Tuesday:

On the road again.
Going south. I left just after noon, when the finish paint on the hull damages had dried enough from the second coat I applied early this morning. There was plenty of wind between 15 and 20 knots, a perfect reach under main only on flat water of the Sea of Marmara. I am in a small cove on one of the Princess Islands, which is just 8 miles from Istanbul. 40-52- N 29-06-E. Tomorrow I have a long haul, 66 nautical miles to the next anchorage. There is a full moon so I’ll haul anchor before sun up to try make it to the next anchorage before dark.

I had intended to get together with a friend arriving on the cruise liner “Quest”, see below picture, taken Monday morning from my anchorage on the Istanbul Asian side. But as it turned out it would have been too rushed since she was flying back to New York that same afternoon. There will be another opportunity, next month.

I went back to the Vodafone office and managed to get my wireless broadband modem issues resolved.
It comes in handy here in this anchorage because I would have no other access.
Sunday evening I met Rick and Mary of “Orca”. You’ll be reading about them more often from now on because we are on a similar path. They have their own blog at www.cruisingtips.net/blog check it out because you’ll be getting another view on a similar adventure as mine. They purchased “Orca” a 31 foot twin bilge keeled sloop in Stavoren, Friesland. They sailed Holland last summer and then left the boat in Ipswich, England, for the winter, and then continued their voyage in April across the English Channel into France and ended up upstream of Mainz on the Rhine near Strassbourg and then followed the same route as I did down to the Black Sea. So for any Americans considering taking this route be sure to read up on their blog. This way they avoided the challenge of the strong Rhine current from the Dutch border to the Main River. They have lived most of their lives in California, in Southern California and the South Bay area of San Francisco. Mary cantored in a Catholic parish in Mountain View or Sunnyvale, or both (I should have taken notes) anyway you can understand why we are thick friends now…. Rick is an engineer and still works on his software development business while underway. They were sailing, and earning a living at it, in the Caribbean already back in the seventies. They are heading the same direction as I am for a winter’s stay.

I rowed to shore to get a cold beer. My neighbors, four young men between 18 and 20, asked me to row one of the guys to shore to get bread for the crew. Very nice young man, studies interior architecture in Istanbul. They asked me over for a glass of Raki. They themselves did not drink alcohol, as good Muslims. There were 4 very nice ladies from Algeria on the beach where I tied the dinghy. They are on this remote quiet island for a vacation. They are Kabilya from a Berber tribe  and speak their own language, besides Arabic and French. I had a wonderful conversation with them in French. I hope to stay in touch with them and look them up when I stop in Algeria and Morocco. I took the below picture against the setting sun and to get Fleetwood in it I compromised the quality.

The vegetation and atmosphere here in the Princess Islands remind me of the San Juan Islands, in the North West. As it turned out the new Vodafone modem did not get any reception in the anchorage.

I got out of the bay at 6.30 a.m. and fortunately made it in my anchorage here just at sunset, 7.30 p.m. 68 sea miles. I motor sailed the whole way. There was not enough wind to stay at an average of 5 1/2 knots. Fortunately I do have one of the two Autopilots working again, otherwise this would have been very difficult without the use of the wind vane. I am on the Island of Marmara Adasi. It has been used to quary marble for centuries, before Christ. And that is where our marble got its name. I certainly would much rather have my place of birth be used for a beautiful raw material than the place where my twin brother lives, ground meat. The next decent anchorage for the night is another long 60 mile haul. But I’d like to look around here in the morning and might stay another night. I have a good wireless reception from a hotel on the beach.

At anchorage on Marmara Adasi

Marble quary from my anchorage on Marmara Adasi

My Algerian friends on one of the Princess Islands

“Quest” entering Istanbul