Back in the Med!!

Sea Topaz
Duncan Briggs
Thu 7 May 2015 18:42
36.17.63 N 30.09.01 E
 
We were woken by our next pilot at 04.30 in the morning and we were on our way before 5; just as it was getting light.
Again another very nice guy. We met the south bound convoy this time; sometimes scary to see this big fellows coming towards you. But again the pilot was behind the wheel, so he knew what he was doing.  By 11.30  we were in Port Said, where the pilot was picked up by a pilot boat. We said goodbye to him and gave him is baksheesh, some money t-shirts and cigarettes to share with the guys on the pilot boat. We were glad to get out of the harbour as many small boat were coming from all directions and sometimes quiet close.
We had an uneventful three nights and two and a half days at sea to get to Turkey. We managed some sailing, but there was not much wind. We got to Finike marina early Monday morning and crossed our line just outside the marina: We had sailed around the world!! Ten years ago, on May 5th, 2005 we arrived in Cyprus to start this adventure.
It was so great to be tied up in a marina in Turkey again with hundreds of other boats, one of which was a friend of our who we had last seen two years ago in Pangkor; he had gone the extra 9000 miles around South Africa.
It was great to get the many reactions and congratulations on Facebook.
We have cleaned the boat of salt and red dust and have booked our flight back home to the UK for 3/4 weeks, leaving on Saturday. We look forward to catching up with Kirsten, Mark and Lanah, our mothers and the rest of family and friends. The back to cruising in the Med.
 
 
Old colonial mosque, church and hospital in Ismalia
Our second pilot
Extensive dredging going on
New bridge; not used yet
Big container ship
Empty oil tanker
Mosque in Port Said
Turkey! Crossing the line...
Cold! Snow on the mountains
Well done that girl!
Cleaning the red dust off the sails