Amasra: It's a small
world after all
The colorful women's market in Amasra.
Black Sea Logbook Entry
Dates: 6/6 - 6/8/2010
Distance:26.5 nm
Sailed from: Filyos
Lat: 41° 44.8'N
Long: 32° 23.4'E
On passage from Filyos today, a thunderstorm with intense
lightning chased us into the commercial and military harbor in Bartin which
yachts are supposedly prohibited from entering. Thankfully, we weren't
chased away, and the authorities allowed us to tie-up alongside the commercial
dock until the storm passed. Although we had to undergo careful scrutiny
of our ship's papers (everything was in order), it was much better than getting
caught in a storm along this coast of the Black Sea. We ate homemade soup for lunch and were underway
again 1.5 hours later. We poked our nose into the mouth of the Bartin
River, but heeded warnings not to enter the river when it's raining. We
decided to push on to Amasra instead, and just as the forecast predicted, a
strong wind came up from NE, so we spent the final hour motoring into the wind
and seas which built quickly just as everyone describes.
We spent two nights anchored in the historic and picturesque harbor of
Amasra, a wonderful place for just wandering around. We especially liked
shopping at the women's market with its many colorful fruits and vegetables set
against a sea of brightly-colored head scarves and skirts. Lisa made her
traditional birthday outing to this market while David followed behind carrying
her bags filled with mulberries, cherries, strawberries, dill, mint, parsley,
peppers, a large "wreath" of lettuce and homemade butter and cheese.
In one of our walks through town, we stopped in to visit the local yacht club and pass-on greetings from their friends in
Istanbul. Most cruisers take an inland trip from here to Safronbolu, a town
famous for its Ottoman houses and protected as a World Heritage site. With
a full itinerary of coastal sites to visit, we plan to visit some of these
inland sites later.
In Amasra, we met-up again with the same German- and
Swiss-flagged yachts we'd seen earlier. Both are preparing to go to the
Ukraine from Sinop, Turkey, so we shared our guidebooks and tips from other
cruisers with them and they gave us contact information for another good
English-speaking agent to help with difficult clearance formalities in the
Ukraine. They promised to write an email and let us know how they fared.
In the small world department, we anchored next to Tapestry,
an American-flagged yacht from Asheville, NY. When returning from a run
ashore, Lisa stopped by in the dinghy and found owners and retired teachers
Henry and Julie onboard. It turns out that he was the commodore of the
Dunkirk, NY Yacht Club, near Erie, PA and a place we visited on our cruise of
the five Great Lakes in our previous boat in 2004-2005. We found Dunkirk
after a very rough crossing of Lake Erie and the members of the club welcomed us
in to their Sunday afternoon potluck picnic, a gesture which earned David's
praise as the best yacht club in North America. We invited them aboard for
a glass of wine and great conversation about many common interests and
experiences, including Great Lakes cruising, the ARC Europe Rally, Annapolis,
Marmaris and even the Peace Corps. We parted ways knowing that our paths
were sure to cross again in the future.
Our Black Sea voyage continues in Kuracasile,
Turkey...
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