all the way to the water.  We got to a point in the road though where we could see that it was probably another 5 miles away and decided that a coke at a nice café may be a better way to spend the rest of our waiting time.  We had to document the fact that we did indeed see the water so if you look at the far right of the photo you will see water.

Mom and I went back to town the next day to go grocery shopping.  It was a bit too windy to leave so we decided to get groceries and do some boat maintenance.  While we were in town this time Mom and I stopped and got a ton of fresh delicious breads and pastries and while we were waiting for the grocery store to open we went in search of Pi for Mom’s teaching quest.

When we got back to the boat Dad had fixed the roller furler and Mom was helping him put the jib (the really big sail in the front of the boat) back up and I could hear the sail being blown all over.  I went on deck to just hold the sheets so the metal loop on the sail where the sheet was looped through didn’t hit the car that was parked next to our boat.  While holding onto the sheet and trying to control the sail some another line was whipping around and actually gave me rope burn on my wrist.  It sounds a lot worse than it actually was, but you better believe I played it up the rest of the trip and it turned into a great joke and memory from the trip, not to mention a scar the size of a bug bite on my wrist.

For dinner two nights in a row we stepped off of the boat and went to an amazing restaurant right on the water.  We had pork souvlaki (grilled meat on a stick) with fries and the best grilled pita.  This was one of the highlight meals in Greece and with a giant Mythos we were more than satisfied.  

Disclaimer

I’ve been home for almost a month now, but haven’t been able to bring myself to finishing up the blogs I failed to write while overseas.  I have at least 10 to write, pair with photos, and post.  Please keep in mind that they are all written after the fact so they are being written from memories and a page of notes I’ve been keeping.  

Pretty Red Sail

We decided to sleep in a little and left Limnos by noon.  We thought this would be enough time for the weather to calm down and it was only 25 miles to the island we were stopping at to break up the trip to Skyros.   We pulled right out and had no problems getting out of the harbor which was nice.

What wasn’t nice is once we got out of the harbor there was no wind and a nice size swell that had built up from all of the wind the days before.  I can officially say that this was the worse day on the water the entire time I’ve been on the boat.  The wind was coming from behind so we were being pushed over the swell and the boat was rolling from side to side instead of just going over the waves.  The sea was super confused and the lack of wind made a slow sailing day. 

It was a good day to try out the cruising spinnaker that has been tied to the deck of the boat for the past two + years but has never been used on the Pipedream. 

Dad and I raised the sail while Mom controlled it from the cockpit.  The way it’s designed is that is comes in a “sock” which you can see on top of the red sail in the picture.  We hook the top of the sock and sail up to a halyard and I was in charge of raising the halyard which is what I’m doing here.  Dad tied the bottom of the sail to the front of the boat and then he uses a blue rope attached to raise the sock off of the sail like raising a curtain.  There is a line that Mom had in the cockpit to actually control the sail and she had the power to tighten or loosen the sail.  Aside from having to hang on and not fall overboard, it went really smooth.

Dad and I were really proud of ourselves when it works and we didn’t fall overboard!  I know the waves don’t look big in the photo, but that is the deceiving part of swell.  It just rolls from every direction and makes the boat rock and roll like a fishing bobber which makes it very difficult to stand on.

This is Mom and Dad back in the cockpit.  Sadly the wind shifted so we only kept the sail up for about 30 minutes and then we couldn’t fill it anymore.  Ideal situation for the sail is when the wind is from behind and there isn’t a lot of it.  Well of course the wind shifted and we never put the main up (which was a mistake!) and so it was a super rolly trip into Ayios Evstratios.  Dad was actually at the helm trying to ride over the waves while Mom and I were bracing ourselves in the cockpit green as shamrocks.

We thought we would be coming into an anchorage… nope there is a harbor here!  This is Ayios Evstratios which is a small island between Limnos and Skyros.  What you see is the entire town.  During the winter they apparently have a population of 200 because the elderly flee to neighboring islands or Athens to escape the strong winds.  There is no bank on the island and two open restaurants to choose from.  It was actually a really pleasant surprise.  Note the cemetery at the top of the hill to the left of the photo.

Of course we walked up the hill to the cemetery!  We learned where the cemetery is, the helipad, an old wind mill, and the island dump.  It was a very educational hike.  The cemetery was closed of course, but we were ready for some time on land and it was a pretty view.

It was only natural we walk up there since we had started the trend of climbing to the highest cool thing on an island.  On the walk there was an old school building which we could’ve sworn was a prison.  Apparently up until recently they would exile political prisoners here.  Fun little fact.

We stopped at restaurant number 2 for a beer and snacks which ended up turning into a couple of beers and dinner.  The couple that owned the place spoke great English and it was a lot of fun to sit and watch half of the island’s population walk by.  The food was delicious (tzatziki, Greek salad, fresh bread, homemade fries, fried zucchini, and saganaki) and they had Amstel on tap served in frosted mugs.  Heaven.

We made it back to the dock in time for the sunset and this is Mom and I Greek dancing while watching the sunset.  Dad had spilled half a beer in the cockpit before we went for our walks and when we got back to the boat there were flies of all sizes swarming around where the spilled beer was.  This was a gross moment, but nothing a little water and bug spray didn’t take care of.

We were in a bit of a hurry to beat the ferry out the next morning since we were “parked” pretty close and there wasn’t a whole lot of space for the ferry to move around us.  Ayios Evstratios was a terrific stop with wonderful people and I don’t think it gets more authentic Greek than this.

Back in the Land of Blue and White

I spent the entire hour and a half sail from the anchorage to Mirinia, the entry port, sleeping.  When we got into port there was a crosswind and we weren’t sure about docking so we just anchored out right outside of the harbor.

The boat always looks good with a Greek Orthodox Church behind it.  We took the dingy into the town to check into the country and the EU.  Because we are American, there is a little bit more paper work because we are entering the EU also, but we were surprised at how easy it was this time around.  The harbormaster sent called the port police officer to come pick up our passports, we didn’t have to go on a wild goose chase to find his office and he informed us that at 6:00pm the customs office would open and we could just come back then to complete the process.  No problem.

As we were leaving the customs office we heard someone call “Pipedream” in English, turned around and Wolfgang and Bridget from Ti Punch (another boat at Kemer over the winter) were standing there.  It was a hoot seeing the familiar faces and we talked a little bit on the dock before asking for a restaurant recommendation.  They told us to go up the main shopping street and there is a restaurant with two trees in the front that is good.  We took their advice and after window shopping, noting the grocery store and butcher, and finding a laundry service we arrived at a restaurant with two trees in front.

This was one of the best meals ever.  We started off with tzatziki and a fresh loaf of bread and then moved onto pork chops and a veal dish.  Mom and Dad washed theirs down with a Mythos and I stuck to Coke Zero.  It was so nice being back in Greece.

We decided to dock the boat and by the time we got back there was only one slip left so we hurried to lift the anchor and throw the fenders out.  The docking went well and a couple on the German boat next to ours helped us out which was nice of them.  The power towers by the boats weren’t working but there was a main power source that could be reached with an extension cord.  After Dad put together a Frankenstein power cord to match the outlet, we had power for maybe 10 seconds before the fuse blew.  We aren’t sure if it was us or not, but we didn’t try to plug in again once we heard it was fixed. 

Mom and I got the laundry together which ended up being 12.4 kilos which is just over 25lbs of laundry and hauled it to the laundry service.  When we had gone down the shopping street the first time all of the shops were open and there were people walking around.  This time it was like a ghost town and it took me a minute to remember the Greek siesta that takes place every day from 2-6pm.  Luckily the laundry girl was there and even though her eyes got big when we showed her how much we had (sheets, towels, clothes for three people) she said it would be ready at 8:00pm same day.

Mom and I went for a walk and found a street that led out to the water on the other side of a peninsula from where our boat was.  We sat at a little taverna and had a coke while just taking in the fact that we were in Greece.

We had a view of the church and castle up on the peninsula and we decided to walk up to the church.  It was closed of course, but we could peer in through the windows and Mom got to see the gold leafing and icons that decorate the interior of a Greek Orthodox Church. 

While Mom was looking in the windows I walked around the other side, looked up, and saw a wild mountain goat just hanging out next to the church.  I told Mom to look at the goat and she thought I said “Look at the boat” and looked out at the water asking where it was.  I couldn’t believe she couldn’t see the goat that was almost an arm’s reach away and when she realized what I was talking about she laughed and that scared the goat away.  We decided to sit on a bench by the church and as we were sitting there we spotted our scared goat, another goat and then a deer went walking by into the trees right in front of us.  It was like being at a zoo.  We tried to predict what other animals would appear and I came the closest saying the resident mountain lion when a cat walked by.  Of course we didn’t have a camera at this time so it will just be something we remember and giggle about later.

We passed the time until 6:00 and went back to the customs office and to pick up our passports.  The customs agent was in his office watching TV.  So we sat down and ended up watching the Greek news with him while Dad filled out the crew list and other forms needed for a transit log. 

On a side note – the riots in Athens are being shown on every news station and are pictured in every newspaper here (http://www.ethnos.gr/article.asp?catid=22768&subid=2&pubid=63183270).  The people in Athens are very unhappy with the government and who knows what kind of compromise (if there is one at all) will be the outcome.  Generally we wouldn’t go to a country with riots or war going on (which is why we bypassed Egypt, Syria, and Libya this year), but that is the beauty of the Greek Islands.  We have absolutely no signs of the turmoil and the people are just happy to have tourists still coming to visit and spend money.

Mom and I wanted to take my Dad back to the church where we saw all of the goats and Mom had been talking about walking up to the castle since we had gotten to Limnos.  So we started walking.

This is the church we went to visit.  Like I said it was closed, but we could see in the windows and the view was amazing.

I just thought this was a nice photo of my parents with Mirina in the background.  This is one side of the peninsula where most of the tavernas and residential houses are located.

This is the other side of the peninsula that was taken from the path up to the castle.  We weren’t exactly prepared to climb that high but my Dad kept walking and even thought Mom and I stopped in personal protest a couple of times we kept walking up too. 

Ahh Greece.  The flag here hasn’t been changed in awhile and is a bit torn which we would’ve never seen in Turkey.  They restored some of the exterior walls of the castle and this was one of them.  We really liked how they used the mountains natural rocks as walls or extensions of walls. 

This is the entrance we went through.  It’s always fun to imagine being a soldier who was told to climb up to the castle, fight your way in, and take over.  The defenses set up by the walls and use of altitude is always amazing and I’m pretty sure I would be the one to simply run away or hang out at the bottom with water sharing words of encouragement.

This is Dad and I surfing on the top of a mountain in a castle.  The wind was picking up, especially at the top of the mountain, and we were balancing on two rocks that were just there.  Dad began singing “Surfin’ Safari” by the Beach Boys which is a song that is plaguing us on the boat.  Whenever an album or playlist ends on Dad’s iPod it defaults to that song and continues to play instead of shutting off.  So we go from nice easy listening or jazz or “Let’s go surfing now!”

We were all very proud to have made it to the top.  Little did we know we were starting a trend that would follow us through every Greek Island we visit.  The trend is to find the highest structure on the island and walk up to it… especially after a long day of sailing… in Crocs or boat shoes.

It was a great day and we got to watch the sunset while enjoying a beer down by the water which was perfect.  We were officially legal in Greece and the EU and made it back to our boat before an evening storm rolled in bringing 35 knot winds and a downpour that lasted about an hour.  We also picked up our laundry and realized I had left my wallet in a pair of shorts that got washed so I have the cleanest 25€ in Limnos.  

Safety First

The sail out of Turkey and into Greece truly made me realize the importance of respecting the power of the wind.  It also made me understand why Dad has me carry a pocket knife in my pocket while we are out sailing.  (I did not have to use it thankfully, but it was super clear how easily a line could get wrapped around anything ranging from my hair to my arm and the importance of being able to cut myself free.)

The second half of the Dardanelles was amazing.  We had about 20 knots of wind pushing us from behind, we had a 4-5 knot current pushing us along and at one point the Pipedream was going 10 knots over the ground which is a new record for this boat.  Now with the 4-5 knot current it was really only going 5-6 on its own, but it was still impressive to see the double digits on the screen. 

I was taking a nap when we actually exited the Dardanelles and could feel a difference in the swell down below.  It had been building up with the meltemi (the storm like winds that blow through the Mediterranean during the months of June – August) and was pushing us from behind which made the boat roll from side to side rather than go through the swell from the front.

We had the full main up, the jib out and the auto pilot began to get cranky.  A combination of wind and wave would push the boat off course and the auto pilot literally lost control for a few seconds and would make a lot of squeaking noise to get it back on course.  At this point Dad decided it was high time to put a reef in the main and take the head sail in a little bit.  We managed, with a lot of yelling and holding on, to put a reef in the main in 27 knot winds.  A reef probably should’ve been put in at around 20 knots of wind, but we were being lazy and waited and as a result had a much harder time accomplishing the goal.

The second time I really understood the power of the wind was when we wanted to take the head sail in.  We had a full jib out because there was no wind at all and then all of a sudden, wham! It came out of nowhere.  There was too much wind for the big sail at that point and when I released the sheet (the line that controls the sail and tells it which way to go out and how tight) the sail went crazy!  Dad was trying to roll it up with the control line that is supposed to pull on the roller furler, but nothing was happening.  He went up to roll it by hand while I was trying to keep enough tension on the sail that it didn’t hurt anyone.  The sheet was whipping through the air and dipping into the water and then as the wind would catch the sail it would snap out.  It kept coming towards the cockpit and wrapping around the winch handle while the sail was moving all over the place.  This is one of those situations where the line literally acts as a whip and managed to knot itself.  Watching it one can only imagine what would happen if your arm or hair got in the way.  Not to mention it took a lot of strength to keep it around the winch and part of the cleat I was using to steady it.  Nobody was hurt or in any real danger because we did pay attention and used the boat safety tools we had learned along the way, but it was an eye opener.

By the time we made it to Limnos we were ready to stop.  We anchored on the southern side of the island, Ormos Ay Pavlou, and decided to save the final 10 miles until the next morning.  We toasted to being in Greece which an Efes which felt sort of wrong, but knew would have an official toast the next day on land.

View of the Dardanelles

For anyone who needs to check out of Turkey in Canakkale that is on a sailboat, you do not need an agent and wear walking shoes.  Step 1 is to find the harbormaster.  Go a block up from the main street in front of the waterfront and look for the fortress like door with a giant anchor out front.  Don’t be shy and go right in.  He will give you step by step instructions on what to do next.  A trip to the bank to pay 8TL to get out of the country is necessary.  I can tell you Step 2 is to get on the C-11 bus and go to Kepez.  The bus will take you to the hospital which is as far as buses go and then you much walk down the hill for about a mile, past the tomato field, and to the left.  When you get to the gas station in front of the water turn right and walk around the abandoned looking building.  There is an office with “Polis” on it… go in there.  Make sure to have your passport and transit log ready.  Everyone must be present and smiling and the man that will help you will be very efficient and know exactly what you need without even having to ask.  A few stamps and photo copies and we were sent on our way to walk back up the hill to the bus stop.  If you are lucky, like we were, some nice couple will pull over and ask if you want a ride.  Get in the car and get the ride up the hill.  Step 3 is to go back to the harbormaster’s office for him to stamp and sign things there.  Step 4 is to walk to the Custom’s office which is located at the end of the waterfront past the ferry docks and in front of the museum’s mine sweeper still floating in the water.  A stamp is needed here and the stamp apparently travels from office to office and is watched like a hawk in case someone decides to take it with them?  So get the stamp, another photo copy, and you are done!

The outing on our final day in Turkey was to the city’s fortress where the Army and Navy Museum is located inside.  When we got there, we learned it was closed on Thursdays… oops.  But the garden was free to walk through so we decided to do that.

This is the world, and Dad and I are pointing to Turkey!  I wore my Ataturk t-shirt around Canakkale and got a lot of compliments which made me smile.  I’m not sure when else I’ll be able to wear it, not in Greece for sure, but maybe I’ll be able to sport it in the states.

The castle was built by Mehmet the Conqueror in the 15^th century and was used as an actual military base until the 1970s.  It’s still surrounded by a military base, but has been opened to tourists for the small fee of 4TL to go and see some of the military memorabilia that has been stored there.

These were HUGE anchors and actually pretty interesting.  They only have one side that actually loops out to dig into the water.  They were used on ships that had nets of some sort so this way the other side didn’t get caught in the net when it was being pulled up. 

The museum inside of the castle was technically closed.  For anyone who wants to visit the museum is closed on Mondays and Thursdays (of course we were there on a Thursday) but the garden is open.  This is the garden.  It has lines and lines of old missiles, cannons, mines, and other miscellaneous war leftovers.

Like I said the museum was supposed to be closed, but there was a special tour group going through and they left the doors open.  We wandered through, honestly not sure if it was part of the garden or not and found a woman who said because she opened the doors for the special group we could go ahead and tour too as long as we didn’t take any photographs.  The inside of the castle was pretty cool and the displays showed various bullets, guns, and sharp pointy things used during the Gallipoli campaign.

In the Fodor’s guide book everything that was mentioned from a good restaurant to things to do said “Offers a great view of the Dardanelles”.  We lived on the Dardanelles and had a better view than any restaurant could provide, but after reading about it we kept quoting it and giggling.  This is Mom and Dad enjoying the great view of the Dardanelles from a museum park bench. 

This is the London Café, which is in our opinion the best sandwich in Turkey.  Dad and I had stopped here one our first trip through Canakkale and then returned on this one.  Mom and Dad tried the fried chicken that is advertised on the first night and I stuck with the durum, a chicken wrap with the doner chicken, lettuce and tomato.  We ate there three times and each time got a bigger sandwich because they were so delicious.

This is the owner who speaks good English and was always very happy to see us and find us a table.  The doner meat shown in the photo was the juiciest and best meat ever.  He said on weekends they go through an 80 kilo (about 160lbs) of chicken doner and over 500 loaves of bread in a day.  Next door was a place with an almost identical menu and nobody stopped there while his place was packed with people every time we walked by.

This is how travel planning works on the Pipedream.  Pick a page, put it on your head, and if it balances then it’s a good place to stop.  I wish it were that easy. 

For our last Turkish meal, we decided to go all out and go to a real restaurant.  Fodor’s suggested the Yalova Restaurant and we knew where it was so we chose that one.  After trying all sorts of mezes or appetizers such as a green salad and grilled egg plant spread we moved on to steaks and Mom got a sea bass.  Our steak had a good taste, but wasn’t much to look at.  Mom’s fish was both and she really enjoyed the puzzle of eating a Turkish fish.  It was a great night and of course, we had a terrific view of the Dardanelles.

Loud Noises!

Our last day in Turkey began with a bang… literally.

We had all agreed that we deserved a day to sleep in and were all asleep at 8:30am when I heard the mooring line go tight, a grinding noise, and “No no!” in German.  Then I heard an anchor chain begin to drop and a lot of yelling in various languages.  I shot up, glimpsed out the window and saw everyone on the boats to our left and right staring in the same direction – towards our mooring line.  I yelled for Dad to get up and get on deck while I got dressed and ran up on deck to see what was going on.

A French boat was coming in from the anchorage to seek shelter because his anchor had been dragging.  The anchorage by the marina isn’t written up as the best place because there are a lot of weeds along the bottom which make for iffy holding.  The wind had already started to pick up and was blowing about 20 knots in the harbor when he tried to dock.  The noise I heard was him going over our mooring line and it getting caught in his propeller (something we have all done and is never a good thing for anyone involved).  He dropped him anchor so his boat wouldn’t swing back or be blown into the boats that surrounded him, but when it dropped I’m pretty sure it dropped onto some else’s line and everyone was up and outside to see what was going on.

 Before we could all analyze the situation I turned around and there was a guy in swim trunks with goggles and flippers on jumping into the water.  This is the same man who had one of the dinghies that helped push the Turkish boat in right after ours that had a broken engine.  He swam under the boat to try and release the prop and we ended up changing our mooring line to let the one tangled loose so he could untangle it.  We helped pull the bow of the boat closer with a line from the French boat and handed that off to someone else to assist.  I’m not sure how but there were two more lines pulling the boat into the space next to ours on the dock and they were tugging the best they could but the boat wasn’t moving. 

In the meantime the 20 knot wind was pushing the side of his boat towards us and I was trying to help fend off without putting any of my appendages between our boat and his.  The French captain was fending off the best he could on our front rail and all of a sudden there was a Turkish man next to me helping me fend off too.  The French boat was a little bit lower than ours and while the fenders were keeping the hulls apart, our anchor was essentially acting as a blade that would’ve cut or hurt anything that got too close.  It severed three strings of his life lines, but luckily didn’t cut any people or important rigging or that would’ve been really bad.  I couldn’t believe how easily it sliced through the lines like they were made of thread. 

The diver informed us that the reason the boat wasn’t going any further was because the keel was caught on the mooring line that we had attached to our bow.  So we had to switch yet again to get his boat free.  So with the weight of our boat, his boat, and 20 knots of wind Dad managed to pull the line loose enough to let go and we reattached the original mooring line.  His boat swung free and Mom was able to work the fenders between our boats to make sure none of our red paint rubbed off on his boat. 

After he was safe and sound we rechecked how our lines were set up and while it wasn’t ideal, we were only going to be here for the day and then leave so we let them be.  By the time we had finished our cup of coffee the wind gauge was reading 30 knots and by the time we got back from our outing into town it was reading 35.  Staying in Canakkale for a few extra days was the right choice for sure.

When we got back from the outings there were two new power boats docked next to the French boat and Dad learned later that the boat right next to the French boat had hit him and left a nice size crack in the side of his boat.  I want to get the French Captain a nice hanging plant or a teddy bear and say “Tomorrow will be better.”

Mom's First Pile of Rocks

Mom wanted to see Troy so we all caught the bus to Troy.  Dad and I had already been there, but it was fun to see it again after really understanding the layers of city that were there and all of the history.  It was also a hoot to experience Mom’s first Greek/Roman ruins.

Before Mom’s knee replacement there was no way she could’ve climbed to the top of this wooden horse, but now her and Dad are ready to conquer the city.  I think that should go in Dr. Heekin’s brochure for knee replacement surgery “Even you could climb to the top of a wooden horse.”

We asked someone to take a family photo of us in front of the horse.  It is a good photo of the three of us, not so great of the horse.

This is the view from the top of the hill down to the water.  The sign we were standing by isn’t very interesting, it was just sharing information on the excavation efforts.  The meltemi is starting a little bit early.  It’s the strong dry wind gusts that blow through Turkey and the Greek Islands.  It should be blowing in our favor, but can produce very strong winds which could also work against us.  We’ll see.

Mom got to see and sit on an old Roman column.  It was a lovely day to see Troy and to go for a walk after anchoring out the two nights before.

Another Beating by Canakkale

The tale of our second trip to Canakkale will be told by the captain, Dad, with a little bit of input of my own.

Safe and sound in Canakkale after another near death docking.  That makes 0 for 2 here.  The wind was blowing so hard I could not get the bow around into it and we ended up using the anchor windless to winch us around into the wind after going side too.(Meaning that we pulled up to the dock side to and had the mooring line wrapped around the winch.  While Dad electronically pulled on the line the boat of the boat was pulled out towards the mooring line.  There were two men on the dock with stern lines Mom and I had thrown them and they were controlling the stern of the boat while Mom and I fend off.  It worked surprisingly well.)  Three Bulgarian guys from the boat next to us helped us dock and winch the boat around.  The next boat to come in had two dinghies to help it get tied up. (This boat had major engine problems and didn’t have enough control of the boat to dock at all. They docked similar to how we did by pulling the bow out and doing a circus act.) We had a pretty good day motor sailing... at first a beam reach in about 7 kts of wind and then as the afternoon progressed about 20 plus (knots of wind) from the stern.  With the current we were making almost 7 kts down the Dardanelles.  The rates in the marina have gone up 25 TL a day (to 75TL)... its summer in paradise.

At one point we had to cross the shipping lanes to get into the marina. Just as we were about to make our turn, a jumbo freighter that we had seen coming on the AIS, made a 90 degree turn right around the bend in front of us and had to use both lanes in the channel.  Needless to say we gave him as much right of way as we could.  Very impressive looking up at the bow of one of these coming right at you as his stern swings to make the turn from about 10 boat lengths away.  It was all handed in a very ship shape way by the Pipedream's crew... and then we took turns going below to change underwear.(This is a lie.  Mom and I were fine and watching for the ship while Dad had to go below to use the restroom) 

"Hours of boredom followed by a few moments of sheer terror."

What Dad left out were the pods of dolphins that Mom seemed to summon on our trip.  They were feeding on the fish that were being pushed out of the Dardanelles by the current and there were a few times where they were swimming right next to the boat which was pretty cool.

The cargo ships we saw this time through the Dardanelles were bigger than the previous trip.  Because of the their size there were fewer ships in the straight which worked to our advantage but at the same time the ships we did see were pretty humbling and scary.

What a statue is made of

We left Esenköy at around 6:30am.   The forecast showed a pretty calm day, but because it was Mom’s first time out in a long time she decided to take a Dramamine just in case – that was the end of Mom.  She ended up sleeping the majority of the day and passed out without a problem once we reached our anchorage. 

The sail itself was pretty uneventful.  Instead of having the wind on our nose, we had no wind at all and there was no current to really push us along either.  So we just sort of motor sailed the 10 hours to our next port.

We were headed towards Saraylar which is a harbor on Marmara Island.  We hugged the southern part of the Sea of Marmara on our way in so on the way out we decided to branch out and visit the island.  Once we got there we decided that we didn’t really need to get off the boat to explore the town, but what we saw was pretty awesome anyway.

This is what the anchorage looked like when we got there.  The sun was setting and there were two other boats anchored out already.  Saraylar is a town where they mine for marble.  A majority of the marble in the Aya Sofya was actually quarried here. 

This is a view of the marble quarries in the morning.  We decided to sleep in instead of trying to find the man who drives a four-wheeler and takes you around on a tour of the quarries.  So we took photos from the boat as we were leaving.

We had another uneventful sail the next day.  We went back to Kemer to anchor out and break up the trip to the Dardanelles.  The first trip through Kemer there was a lot of swell and fishing boats circling our boat at night.  This time around it was an incredibly pleasant anchorage to spend the night.