Monday 31^st May

Not the happiest of days so far. We had not elected to go on today’s tour and so we were still around the marina when the first reports came in of the two major incidents that are likely to seriously affect us and the future of the rally.

The incident involving the Israeli navy may well impact on us yet, but the biggest upset was the killing of 10 Turkish sailors at Iskenderun allegedly by the PPK. We were due to sail to Iskenderun tomorrow afternoon but the authorities have asked us not to go. This is nothing to do with security as such, but the town will be in mourning and burying their dead and will be in no mood to welcome and entertain a big international rally of yachts. This of course throws the whole itinerary in to some disarray and currently the plan is to stay here in Mersin an extra day and then to sail directly to Lattakia in Syria a day or so early. This is not an easy set of decisions as there are a load of fishermen here who need their moorings back and there may not be room for us to arrive early in Lattakia.

Hopefully the situation involving Israel will have time to settle, but again there will be issues of our visit to Lebanon beforehand.

The big formal dinner in the evening was rapidly scaled down as Turkey has called a day of national mourning, so we were still entertained to dinner but the dancing and partying was cancelled and following a minutes silence the speeches were not surprisingly very subdued and a touch political.

Trevor and Lesley went off and explored the city by foot and bus, getting a little lost along the way, whilst Sarah and I just went to the big bazaar in the afternoon and strolled around the shopping areas to the east. Mersin is well beyond the tourist trail and although a holiday resort, it is only geared up for Turkish visitors. This is why everywhere we go we are approached by friendly locals testing their English and all asking where we come from. When we say England their eyes often open very wide and they seem utterly amazed that we could have ever got here! The little harbour where the fleet is shoehorned in has become a real focus of local interest and hordes of visitors come down particularly in the evening, either to promenade or just look at all the boats. The bazaar was wonderful and it is such an experience walking down the tight alleyways just soaking up the atmosphere, sounds, sights and smells. This is a far cry from the tourist Turkey we have seen so much of to date. Certainly most of the rally will be very happy to spend another day exploring this very welcoming of places and its people.