Charmless Cinarcik

Serafina
Rob & Sarah Bell
Sun 28 Jun 2009 16:06
40:38.9N 29:07.8E

Saturday 27th June
Stayed in Marmara for another day as we liked the place so much and frankly
the next step is a big trip and we fancied a day off first!

Had a wander around the town and inspected the beaches to the west which
bore the brunt of the storm and strolled out to the eastern end where the
smarter houses are. Came across a large sports hall and outside, opposite a
children's park was an adults outdoor park with an assortment of steel
exercise equipment. (See photos at www.rhbell.com )

Today's entertainment came courtesy of the 'Atakoy Marina (Istanbul) 2009
Marmara Rally'. This turned out to be a rally of boats based at Atakoy
Marina on their annual jaunt around the Sea of Marmara. All very organised
with printed t-shirts and most of boats displaying a rally pennant and
special individual rally numbers. The entertaining bit was that they seemed
a little unsure about the art of mooring stern to the quay which is odd as
that is all they do out here. Anyway, lots of fun was had laying anchors
over each other's anchors and of course the mandatory shouting, waving of
arms and shrugging of shoulders. One particular chap had several failed
attempts before he looked to be getting it right at last, however at this
point he felt the need to leave the helm, walk to the back of his boat and
shout and wave his arms at which point the anchor took hold and the boat
swung wildly off course and stopped dead. He eventually returned to the helm
and tried to recover the situation and eventually got to the quay where they
helped tie his lines. He then strode ashore and for the next few hours
played the role of beach commander, issuing instructions endlessly to all
the new arriving boats who of course had not witnessed his ineptitude! In
addition his young son dressed identically, joined in making everyone re-tie
their ropes in a different (but not always better) way.

Very hot and still today and looks like it might be a long hot day tomorrow
when we have to do 70 miles.

Sunday 28th June
Slipped out of Marmara around 5.00am just as the sun was coming up, with
very little wind and quite a bit of cloud cover.
Today's forecast is for 2 -4 and cloudy, but no mention of thunderstorms.

So what do they know anyway? We had to motor all the way with no wind and
certainly plenty of cloud, and hundreds of dozy flies - the bottom of the
cockpit became testament to our accurate slaps! As we got within 10 miles
or so of our destination (Cinarcik) a large black thundercloud formed over
the headland ahead and beside us. [Interestingly, Istanbul Turk Radio issued
a revised forecast only an hour earlier with the new warning of
thunderstorms!] We tried to outwit this monster but had the additional
hazard of two large cargo vessels converging on us as well. Ended up heading
well offshore and watched the lightening forks blitzing the town and
hillsides whilst every so often most of it would disappear in a rain storm.
We however, remained just beyond the edge of the rain etc. and eventually
made the entrance of Cinarcik harbour.

This place is not quite as billed! It is a very run down public quay which
offers some protection from prevailing winds, but the catch when we arrived
was that it is full of private motor boats that occupy almost the entire
quay, which goes some way to explaining why we were the only visiting boat!
Two boat owners however were very helpful and advised us to use our anchor
and back up to the space at the end of the quay, where they took our lines.
All very well, but we do not have much protection here from any wind from
the north east. The thunderstorm had now moved to the hills around where we
were and we spent an anxious hour or so wondering what might happen next,
however all the rowing boats, pedallos and dinghies that were milling around
out in the sea seemed blissfully unaware of any impending problems and we
began to wonder if we were just a little too nervous. That is when the first
big gust arrived and pushed us back onto the quay and caused a considerable
amount of panic and alarm in the bay. It was very brief, but did enough to
bring all the boats scurrying in.

Not our favourite spot it has to be said and we may revise the plan that had
us staying two nights here!