Logbook Entry

Dates: 5/6/2010 – 5/7/2010
Distance: 40.2 nm
Sailed from: Canakkale
Lat: 40°25.5’N
Long: 27°03.9’E

Watching dolphins feed near the boat in glass calm water with a rose colored sunset through the haze to the west, it’s hard to imagine that just a few hours earlier we were fighting wind and current on our passage through the Dardanelles. We decided to leave Canakkale today even though the weather forecast looked better for tomorrow. We figured, “How bad can it be?” And the answer is, “Not too bad.”

The northerly winds were stronger than forecast with 20-25 knots, but we stuck to the Asian side and slowly made our way against the current, wind and waves. At times, we progressed at less than three knots, but we rounded the mark at Zincibozan Bank at the northern entrance to the shipping lanes at 16:46, and the winds began to drop as we motored to Kemer, a small fishing village near a large power plant which is under construction. Our anchor was down by 19:58.

While relaxing in the cockpit that evening, we watched dump trucks zooming out to the end of a large jetty under construction. They looked like Tonka toys in the distance and were busy all night long. This is clearly a protected cove — the foundations of the small cottages on the shore come right to the water’s edge. We could see two women doing chores on the front porch of one of the houses and the lights on in another, but the rest looked empty on this Thursday night in the springtime. We slept well that night knowing we’d crossed another important threshold from the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara. Istanbul is not far now.