Tuesday June 28th 2011

1000h Just getting up and looks like the boys have the dingy in the water.Paul has already gone ashore for a walk. He has been to the edge of town and says it will be a 45 min. walk.
After breakfast we are all going to explore.
1100h Two trip in the dingy rowing to shore.We are very close so we don’t put the motor on.We have a small steep hill to scale along a narrow dirt and rocky path through some light bush.Out of breath at the top the girls stop to check out the view and see a young boy swimming out to our boat. He doesn’t get a on the swim platform without the ladder down.We carry on into town. The paved road with pines trees on both sides is shady so it’s a nice walk. Like being in the woods. When we get around the other side of the island we start to see some of the old wooden houses that are often mentioned as dwindling and deteriorating in the city of Istanbul.They are lovely. The ones that haven’t been renovated with new wood siding look like the wood from railroad ties dark and oily the new ones are white or stained a cedar color. Some are 3 or 4 stories with most built on the hills along the road with no front yards. The town is small with ferries at the port constantly coming and going with long stay tourists and day trippers.
I ran into a little boy from Toronto. He came up to us and said Welcome to turkey, we had a little chat along the way. He comes every year for 2 months with his family.They rent the same house each year.
We didn’t come across a beach and the one at the boat is full of jelly fish and as deep as a lounge chair. There is a navy academy on the island.
We had a lovely fish lunch and headed through town with a map so we could find the road to the boat along the other side of the island.
The boys left ahead of us and got lost so we got there first. Cracked open a beer on the beach before heading to the boat.
1900h Paul made his first meal on the boat. Drinking wine while cooking and chatting he was a bit late . We didn’t eat till 2000h.

Old wooden Turkish home

Lovers!

Relaxed after dinner and got to bed early. We are leaving at 0600h to get the boat to Pendick Marina for 0800h

Monday June 27th 2011

0900h we leave the cove to head to a lunch stop 8 miles away around the other side of Pasalimani Island.
1100h we arrive at the small cove, nothing here just a couple of houses in the hills. The plan is to leave here at 1230h and head to another small island around the corner about 8 miles. I questioned Malcolm on why we would go a short distance just to dine and leave at 2000h for our 67mile night sail. I always an answer with this look on his face like I should know his choice makes so much sense. I head into my cabin to do some reading and 5 minutes later after he gets on his laptop, I hear him telling everyone he has changed his plan and we are going to start the long sail in one hour. He does this a lot. Thinks about what his plan is and realized it may not make so much sense.
1345h we depart and head for Heybeliada ,one of 3 small islands in the Princess Island group just a few miles from Istanbul.
1500-1900h Malcolm and Jenny take the watch. I chose to relax in my cabin till our watch at 1800h
1800h-2100h It’s still daylight so Alison and I have an easy watch. No ships in sight so nothing to worry about.We are now in the Sea of Maramara.
0300h Not sure if I got a good sleep but I can always go back to bed when we arrive. Malcolm and Jenny had a bit of a time watching for boats some fishing boats didn’t come up on radar and they saw a few tankers cross there path.Malcolm made it very clear that we must watch for ships because we are right in the middle of the shipping lane and the entrance to the Bosphorus is coming up.15 miles away,He’s edgy.Sometimes I think he has no confidence in his crew.We didn’t see anything that would be an issue.One ship crossed behind us a mile away.
0530h We are now 1 mile from our destination and we need to wake Malcolm so he can take the boat into the anchorage in the cove.
0600h We have arrived. Mark and Paul get up and help drop the anchor and now it’s off to bed for a few hours.

Sunday June 26th 2011

0700hWe arrived in Balikli earlier than expected. Mark and Paul had a good watch reaching a speed of over 6 knots.
1000h I got up!!! Didn’t even notice the boat had stopped moving and rolling.I guess the pill helped.
After breakfast we dropped the dingy.The anchorage was on the edge of a very small hamlet with a few homes scattered up on the hills and along the water edge where the short stone walls at the edge of the properties almost dipped into the water.
1300h Galley duty for me for the last time. even though it was only once a week it seemed like a chore cooking lunch and dinner for 7 and cleaning up the mess. I appreciate what my mother did to keep 2 young children fed and having to work all day. Thanks Mom.After lunch Paul,Jenny,Alison and I took the dingy to shore.Three of us just wanted to have that cold beer and a smoke that we planned on back in Canakkale.Up until yesterday I was the only smoker and it didn’t bother me to go without for 3 or 4 days.Not sure how Paul and Jenny will do.
We split up in town Jenny and I heading up the steep road to check out the view. Lots of hills and water, the island is 3 x4 miles. Very few people live here but funny there is a huge ferry that comes in every 2 or 3 hours, a tractor got on and a truck got off.
We headed back down and went to the only restaurant for a beer. Not sure if anyone even drank here! We got our beer for 3.50 each. When Paul went up to get one he was charged 4.50 by a different guy.Kids jumping off the small ferry dock and swimming. Lots of jelly fish here,you can see them floating around rhizostoma pulmo1500hWhen Paul and Jenny went to grab another beer they were told it’s all gone till 1700h when I assumed a delivery would be made.
1530h The beer arrived early. Looked like about 48 beers were dropped off.I guess there aren’t to many drinkers here !!!
1630h we row back to the boat, Paul seems a bit wobbly with his rowing. I heard from Alison later that Paul was drinking wine after breakfast !1830h Dinner is almost ready and Paul is into the previously opened bottle of red wine by the time dinner had started ,I made breaded chicken strips, purple cabbage the way my mom made it and rice. Paul was opening his second bottle. Dinner over and sitting around, Jenny made a comment to paul about uncorking the bottle and not letting it breath a bit before he gulped down a glass. He laughed and said it tasted fine and proceeded to tell us how his cousin bought him a wine preserving thingy that keeps the wine fresh, laughing that he never had to put wine away ,he always finished the bottle and when he opened a bottle of whiskey with his buddies , he threw away the cap. I think the trip could get interesting for the rest of the crew, Paul is scheduled to stay for 90 days AND Malcolm had already mentioned to Alison that she would be bunking with him later on in the trip. !!!! Without asking her first !!! I didn’t think it was right and told her she should speak to him about it.2000h Paul is now very tipsy. Jenny and I want to go for our last puff on shore before putting the dingy away but we needed to go without Paul. We didn’t feel safe having him in the dingy so unstable on his feet.While he was in the head (bathroom) we yelled down to see if anyone wanted to go. We didn’t get an answer so we jumped in the boat,as we did paul came up so we just said we are going to the washroom and he said “oh”.
Had a tea and a smoke in the village café and got back to the boat by 2200h. Paul was already snoring.

Paul just split with his wife in September and mentioned once or twice that she got it all. Heavy drinker maybe !??