Bozcaada - Çanakkale, Turkey

Pyxis
Karen & Richard
Thu 9 Jun 2011 22:58

Thursday 9th June – BozcaadaÇanakkale, Turkey

40:09.135N 26:24.256E

 

Looking forward to a quiet night, we were woken at 4am by the sound of an engine and bow thrusters.  Richard looked out to see that a twin-masted super-yacht was berthing by our side; it had a professional crew and had sent a tender ashore with crew to catch lines.  It took a while for them to work their way in but they did it very quietly and professionally.

 

We were just going back to sleep and the large yacht on the end departed, with a couple of squeezes of it bow thrusters as it worked to recover its anchor.  The next thing was that the two motor boats on our outside decided to start their engines and leave – it wasn’t even twilight. 

 

After all this there was little choice but to get up ourselves.  The weather was due to be quiet until mid afternoon before building to a strong southerly, so we decided to take the short trip up the Dardanelles to Çanakkale.  Just after 6am we slipped our lines and retrieved our anchor; it had missed the mooring chain.  We motored on in calm and quiet seas and saw the Dardanelles at an unusually quiet time; the norm is for a fresh north-easterly on the nose.  There is a strong out flowing current from the Dardanelles and so we had to hug the coast to minimise the effect of the current against us.  Not long after entering the channel, the promised strong southerly kicked in earlier than expected and by mid morning we had a brisk wind behind us that quickly built to F5-6; with wind over tide the smooth water was soon quite rough. 

 

So we motor sailed the rest of the way with the genoa out, fighting the 2-3 knot current, and ending the trip with us berthing in 20-30 knots of wind.  Thankfully we were able to berth stern to wind and there were marinaros on hand to catch the lines.  All went well.

 

We were tied up by mid day and had a really nice surprise when we saw that Jackie and Rob on Arwen were in port – they are on their way back from Istanbul.

 

Çanakkale is a town used as a base for visiting Troy and Gallipoli (both of which we may do on the way back down the Dardanelles) so it is quite developed for tourism.  Just along from the marina is the Trojan horse that was used in the film Troy.  We had lunch and then picked up a map from Tourist Information before setting out for a walk around town; there seems to be quite a lot of development activity going on in town.  In the park, a school was having an open day with demonstrations and exhibits from each of the different subject areas.

 

This evening we have topped up with fuel and water and the Turkish skipper from the boat next door, who we first met in Bozcaada, has come aboard and given us some useful tips on where to visit in the Sea of Marmara

 

Sadly, on our way into town earlier today, we spotted a stage being set up at the end of the harbour by the Trojan horse and a van unloading speakers and tonight there is a concert going on – it looks like we are not set to get much sleep tonight!

 

Bozcaada:  Superyacht which arrived beside us at 4am

 

On Passage:  The Dardanelles

 

Çanakkale, Dardanelles

© Pyxis 2011