A Little Bit of Everything

We left the Ayvalik anchorage and it started to rain.  The sail between Ayvalik and Bozcaada provided a little bit of everything. 

It was a longer day, 10 hours, and like I said we encountered a little bit of everything.  I laid down for a nap (I get a morning nap in since we are generally up at around 6:00am and once the main sail is up and we are on course Dad takes the first “watch”) and got woken up about an hour later by the emergency bell.  There is a bell on board that either 1. Rings when the bilge isn’t pumping the water out fast enough so it goes off at a certain point or 2. Rings when the button on deck is pushed and whoever is in the cockpit needs help on deck and cannot leave for whatever reason.  This was the second option and it turned out we had too much wind and Dad needed help rolling up the jib that was out and putting a reef in the main.  9:00am and we are reefing the main.  We knew it would be a long day. 

It continued to rain on and off as the day went on.  We had too much wind, enough wind to go 6 knots with a reef in the main, wind on our nose, and no wind.  It began getting colder and we decided I could go below for about an hour or two and then we would switch places so at least one of us was dry and warm.  I lasted about 15 minutes before I turned green and had to go back onto deck.  With the wind and rain came enough swell to make it uncomfortable down below and it’s always easier being on deck.  What was odd about the day is there were very pleasant moments too.  Times when the rain stopped and it was warm enough to put a t-shirt on.  Times when the wind was in the right direction and we were able to actually sail.  I’ve come to the conclusion that the Mediterranean is bipolar and that weather forecasts are created by putting any possible condition in a hat and choosing the outcome at random. 

We arrived in Bozcaada, happy to be done with the day and found we had the entire place all to ourselves.  It was a town quay which meant I had to give the anchor another shot while Dad backed into the wall.  It only took me two tries this time and the anchor stuck and we were able to tie off the back with the help of a very nice man who happened to be walking by at the time. 

Bozcaada looked like a great town and I wanted to get off of the boat and explore the castle that was right at the quay and a cook clock tower that I could see from the water, but after walking on solid ground for about 10 minutes I decided getting back on the boat was in my best interest.  Land sickness is something that very rarely happens to me, but my stomach was not having the solid feel of cement under my feet so we went back on the boat, had dinner, and went to bed.

I love that this anchor is the size of a scooter.  I’m pretty sure Dad would be super excited to own an anchor that big… it might be easier to just tie a chain to the scooter though and throw that overboard.

This was an inscription on the castle at the quay.  According to the pilot book this is a Genoese castle built to protect the harbors in the last days of western trade. 

This was taken the next morning when we were pulling out of the harbor.  A fun fact about Bozcaada is it was home of Apollo the Mouse God and was the Greek base for the attack on Troy.  That has nothing to go with the castle that is still standing, but it was a fun fact.