Wednesday 6^th July – Ilhanköy – Erdek (Doggy rescue)

40:23.753N 27:47.421E

This morning I woke up around 6am as I could hear a dog whining and it seemed nearby; there are a number of feral dogs here in town – all friendly.  I heard some splashing and then some more whining, so I nudged Richard who got up and dressed quickly to check what was going on.  From the foredeck he could just see a small dog clinging on the top of a tyre between the quay and the freighter ahead of us, the top of the tyre just above the water, so he rushed round.

I got dressed and joined him.  It was a small dog, not much more than a puppy, trapped and unable to get onto the high quay – he must have fallen in and managed to scrabble onto the tyre.  By the time Richard reached him he had put his front paws up on another tyre slung from the quay wall and was now stuck, legs stretched between the two tyres.  Richard leant down whilst I held onto him and he managed to scoop the pup up by the shoulders and onto the quay.  Although looking wet and bedraggled, the pup only stayed for a few seconds whilst the shock of his ordeal wore off and then was up and off back round the quay to the village, clearly non-the-worse for his early dip.

After all the excitement we went back to bed to finish our sleep.  When Richard got up an hour or so later the cloud was starting to roll in from the west.  The forecast was for thundery showers today and he decided we would get straight off before they arrived.  We left shortly after and took the short trip down here to Erdek, a place that has been mentioned to us a few times as being a good place to visit.  We arrived at Erdek just as a Swedish yacht was leaving, the first non-Turkish yacht we have seen for some time. 

We are berthed anchored stern-to, assisted in by the harbour master who also immediately asked for our electricity cable and plugged us into his locked cabinet (which looks like a giant GATSO speed camera) right behind us; so we thought we ought to pay for the night even though it was only 10.30am, especially as the rate was so reasonable – didn’t want him to change his mind!

After a very late breakfast, I cleaned both bathrooms whilst Richard caught up with some admin online.  We then watched for a while as the two motor boats beside us decided to leave together and found their anchors entangled; we were actually keeping an eye on them in case they messed with our anchor chain.  They circled one another for a while whilst trying to lift their anchors, and then one tried to leave at speed to pull his anchor clear – both Richard and a guy on the quay yelled at him together as they spotted that he was taking the chain of the next yacht along the quay with him.  Luckily the owner appeared but it ended up with all three boats out in the middle of the harbour, stuck fast.  The initial motor boat managed to clear its anchor eventually and leave after the skipper went in the water but the anchors of the yacht and the small motor boat are still stuck.  A chap from one of the local fishing boats with a diving rig was unable to sort it out so it must be serious.  Eventually both boats reversed back onto the quay to decide what to do next. 

We left them to it and went for a walk into town.  A bit touristy but a nice feel to it and plenty of supermarkets to delight me, as well as fish and doner restaurants all over; we certainly won’t starve here.  We picked up a few supplies for tonight before returning to Pyxis and going for a walk around the fishing harbour.

The weather hasn’t been able to decide what to do today; it has been mostly overcast with some sun, hot and humid with occasional spots of rain, and little or no wind in the harbour.  It feels like we could do with a shower to clear the air.