Istanbul

Serafina
Rob & Sarah Bell
Mon 29 Jun 2009 19:32
40:52.2N 29:14.2E

Monday 29th June
Not too sorry to have left Cinarcik although in fairness the locals were
very pleasant, but the location on the end of the breakwater was very
vulnerable to any blow. (Interestingly the position shown on the Google
Earth map is frequently inaccurate, particularly in this case and as yet I
am not too sure which system is wrong!)

I forgot to mention one very strange incident yesterday, when we were close
to the big thunderstorm suddenly some 30 or more storks flew overhead and
flew straight for the heart of the storm. No idea what this was all about or
whether it was just a coincidence? Anyone help on this?

This morning we headed off to the Prince's Islands which lie just off the
coast very close to Istanbul and are a popular weekend destination for
Stamboulites. We dropped the hook in Cam Limani, a bay on Heybeliada Island
and had lunch and a siesta of sorts. The catch was that there is a daytime
resort on one of the beaches and it was blasting out Techno Music at very
high volume which kind of destroyed the natural ambiance of the place.

Around 3.00pm we left and headed for Pendik, through a huge anchorage of
empty tankers and cargo ships possibly as many as 100 all waiting for orders
we assume, for the marina berth we had reserved. This was all quite
interesting because this marina (actual name is 'Marinturk') is absolutely
brand spanking new and so there is no information about it at all other than
a couple of mentions on private blogs on the internet! We were given details
and a phone number by some Americans we met three or four weeks ago and they
just had contact details for the new manager who they knew from when he
worked elsewhere.

We were guided into our berth and helped to tie up very courteously, but
slightly haphazardly by the staff and with yet another thunderstorm circling
overhead, I was heard to express that happiness is being fixed to a safe
mooring! The storm circled us all the rest of the afternoon and finally
dumped some rain around 10.00pm.

Turns out that this marina is not just new, but still unfinished and the
staff are still learning the ropes so to speak. Toilet and shower block
should open tomorrow for the first time and the office is in a portacabin
whilst the far end of the marina is a massive building site. There are loads
of pontoons but only a very few are in use, plus a very special one, the
like of which we have never seen before! Wide walkway with a very classy
canopy all the way down. Moored to either side of this are an array of super
yachts which gives the place a very superior air.

Not long after we arrived, a helicopter landed on the roof of the main
buildings under construction and a group of VIPs undertook a tour. This
turned out to be the owner of the whole project, who surprisingly did not
feel the need to come and chat with us.

Another bonus of this location (which we were not aware of until a couple of
weeks ago) is that having booked our flights back next week for Ewan's
graduation with Easyjet, we have discovered that airport that they use is
just a few miles from here and nowhere near the main airport over on the
European side of the Bosphorus. The slight downside is that we are directly
under the flightpath!

We are surrounded by minarets (what is a suitable collective noun for
minarets?) which all demonstrated their independence from each other late
this afternoon by sounding off at different times and early this evening one
of the resident yachts came into the slot next to us and they all rushed off
home leaving loads of banging halyards! We plan to conduct a commando raid
under cover of darkness to tie them all down but do not want to upset anyone
here just yet.



Photos and travel log at www.rhbell.com