Sylphe Black Sea Voyage
2005
Bosphorus passage and Turkish North Coast
After six years onboard and with Sylphe
celebrating her 65th birthday this year, we thought it
appropriate to celebrate this in a special way and when one of
Roland’s clients expressed his interest and desire to
charter Sylphe for a visit to the Black Sea, we decided to take
this opportunity and venture out into what is also, and probably
more appropriately, known as the Hospitable Sea.
The Black Sea is a very large sea, covering
461.000 square kilometres, which is twice the size of the Aegean
Sea, to which it is connected by the Bosphorus, the Sea of
Marmara and the Dardanelles. It is an important transport
route linking eastern countries with the rest of the world and it
is also deep, reaching 2,500 meters in places.
During most of the summer of 2005, we shall
cruise around the Black Sea in an anti clockwise direction,
commencing with the Turkish coast east of the Bosphorus (also
known as the Turkish north coast), Georgia, Russia, Ukraine,
Romania, Bulgaria and the last section being the western Turkish
coast back to the Bosphorus. As such, we shall be offered a
wide range of cultures, temperatures, winds, rain and places of
shelter.
We shall endeavour to keep a log of this
voyage, including pictures, on a daily basis and place it on the
website once a week so you shall be able to follow Sylphe’s
adventures. We would like to thank the friends,
aquaintances and other yachties we’ve met who sent us
e-mails and letters with their stories and experiences, told us
where to go, what to expect and in general provided us with a
wealth of useful information and tips.
Log 1, Tuesday, 7 June 2005
Kalamis (Istanbul) – Sile (44.5
NM)
It“s 06.45 when the small cargo vessel
noisily drops it“s anchor 50 meters on our port side and almost
immediately Sylphe starts rolling as the wavelets hit her hull -
then the alarm goes off. We“re in the bay outside
Istanbul“s Kalamis Marina near Fenerbahce and during the past
four days the final stages of our preparations – prior to
entering into the Black Sea – have been completed: transitlogs,
courtesy flags, new gas bottles, diesel- as well as coffee
filters to mention just a few of the smaller items; installation
of the watermaker (for which Roland was officially asked to pay a
bribe by the customs in order to get the darn thing), new
batteries, ICOM radio, antenna…..and once more repairing
that last diesel-leak.
But now we“re ready and eager to depart for
that mysterious sea on the other side of the Bosphorus.
Last night we bade farewell, at least temporarily, to our Turkish family in Istanbul, the Dagdelen clan, while enjoying yet another variety of the exquisite mezes the female members of their household cooked for us. The children will join us for a week toward the end of June and we are looking forward to exploring the northern shores of their land together.
As we head far the entrance of the Bosphorus, we pass Kadikoy and Haydarpasa on our starboard side; across on the other side we can clearly see the famous and historic buildings of old Stamboul: the Blue Mosque, Topkapi Palace and Hagia Sofia, just to mention a few. The Bosphorus is a narrow strait somewhat resembling a large river. A considerable current flows from the Black Sea down the Bosphorus to the Sea of Marmara and can run at up to 4-5 knots in places. So we start searching for the right passage: there where we are least affected by the currents. As we make our way across to the European side in the direction of Galata and Karakoy it seems as if we“re being attacked on all sides by vessels of all sorts and sizes criss-crossing the Bosphorus, mainly transporting passengers, their cars, tourists and cargo from one side to the other. It“s quite tricky to avoid them as well as their wake and the rather nasty waves and swell some of them produce. We manage quite well…..until a Coast Guard boat decides to overtake us with only a few yards in between, which sends Sylphe rocking and rolling and we can hear her hull sqweaking in protest.
Once again we“re lucky – it“s a
beautiful day, sunny with a light breeze and averaging about 6
knots, taking the one knot current against us into account, we
hug the western or European shore, admiring the many castles,
ancient palaces and forts, as well as the dwellings of Turkey“s
Rich and Famous. We pass by small inlets and bays (yes,
there are anchorages in the middle of the Bosphorus!!) like
Bebek, Istiniye and Tarabya and under the two bridges that
connect Europe and Asia – the Bogazici Bridge and the Fatih
Sultan Mehmet Koprusu Bridge. The water is remarkably clean and
by the time we“ve sailed under the second bridge we only
encounter a few fishingboats – where are all those enormous
tankers?!? Near Yenikoy we cross back to the Asian
side of the Bosphorus and as such continue our journey on the
“right” side of the waterway. There are far less
houses and buildings here and the hills on either side are
green-covered. We pass by the village of Poyrazkoy, popular
with boats from Istanbul during weekends in the summer season,
and continue for Anadolufeneri, which marks the northeast end of
the Bosphorus, thereby entering into the Black Sea, accompanied
by a Norwegian freighter and a few big brown dolphins.
There is a noticeable swell and the wind
with 10-15 knots, is right on our bowsprit, which in our case
means the north-east, but both were predicted and normal in this
time of the year. After leaving the confines of the
Bosphorus the coast remains cliff-lined for a few miles until it
becomes much gentler with rolling green hills behind golden-sand
beaches. We continue to admire – this is far prettier
and exceeds our expectations – what is wrong with the people
who wrote the guidebooks saying that “this part of the
Turkish Black Sea coast is not really worth a visit”…..
At 5 p.m. we sail into the former fishing
harbour of Sile (21 ½ NM east of the Bosphorus), which, founded
in the 7th century B.C., was an ancient port for ships
sailing east from the Bosphorus. The lighthouse, built by
French architects in 1859, is the biggest one in Turkey. We drop
our anchor and are welcomed by a small taverna owner and his wife
when we take the dinghy to the quay – the raki and ice-tea
are on the house he says: welcome to the Black Sea!!
Log 2, Wednesday 8 June 2005
Sile – Kefken Adasi (31 NM)
We feel a bit sad having to leave so soon
again, for Sile turned out to be a lovely small town, spread out
on the rocks above the sea. During our search for an ATM
machine and the best-bakery-in-town we encounter many old houses,
built in traditional Ottoman style. Quite a few of them
have been turned into shops where we find the women plying their
trade: dresses, shirts and blouses made from very fine,
open weave cloth, known as Sile bezi. Along this entire
stretch of the Turkish Black Sea coast it is also the only town
the Lonely Planet Guidebook deems worthy writing about and we
have dinner in the only restaurant mentioned, the Panaroma,
enjoying a spectacular view of the harbour and the old castle,
perched on the rocks on the east side of the port.
The following morning, after a hearty
breakfast of olives, tomatoes, cucumber and cheese, lovingly
prepared for us by the nameless taverna couple it’s time to
continue our journey further east. Of the four other yachts
that we counted in the harbour last night – three Swiss and
one Dutch – two have already left, heading it seems, in the
same direction as we. As we round the main mole and head
out to sea through the light swell at the harbour entrance, we
are met by a nice breeze from the north-east. Within half
an hour it seems to settle at a steady 15 knots, so we hoist the
mainsail, yankee and trinquette and look at each other –
Sylphe is under sail and this on our second day in the Black Sea.
What a bonus!
The scenery on land continues to be pretty
much the same: green, medium-sized hills, interspersed with
sandy bays and beaches, some of them lined with white limestone
cliffs. We need the binoculars to see the details though,
as we are too far out at sea. The wind keeps up and
continues to blow from the north-east and with Sylphe averaging 6
knots we sail all the way to our destination for the day: the
small island of Kefken Adasi, opposite the town of Kefken on the
main land. As we enter the bay, we find the two Swiss
yachts already at anchor. A few minutes after we“ve
dropped our anchor, we hear the soft purring of an outboard
engine: the couple on the yacht nearest to us bringing a
bag full of big sea snales, including a complicated swiss-german
recipe for preparing them. We have chicken shish from the
BBQ and salad for dinner and listen to the fishermen laughing on
their nearby boats while they are repairing their nets. What
a fabulous day of sailing.
Log 3, Thursday, 9 June 2005
Kefken Adasi – Eregli (52,5 NM)
The only sound we hear is the seagulls
screaming at each other in the sky above us, or maybe they“re
welcoming the sun which is appearing bright and yellow above the
horizon. The bay of Kefken Adasi is peaceful and idyllic this
early in the morning and yet…we have to move on in order to
make our deadline on 23 June in Trabzon. The sea-snale
Swiss have left already; and it“s not even seven o“clock in the
morning!!
There is absolutely no wind when we leave
our anchorage and head into open sea. We are however
greeted by a horrible swell which sends Sylphe rolling and
bouncing all over the place. There is not enough wind to put up a
sail to try and stabilize her and since we have to cross a very
large bay, leaving the mainland far on our starboard side, it
promises to become a long, hot and uneventful day. Perfect time
to try do the dishes and make a fresh pot of coffee. But
there are other surprises for us in store: as the sun
slowly rises, we see a group of dolphins rapidly approaching.
We settle on the bowsprit while they swim and jump around
Sylphe“s hull, sometimes rolling on their side to watch us with
a curious look. And all during the day we have groups of
dolphins accompanying us for shorter or longer periods.
Two hours out to sea and the swell has
noticeably diminished and when the wind picks up and starts
blowing softly from the North-East, we decide to put up the
genua, still leaving the engine on, and Sylphe slices nicely
through what is left over of the swell. For the remainder
of the day, the wind remains at between 5-10 knots and
accompanied by dolphins we enter into the harbour of Eregli,
where, upon passing by the area reserved for the Turkish navy, we
spot a submarine and anchor right in front of the local sailing
club where we are immediately surrounded by a few young sailors,
practising in their lasers and yelling
“bonjour”……the colours of our flag are the
same, but not the direction of the stripes…..when will they
start teaching this in schools all over the world!
When we go ashore we find a prosperous and
lively town, due in part to the steel works and shipbuilding
industry which provides employment for many of Eregli’s
inhabitants. At the same time, it has been developed as a
garden town, with many parcs and cafes along the sea front.
We also notice the big plane trees, planted during the rule of
Sultan Mehmet, which are 555 years old. The guidebook tells
us that Eregli is famous for its special Ottoman strawberries,
which are supposed to be oval in shape, with white flesh and a
beautiful perfume, but although we try various fruit stalls, the
answer is always the same: at this time of the day
they’re sold out!
To end the day, we have dinner overlooking
the harbour, with fishermen leisurely drinking raki after a
day’s work on board their boats, whilst on the other side a
freighter continues to unload its cargo….and continues to do
so for most of the night.
Log 4, Friday, 10 June 2005
Eregli – Amasra (57 NM)
We have to motor straight north into the
light swell for about 5 miles, and round the headland of Oluce
Burnu, before turning north-east again to continue our voyage.
Once around the headland, the swell dimishes noticeably, but the
wind, although a nice 10 knots, blows straight from the direction
where we have to go, i.e. on Sylphe’s bowsprit, meaning no
sails. So we settle back with a second cup of coffee and
enjoy the scenery, for we are cruising fairly close along the
coast, which runs in pretty much a straight north-eastern line
all the way to Amasra. The coastline also changes, once
past Oluce Burnu, and the gentle rolling hills have made way for
generally steep cliffs and higher hills, covered with trees and
hazelnut plantations.
Near Zonguldak, the capital of this area and
a big coal mining town, the wind turns ever so slightly to the
NNE, still at approximately 10 knots, just enough to put up
a small foresail, albeit closely hauled, adding another half a
mile to our speed and stabilizing Sylphe somewhat from the gentle
roll, caused by the swell. Although the day started out
warm and sunny, grey clouds have gathered over the mainland ahead
of us, pushing out into sea and as we proceed further north-east,
the sun disappears and although not cold by any standards, we don
our deckshirts with long sleeves…..I guess we’ll always
remain “frileuses” after all our years in the tropics!!
It is almost 5.00 p.m. when we round the
headland and the offshore island of Ayibalgi Adasi and make our
way into the harbour of Amasra, which lies on the east side of
the peninsula and once again we spot the red-with-white cross
flag on the yacht of our Swiss sea-snale friends. They
inform us the following day that they were sent away by the local
officials in Eregli the previous day, from exactly the same
mooring spot where Sylphe happily spent the late afternoon and
night. Although we also had a visit from the Sahil
Guvenlik, or Coast Guard, who attempted a faulty VHF radio
contact and subsequently disappeared with a lot of waving and
expressions of appreciation for the “beautiful yacht”.
Maybe they figured we were no threat to their submarine…
We take the dirty laundry ashore and set off
to discover the town. Amasra is one of the most beautiful
towns on the Turkish Black Sea coast and was known as Sesamos in
ancient times, when it was founded by the Miletians in the sixth
century B.C. It stands on a peninsula made by two inlets,
with the ancient harbour on the western side and a large
commercial, fishing and military one providing shelter on the
east side. On a rocky promontory rise the ramparts of a
Byzantine citadel, inside of which is an old church, now the
Fatih Mosque. There is also a necropolis which dates from
the Roman period and later in history it became a Genoese colony.
Scattered throughout the town remains of this rich history and
its facets can be seen everywhere.
A very friendly laundry shop owner, who was
already closed for the day, re-opens his establishment and
promises to take care of our dirty linen - ready by
tomorrow afternoon. After a visit to the local supermarket
and what is left of the Friday “Women’s Market” we
return to Sylphe for a quiet evening on board. Tomorrow is
another day….which we intend to spend in Amasra as well.
AHOY,
Roland and Marit