Ships that pass in the day....
Serafina
Rob & Sarah Bell
Tue 23 Jun 2009 18:16
Tuesday 23rd June
This was the sort of day we bought the boat for!
Left Canakkale at 8.00am with a light southerly blowing which gradually
picked up to 15 knots and once we rounded the 'S' bend north east of the
town, we hoisted our 'Simbo' downwind rig of twin headsails and full main
and were able to hold this for the whole of the remaining 20 miles of the
Dardanelle Straits, passing two yachts that were struggling to sail
goose-winged. Not much shipping today which was handy as it allowed us to
creep into the shipping lane whilst trying to keep our sails filled. Fair
tide against us, but the wind increased to gusts of 20 knots which was
nothing short of perfect!
Once we cleared the northern entrance to the Dardanelles, we came onto a
starboard broad reach and although the wind did play a few tricks briefly,
we ended up covering the next 30 miles on a wonderful portside broad reach
with 15 or so knots of true wind. Saw plenty of ships in the shipping lanes,
but only one yacht around 4.00pm heading the other way to us and we could
not quite make out its sail insignia etc. This turned out to be a real shame
as it was our friends, Chris and Steve, on 'Scott Free' who were heading for
Canakkale where they thought we were staying for another night! I will now
have to wait even longer before enjoying another of Chris' great cappuccinos
(they have a machine on board).
Dropped anchor just outside the little harbour at Karabiga on the southern
coast of the Sea of Marmara. Room on the quay but we decided to have a few
days at anchor and it seems a nice and well protected spot from the forecast
southerlies as well as the usual northerlies.
First thing we really noticed about the sea of Marmara apart for the rather
cloudy nature of the water, is the incredible numbers of jellyfish! There
are two main types, the brown (Compass jellyfish due to its pattern) and the
almost translucent ones with a pretty purple line on its skirt (Rhizostoma
pulmo) and here in Karabiga we have never seen such a density of the
translucent ones, far more than even in the Baltic Sea. The good news is
the pilot book says they can "inflict stings although these are not usually
severe"....!
Several dolphins came to swim briefly with us again in the Dardanelles and
then as we approached Karabiga, we saw a pair of Harbour Porpoises (possibly
mother and baby), but these animals are shy and they did not come right up
to us.