IN CYPRUS AT LAST EN-ROUTE FOR EGYPT

Friday 19th October

We reached Cyprus, together with "Fat Annie" after a 150 mile passage and one night at sea (Pixi's mum's first ever!). Paphos was our entry port but there was not really any space for two yachts let alone the seven expected for the Red Sea group.

A BRIEF SOJOURN IN TURKEY EN-ROUTE FOR CYPRUS

Tuesday 16th October
Robert and Jill Watson on "Fat Annie" had left Rhodes to go direct to Cyprus but had encountered the same strong winds that drove us to Kas and so diverted to Kekova Roads in Turkey. We met them there and also found Tricia and Geoff Hodson of "Amethyst" there. The lovely new Amel "Cerise", owned by Terry and Margaret was also in the bay. Bill had to go up the mast to cure our masthead light and took the camera up with him.

INTSOMI STARTS THE TREK SOUTH TO EGYPT

Monday 15th October
After reaching Rhodes, Pixi's mum decided to stay with us all the way to Cyprus. We left Rhodes for a brief stay in Turkey and had an amazing sail to Kas with winds gusting to 50 knots and Intsomi surfing down the waves at over 12 knots. We chilled out the morning after and had a good look around the town with its quiet park and old houses.

PIXI'S MUM SAMPLES THE "CRUISING LIFE"

Sunday 30th September
A longish and rather lively leg brought us to Paros and the big bay of Naousa. We tucked into the North West corner and sat out the Melttemi for five nights altogether.
The rocks around us were weathered into the most fantastic shapes.
We rented a car and toured the island with Freda and were rather taken with the narrow alleys of Paroikia, the capital. The church there is one of the oldest in the world and is beautifully decorated. Freda was very impressed with the knarled olive trees we saw while driving.

Tuesday 25th September
We arrived in Athens (actually Pireaus) and decided to try the Zea marina for a change. It was a good call and we much preferred it to Kalamaki. Pixi’s mum Freda Parker joined us on Friday 28th September for a short holiday and a break from the rather cold fall weather in England. We had a lovely meal on her first night and set of in bright sunshine and with little wind, a calm sea on Saturday 29th for Kithnos.

SAILING WITH CLIVE & JUDITH TUNBRIDGE

Monday 17th September
After collecting our friends Clive and Judith Tunbridge from Thessalonika airport we set of to cruise around the “three fingers”. The Gulf of Singitikos, East of the Sithonia peninsula (the middle of the “three fingers”), was delightful. We anchored in deserted bays and swam in turquoise water. At the head of this Gulf is the village of Pirghadika, where we stopped for provisions and a welcome beer. We took advantage of Clive’s expertise to try out our spinnaker again and take some pictures of it.

BACK IN GREECE

Sunday 9th September
After a calm passage South through the Dardanelles, South West winds took us nicely to the most Northerly island in the Aegean, Thassos, where we made up for lost time (in the jellyfish infested waters of the Sea of Marmara and the Black Sea) with a wonderful swim in clear water over white sand. Thassos is an important source of marble and, unlike the more Southerly islands, has not been deforested. The combination of high mountains with green slopes below and white beaches with crystal clear water is enchanting

ISTANBUL

Thursday 2nd August
We left Zeytinbagi for a short hop to Katirli and then on to the Princes Islands but excellent winds took us North so we skipped our plans and went straight to Atakoy Marina in Istanbul. Neither of us had ever been in Istanbul, Intsomi had a couple of problems that needed fixing and we were expecting visitors so we booked into the Marina for a month. Highlights of Istanbul were the spice market, where leeches were also on sale, the grand bazaar, a trip up to a viewing station at the end of the Golden Horn, by ferry and cable car, and of course the amazing Aya Sofia, in use for a thousand years before St Pauls in London was built. We were pleased to have Lesley Parker, Pixi’s sister to join us in Istanbul.

ZEYTINBAGI

Monday 30th July
Delighted to leave Bandirma, we continued on the South coast of the Sea of Marmara to Zeytinbagi. It is a small fishing port with a minor tourist beach and some very quaint old wooden village houses. You are just as likely to meet a tractor as a car and it is the centre of olive growing in the area. Weatherbound once more we had a field day cleaning the boat. The locals were friendly and fishermen invited us to share their fresh sardine lunch the day after we arrived. We also did a major bike ride to the next big town called Mudanya where there was a plusher harbour and found a nice fish restaurant for lunch. We were pretty tired after ten kilometres of switchback dirt road so, after a good feed and some lemonades, we decided to take the bus back and packed the bikes into its boot.

SEA OF MARMARA

Wednesday 25th July

One of our stops ın the Sea of Marmara on the East side of the Kapidag peninsula was at Bandirma. It’s an ugly industrial town, has a smelly harbour with some obscene urchins and a high speed ferry that send up a huge wash three times a day and bangs all the boats against the quays. Apart from that we rather liked it. To make things even better it started blowing Force 7 during the night so we had to stay on. In the morning we ran (including the main mole which turned out to be almost half a mile long) and found some rather splendid public works in progress to beautify the harbour and mosque areas. The next day the weather was not much better so we took an excellent coach East to the historic town of Bursa, famous for its mosques, silk market and bazaars. The mosques were intriguing as they are quite austere internally. As well as the faithful at prayer there were many (mostly Turkish) visitors who chatted away and took pictures in a very informal way. The bazaar was absolutely fascinating with a riot of colour everywhere. Birsa was well worth a visit and we didn’t return until midnight. We spent yet another day weather-bound at Bandirma on Saturday.

DARDENELLES & GALLİPOLİ

Friday 20th July
Setting out for the Dardanelles we soon found ourselves back in the strong Meltemi wind. There is a considerable flow of water South through the Dardanelles and as we drew nearer to the straits, our speed over the ground dropped off, sometimes to 2 knots and we were forced to keep the mainsail up to use a bit of the strong wind to help us along. The wind was gusting consistently over 30 knots and we had a wet ride Northwards towards Canakkale. After two days of hard sailing it was time for a change so we crossed over the Dardanelles by ferry for a tour of the ANZAC battlefields and war cemeteries. Half a million men, mostly in their early 20s died in the eight month Gallipoli campaign. The British allies attack was supposed to be a lightning strike, over in 11 days, but became the soldiers’ worst nightmare. The Turks commemorate the losses on both sides, despite their magnificent victory. War is clearly regretted and their feelings are well illustrated by a statue of a Turkish soldier carrying a wounded ANZAC and in words written almost twenty years later by Attaturk, the first president of the new Turkey and a hero of Gallipoli. (SEE PHOTO)

On a lighter note, the tour clients were mostly young New Zealanders, about the same age as our children. The guide was a former Turkish navy captain who had excellent English. He addressed us as "captain" (unduly respectfully) and "admiral" (entirely appropriate) during the tour. We were somewhat taken aback in the afternoon, on the bus, when the guide referred to us as "the middle-aged couple on the back seat" but then, that is exactly what we are, so we will have to get used to it.

MITHINMA

Monday 16th
Our second attempt to leave Sygri, because of bad weather, brought us to Mithinma and well worth it too. The Meltemi is now well developed so we had a pretty rough beat for the first hour and a half but were then able to tack and bear away for some 8 knot reaching along the waves.
Mithinma is delightful. It is like an up-scaled version of Plomerion but does not seem to have suffered the deprivations evident there. The harbours (shallow inner and outer, where we are) are delightful and there is a long steep walk into town. Mithinma is a maze of tiny cobbled streets and solid houses all built with the same stone and rooted in the massive spur of volcanic rock that is the foundation for the whole town. The spur is topped with ramparts of a Genoese era castle and the town is subject to planning controls which have been effective in preserving this unique place. The highlight of Lesvos for us.

2007 ROUTE

NATURAL HISTORY INTERLUDE!

Wednesday, 4th July 2007

Natural history interlude! Found at the ancient site of Pergamon!

PERGAMON

Wednesday 4th July
Another cultural interlude took place in the form of a visit to ancient Pergamon from the port of Dikili. We took the dolmus inland 25km to see the ruins. Pergamon has a truly magnificent location, rivalling that of Delphi but the ruins are so complex and the city was important for such a long period that everything overlays. The amphitheatre is supposed to be one of the steapest and it certainly feels like you could fall down from the top to the bottom.

Highlights of the site for us were the massive vaulting under one of the main temples and mosaic floors in the Roman baths

EPHASUS

Monday 25th June
A cultural interlude seemed to be called for so, we left Samos for Kusadasi which is the port for visiting the ruins of Ephasus. There are always cruise ships on the quays but, being a little smaller, we settled for the marina just North of the main town. A heat-wave which had started during our stay on Samos was again in evidence at Kusadasi and it was nearly 40 degrees C when we arrived. Next day we took an early Dolmus ride out to Ephasus in the hope of avoiding the worst heat of the day. Ephasus is an amazing site. It had an amphitheatre for 24,000 spectators, marble paved streets, a beautiful library, elegant shopping precincts, elaborate baths and loos and some very well appointed houses built into the hill-side above the ancient port. We rated it as the best “pile of old bricks” we have encountered so far.
We had an excellent “gyro” lunch and found a nice sea bass in the fish market for our supper.

GUMUSLUK - A name to remember

Sunday 17th June 2007
Today we arrived in a small bay called Gumusluk. Again we had some good sailing en-route. After we arrived Bill swam over to “Rabbit Island” and we both revisited it later for the view. Gumusluk is an extremely attractive spot with cottages right on the water’s edge, several fish restaurants and some small shops, but unspoilt in every other way.

LEAVING MARMARIS

Tuesday 12th June 2007
Finally we have been able to leave Marmaris!
Some brisk sailing with winds up to 24 knots and a bit of motoring brought us to Simi. We spent three nights in all in Greece on Simi Island – one in the actual harbour (to provide an opportunity to add to Pixi’s wine stock) and two at anchor in a bay called Pethi around the corner. The harbour in Simi causes lots of people great stress, because anchors and chains get tangled up and then when they want to leave they have to sort it out! Fortunately we were OK, but we did observe some entertaining untangling.
Simi harbour is most attractive. The colourful Italian style villas rise up in tiers on the steep sides of the harbour and seem rooted in the rock like plants in a rockery. Pethi bay is a quiet contrast, with few people and some very simple tavernas on the beach