Çanakkale revisited
Scott-Free’s blog
Steve & Chris
Tue 23 Jun 2009 11:16
39:57.96N
25:19.9E
Tuesday
23rd June 2009
We set off for
Kemer, a small port on the south coast of the Dardanelles, with the wind blowing
lightly on the nose. By the time we reached there, however, the wind had
strengthened and was still on the nose, blowing against us and the current that
should have been carrying us down the Dardanelles. It was blowing strongly
into the harbour, and we decided that it was untenable in the current
conditions, so had either to turn back and run with the wind back to Marmara
Adasi, or motor-sail into the wind and sea for 35 miles to Çanakkale. Not
ones for taking the easy option, we decided to press on. Thinking that our
friends from Serafina, Rob and Sarah would be at Çanakkale we sent them
a text to say we were on our way. It was just our luck that they didn't
answer until later that evening, to say that they had left Çanakkale earlier in
the day, had passed us on the way (though didn't realise it was us at the time!)
and were now tucked up in Karabiga which we had passed on the way to
Kemer! What a cock-up! If we had known we could have made for there
in the first place, thereby missing out on a lumpy ride and spending an evening
in their company. Oh well, c'est la vie...
We eventually
arrived at Çanakkale at 22:00 and were relieved to find, not only a space, but
some guys there to guide us in and take our lines.
The next morning,
knowing we would be staying at least one day to get our paperwork sorted out and
check out of Turkey, we asked to move to the other quay, as the boat next door
to us was playing loud music till late and from early, and looked like a local
boat that wasn't going anywhere for a while. We decided in fact to spend
two days here, so spent the first day just chilling out, doing jobs and
shopping. We went for a look around the Naval museum which has nice
gardens, but didn't venture inside.
The second day we
set off to do the paperwork to check out. First we found the Harbour
Master who said there would be no problem getting our VAT refund form stamped,
and said first we needed to go to Passport control which is 8km away. No
mention of needing an agent to do it for us so that was good news. We
got into a taxi and went to get our passports stamped out and the Transit Log
stamped. This was easy enough but a little costly as the taxi cost
55TL. Then we went back to the Harbour Master who stamped the Transit Log
and last of all we had to go to Customs. Again this was simple enough and
the guy stamped the transit log happily, but then came the problem - he refused
to stamp the VAT claim form, saying he could not as it would not be legal.
We argued the toss for some time, but he was adamant he would not stamp
it. In the end we rang the customs agent from Marmaris Yacht Marine and
asked him to speak to them and then explain to us what the problem was.
Eventually, after several phone calls with several people, he explained that the
VAT form could only be stamped in certain ports of entry/exit, and Çanakkale is
not one of them. So we were really fed up about this but there seemed
nothing we could do. With hindsight we should have done it in Marmaris
before leaving, and certainly would have done if we had known, but we were held
up so long by the winch we just wanted to get going. Oh well, c'est la
vie...
The Trojan horse
in Çanakkale, from the film starring Brad Pitt (the site of Troy is
nearby)
...and Scott-Free's very own Brad Pitt, full of Iskender
Kebab