Black Sea Logbook Entry

Date: 6/20/2010
Distance: 18 nm
Sailed from: Gerze
Lat: 41° 38.3’N
Long: 35° 30.7’E

Once again, we left a bit late to outrun the afternoon thunderstorms, and we were caught in squally conditions for about an hour. While trying to see our way through a downpour, we suddenly noticed a large structure on the water about a half-mile in front of us. For a moment, we thought it was another new harbor but we were too far from shore. We turned hard to port and passed to the north of what was in fact the first of three fish farms, none of which appear on the charts. We carefully noted their locations and continued on to Yakakent.

The dock where we planned to tie-up is now reserved for the Coast Guard but we were waved alongside a light blue fishing boat on the next pier over. Soon we met and shook hands with the captain and members of his family, including three boys who spoke English very well. They retreated ashore as the next showers approached, and we had the harbor to ourselves until Lisa went ashore for a long walk in the evening. She met-up again with some of the people she had seen on the fishing boat earlier and was soon introduced to the extended family and given a tour of their carefully tended garden plot. The weather began to clear in time to see a gorgeous sunset/rainbow combination while sitting with them on their porch overlooking the sea. Many local people were out strolling on the promenade which extends for 2km along the shore into town.

Later that evening, we talked about how the cloud formations and sunsets we have seen on the Black Sea remind us of our trip to the five Great Lakes in the U.S. and Canada. It had been five years since we had seen a sunset like the one we saw tonight. The last time was when we were anchored at Grand Island in Lake Superior.