Jungle Jim: Leaving Turkey

We arrived back in Istanbul safe and sound after a 16 hour travel red eye on KLM. Unfortunately the Dock breaker blew and the refridgerator/freezer shut down. It was a very smelly experience that we are still working our way through. We had Katie the fluff ball tended to while we were in Boston, but didn't consider the loss of power. Oh well. We sailed the next afternoon 25 miles to Eregli Limani. The following day was a longer run of 65 miles (12 hours) to the end of the Sea of Marmara in the town of Gelibolu.

I had scoped out this nice little anchorage just outside the busy town to settle in for the evening. Jenée was making one of her specialties - tacos (we bought corn tortillas in Marshfield) - it was going to be a great night. Nice sunset.

Nice quiet spot. I was on deck waiting for dinner then I hear a whistle and someone yelling from the shore line. He's in military uniform and with a second guy. He's yelling in Turkish and pointing to a sign that I hadn't noticed until then. I pull out my binoculars and see a warning sign with a military figure holding a rifle. The sign was all shot up. A firing range! Merhaba, bye, bye. They gave me a nice big wave goodbye as we pulled up anchor. Tacos will have to wait.

Wait, it gets worse. We pull around the point, about 2 miles to the main harbor which looks quiet enough and it is Ramadan (Muslim holy period).

Then, BAM. The sun goes own and the carnival lights go up about 50 meters from our boat. To add to the fun the carnies are blasting the worst Turkish disco music we've ever heard. With catchy lyrics such as "you know you want it" sang 600 times in a row - the whole 8 minute song was one line in English repeated over and over. Also featured was "you got to BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, I got to BOOM, BOOM, BOOM." Yeah baby, them Turks know how to party. Last I saw Jenée she was attempting to pour candle wax in her ease to dampen the sound. The next morning a ferry operator yelled for me to move the boat out of his way. Hey, at least we got a full 2.5 hours sleep.

We made it quite early to our next destination of Çanakkale (Chan-a-kali). That little squiggle on the bottom of the c gives it a cha sound - now you know. Š is sha sound, wow, you've learned so much. We came hear to officially check out of Turkey. We've met people who didn't do this right and one couple ended up in jail on their return. Cue the music from Midnight Express ("Villiam Ayes" - if you saw the movie, you get it). So, while waiting for the authorities we come across this horsie. We are very close to the site of ancient Troy (3000 BC) and this horse is from the movie with Brad Pitt. Never saw it but I know they filmed it in Cabo San Lucas because we were there.

I was kinda bummed because I thought maybe they dug this up. No, it's a stage prop. By the way Troy is also called Troia, Vilusa and Illion. The name of Illion gave name to Homer's epic; Iliad. You just don't get this type of info anywhere. Anyhow, I still struggle how 24 Greek guys hung out in this horse and weren't spotted. "Hey look at that, the wooden horse is peeing, wait a minute!" Great story though, I'll watch the movie on cable. It's about a war started over a woman and money, go figure.

After clearing out of Turkey, we make one final stop for the night on the island if Gokçeada (Gok-chi-ada), formerly the Greek Island of Imbroz). This Is primarily a military island so you could say we are pushing our luck, but it's just another deserted anchorage on our way north to Nisos Thasos and the Greek mainland.