Normal service resumed

Serafina
Rob & Sarah Bell
Sat 27 Jun 2009 13:50
40:35.1N 27:33.5E

Friday 26th June

New voice on the minarets broadcast at 4.50am but the good news was that he
was very brief.

Heading for Port Marmara on Marmara island this morning and although it is
not very far at all, Sarah did not like the look of the clouds or this
morning's weather forecast both of which indicated more thunderstorms. So
after a relaxed breakfast, we pulled up the anchor and headed north west
again.

Marmara Adasi means literally 'Marble Island' and that is exactly what it
is, well most of it. The northern half of the island is composed of white
marble and southern half is slate and granite. The marble here is prized for
its flawless white quality, unblemished by grey or haematite brown
impurities which makes it perfect for statues, columns and sarcophagi and so
it has been quarried here since ancient times by the Greeks, Romans,
Byzantines and Ottomans. It is still quarried to this day and the spin-off
is that 'waste' marble blocks are used everywhere instead of concrete or
rocks. Hence part of the sea defences at Port Marmara are huge blocks of
marble and marble is the stone of choice for paths, walls and pretty much
everything you can think of!

Port Marmara is just a rather grand name given to the very small fishing
harbour here. There is room for just a handful of visiting boats and it is
typical of almost everywhere we have been in the northern region of Turkey,
that there are so few yachts around. As it happens we were moored next to an
English boat that had just come down the Danube and was re-visiting the area
after a gap of 20 years and they were also surprised so far to have seen so
few other boats at all.

Marmara is a charming little town, which is striving to reinvent itself as a
tourist resort for Turks, but on the evidence so far, there are very few
tourists yet. Certainly being English, we are the novelty act in this region
and it always surprises them when we tell them where we come from, despite
the fact we are conversing in English - they expect us to be German (all
conversation, not in Turkish, is otherwise held in English). Quite a lot of
clearing up going on after the storm we were caught in yesterday. Beaches
have all been covered in seaweed and according to the yacht that had just
arrived here before the storm hit, it was very exciting even in the little
harbour. What we had not appreciated is that the sea water here in the Sea
of Marmara is not very salty at all. Haven't tried tasting it just yet nor
have we swum in it properly but we are assured that it is nothing like as
buoyant as the Med.

We went out last night and had a wonderful meal in a lovely position
overlooking the sea and the islands across the way. Afterwards, Sarah had to
ask the owner about the yoghurt which was beautifully creamy (as it is in
Greece, but not Turkey) and once he and his staff had had a good laugh, he
sent one of his staff to take us to a nearby shop where a short discussion
resulted in some of the 'perfect' yoghurt being produced almost literally
from under the counter! Sarah bought some of course and hopefully we now
have the key to finding this better make.

When returned to Serafina we found another British yacht had just arrived in
the tiny harbour and was looking to moor up, so they were helped into the
space next to us. This is a Jeanneau 49 (Dave and Linda) who we have already
met before, firstly in Bozcaada and then in Canakkale.