Mast Raising Day - A Sailboat Again!

June 14 Ostinato left the North Sea to begin her journey though the canals and rivers of Europe. Three months later we exited the Danube into the Black Sea at Constanta.  Two months of that time was spent with the mast, along with the boom, halyards, radar, and all other accouterments that make Ostinato a sailing vessel, lying in cradles in a horizontal position.  So it was with much excitement, along with a good dose of anxiety, that we approached mast raising day.  Our neighbor Bill had returned from the wedding in Frankfort.  Unfortunately, he could not persuade his lovely wife Claire to join him....but you could hardly blame her.  An overnight across the Black Sea on her first night out would not be tempting to everyone.....especially considering Bill's last overnight passage with us across the North Sea.

King attaches the crane in preparation to lift the mast off Ostinato

Arrangements were made in Port Tomis for the crane that would place Ostinato's mast in its proper position.  Early on our scheduled day, we left our berth on the quay and crossed the small harbour to the boat yard.  At the agreed upon time to begin the job there was no crane in sight.  This was just as well because the wind had decided to see if it could make things more interesting for us.  An hour later an ancient crane was spotted puttering down the road.  As if right on cue, just as it arrived, the wind laid down, ropes were wrapped around critical areas and off came the mast to be gently laid upon makeshift platforms the marina had managed to gather up for us.  Like little whirlwinds we buzzed about Ostinato's mast and decks.  The first job was to remove the saran wrap like covering Pat and I had applied to the mast and all her lines so nothing would bang about the wood cradles that King and Frank has so carefully built 2 months ago in Lelystad, Netherlands.  By dark everything was laid out and ready for the crane to return the following morning to place the stick vertical once again.  No one slept well that night.  Early in the evening a rat did a cameo appearance running across the back deck.....that was it for me.  Even with King's assurance otherwise, I was awake all night thinking of places he might be able to slip into the boat.  For King, the language barrier made him less than confident about the crane operator.  He spent the night drawing pictures to convey exactly what he wanted done.  And then, the wind changed direction.  The water was marginal where we were tied up but by midnight we were bouncing on the bottom.  It was clear even without the other distractions, no one was going to sleep.  The next morning the wind howled.  King tried to cancel the crane but it was already on its  way.  At that point we would pay regardless of any work being done.  Nothing to lose, we might as well wait for him.  Luck smiled on us again.  David from Amusant joined Ostinato's crew to finish last minute prep work and, just as the day before, the wind laid down to a soft breeze right on schedule.  With a minimum of yelling (in several languages) and angst the mast was placed upright on Ostinato's decks and the shrouds quickly put in place.  Lickity split we were quickly on our way in search of deeper water across the harbour.  There was still a long list of jobs to do.

The other side of the harbour has a community of cats.  I had already observed kitty footprints all about the boat the day we arrived so I decided we needed "guard cats", just in case the rat decided to move in. I spread a little left over chicken on the quay and within seconds 3 potential candidates were happily chowing down.  Later that evening one chose to be on duty and set himself down on a rug in the middle of the cockpit for the night.  This went well until about 0400 when a duel began for rights to the rug.  Nothing like a good cat fight going on over your head.  If the rat was still on board, he didn't like it either.  We haven't seen him since.

A small weather window appeared to be opening so the following day we were all in high gear.  We still needed to get the sail's rigged, reattach running lights, antennas and wind instruments and, last but not least, do a quick grocery run before we could even think about heading out again.  Bill and I finished our chores by 2000 but King worked on the wiring for 2 more hours before he had finished his critical list.  We fell into bed at 2300.  In order to get checked into Turkey without using an agent, (think lots of $$) King calculated we would need to arrive at the marina before 1000 the following day....the alarm was set for 0300!

A small robin took a brief rest on Ostinato
in the middle of the Black Sea

Somehow we crawled out of our warm cozy bunks at 3 a.m. only to find the Border Police, that we had been told was available 24 hrs a day, was no where to be found.  We drank a gallon of coffee and put on warm clothes and waited....nothing.  King called the Border Police in Constanta twice before a car finally pulled up beside the boat to begin processing us out of Romania.  We finally slipped into the Black Sea heading south at 0530.

The crossing was picture perfect....aside from the fact that we had no wind.  Regardless, the main stayed up the entire way as Ostinato was proud to be a sailboat again.

Sunset on the Black Sea

We had passed enormous barges in the Danube but the ships encountered on the Black Sea were jaw dropping.  Did I read AIS right....600 ft long, 150 ft beam and a 35 ft draft?  Now that's a ship!  Traffic was heavy but there was plenty of room for all of us.  Amusant left at a leisurely 0800 and blew by us around 2200.  We would catch up with them again in Istanbul.

Racing big ships to the Bosporus at sunrise

Just as the sun began to rise we could begin to see evidence of Turkey to the South.  As we moved cautiously through the Bosporus, in company with the big ships, all hands were on deck. The Blue Mosque and Aya Sofya stood out against the Istanbul skyline.  Wow!  Memories of our visit almost ten years ago came flooding back.  A truly magnificent city.

Istanbul International Boat Show had lots of Catamarans

Ostinato arrived at Pendik Marina at 1215, over 2 hours later than we had hoped due to our late departure.  This would be our first Med mooring experience and, thankfully, we had a dingy filled with young guys who took over the process, pushing us one way, then another, making it look like we knew what we were doing.  Amusant had already settled in so King and David leaped into action to check in as soon as we hit the dock.  Tomorrow was a holiday so if check-in wasn't completed we would have to stay on our boats in the marina for the next 2 days.  Staying in Istanbul is hard enough at over $170 a day marina fees.  Being quarantined to your boat would be too much to bear.  And did I mention they were having a boat show.....can you imagine being on a boat with King so close to a boat show and not being able to go?  Was not going to happen.  Because of our late arrival the marina advised that our only option was to go through an agent.  Ouch...another expense...but this time, the guys were lucky.  The agent sold them a transit log and provided the information needed to get everything done.  I'm guessing he had a hot date that night and didn't want to be bothered with little yachts.....The guys had a mission and off they flew.  First stop, the border police who would stamp our passports.  The rest could wait until tomorrow.  Apparently, the agent typically took charge of all this at each office as the guy manning the desk at the border police wasn't quite sure where to begin.  He, however, rose to the occasion and not only worked through each step but also called a taxi and telling the driver where to take his new passengers along with instructions to return them him when finished.

In case any of the occupants were tired from the 24 hour crossing, the taxi ride provided enough stimulation to bring them back to life.  The driver careened around corners and took round-abouts the wrong way as he moved the small group of Americans around the city.  He also apparently had a date because he finally jumped into being "girl Friday" making copies and running the fax machine to move the process along.  Wendy and I, who had been left on the boats, were beginning to craft plans on how we would get the boats home if they never returned.  Finally, after a telephone prompt "Just checking to see if  you are still alive", we began getting text messages providing updates on their progress.  The "finishing now" one arrived at 1930.  The taxi meter ran the entire trip, coming to a grand total of 100 lire.  Because of all of his efforts, the guys had decided to tip him 20 more.  The driver, however, decided the tip should be 200!

It would be unthinkable to just check into Turkey in Istanbul and not spend at least a day in the

city.....so we did.  We found the hotel where we had stayed many years ago and enjoyed a quick lunch and chat with the hotel manager while waiting out a rain storm.  While the exotic sites are still the same, the crowds are not.  It was like someone picked up several Hop-On Hop-Off buses in London complete with a load of tourists and dropped it at the Blue Mosque!  How did that happen? In spite of the crowds, we managed to visit a few sites and saw areas we had not explored on our last visit.  Unfortunately, the next morning it would be time to leave as we had many more ports to visit before we reached Finike.

The crowds have grown since our last visit to the Blue Mosque 13 years ago

Sept 29-30 - The weather was still a bit breezy but after King unwrapped the mooring line from around the starboard prop (yes, again), we were on our way to Silivri.  The winds were gusting to 29 knots by the end of the day as we sailed across the Sea of Marmara so all were glad to get the anchor down in 6 feet of beautiful blue water just off the town quay. Silivri's harbour is very protected so everyone enjoyed a restful sleep. The following morning the anchor came up at 0800 and we motored sailed in less than 10k to the small fishing village of Marmara Adesi.  Locals took lines and assisted with our med moor and, as always, David and Wendy were quickly there to assist.  Fishing boats moved in and out all night resulting in a less than restful night. The catch was apparently consistently good cause the gazillion cats waiting to be fed ashore had obviously been eating well.

MK and Ziggy's Turkish cousins waiting for the fishing boats to come home.  

Oct 1 - 11 Our next destination, Canakkale, took us into the narrow waters of the Dardanelles. To starboard was Europe, to port Asia Minor.  We made good speed with both wind and current behind us. We didn't see many pleasure yachts in the Dardanelles.  Big ships continue to be the main traffic.


Canakkale, Assos, Dikili, Bademli Limani, Agilar Limani, Kasadasi and Didim.  It was a sight seeing dream.  Each ruined city we explored was more impressive than the one before.  My favorite? While Ephesus was stunning, the smaller sites of Assos, Priene and Miletus enchanted me. Mm mm maybe also Paragammon.  Least favorite is easy....Troy.  A pity of one of Turkey's most famous ancient ruins.  Just not much left to see.  The fake horse didn't help.

This Trojan Horse at the marina in Canakkale was better than the one at Troy!

While the sight seeing was fabulous, the sailing was basically a motor sail.  Typically the day started with light winds, building in the afternoon and then dying again at night.  Prevailing winds, what winds existed, were from the N or NW but as we closed in on land it would sometimes clock all the way around us.  On our way to Canakkale, where we would stay for our visit to Assos, we discovered we had blown the main sail at the 1st reef level.  We had almost made it an entire summer without needing a major repair!  Close, but no cupie doll.   In the light winds we had for the remainder of the trip that didn't help our pent up desire to sail. Saying that, the bigger problem is it's just never the right amount of wind from the right direction...While in Canakkale, high wind kept everyone in port for an extra day.  King took the opportunity to refit the wind generator and hook up the water maker.  Two jobs that had been put on the back burner as we rushed to catch our weather window to leave Romania.

Ostinato in Assos

In the tiny harbour of Assos, boats had strung their anchor lines from one side to the other creating an obstacle course.  As we entered, Ostinato immediately snagged one.  Somehow, King was able to back her off without much drama and on our second try made the run safely through.  We tied up to Amusant with our stern to a restaurant that provided us power.  Their only charge was a request to have a meal with them during our stay.  The cook was certainly up for that!

Fenders!  No room for fenders!

Dikili - The quay was jammed full of boats.  It was the first time Amusant had ever called to say they didn't think there was room for us. But we were lucky. As we sat in the center of the harbour a fishing boat sitting next to a small empty slip was preparing to leave.  With some serious pushing and prodding we just manage to squeeze in.  Not everyone was happy to see the "wide girl" on the quay.  Late that night, one captain did his best to talk King into moving across to the other side of the quay so they could have "their space" but when we offered to pay him for the spot he declined and managed to saddle up to us.   Let me just add, there were no open spaces on the other side.  Somehow boats moved in and out around us all night.  We were all exhausted in the morning.  It had been like trying to sleep in the middle of an expressway.  After a full day of exploring Pergamon, we decided to move a few miles down the coast to Bademli Limani where we could hopefully get some sleep.  We anchored in 10 ft of what looked like swimming pool water, in quiet winds, a clear sky, under a stunning full moon.  It was a real treat after the previous night.

The following day we had a lovely sail with the wind on our beam.  It was topped off by another night at anchor in Agilar Limani.  King and Bill had spent the previous night cleaning off the brown water marks on the port side.  Tonight it was the starboard side's turn.  During the work, Bill noted one of the shrouds holding the mast was without a  split pin.  While we all checked multiple times to make sure all had pins in place, one was obviously missed.  We were lucky.  And the boat looks great too!  NOTE:  My editor has reminded me that it was my job to check the pins.  Quote "you danced around that one pretty good"......guilty as charged.

Next stop was Kusadasi.  It was to be the nicest marina we visited.  Situated off a busy shopping district with plenty of ways to spend your money.  While I was ready to hit the stores, King was more

The Library at Ephesus was quite stunning......

....even the public
toilets survive

excited about finding an "East Marine" on site at the marina.  Yep, a franchise store of West Marine. The boy was beside himself.  A new anchor made its way onto the boat before we departed.  Kusadasi is the stopping point to visit Ephesus.  Sharing a car with Amusant, we spent the day exploring the fabulous ancient city.  From Kusadasi, we moved on to Didim, another of the Setur Marina group.  They did their best to talk us into staying the winter.  It was very tempting.  We counted over 30 catamarans there.  After being used to being the only one, it was a amazing.   The marina was high living with pools, exclusive restaurants, and shopping in the marina.  Not to mention Priene, Miletus and Didyma ruins close by.  I could get use to that.....but their winter live aboard community was was only 5 boats.  Finike was calling.

October 13 - Bodrum -We are tired.  Still plenty to see but everyone on board is close to overload and exhaustion.  Its time to settle in for the winter.  While the ports on our list to visit has shrunk considerably, we decide its time to strike a few more and get focused on moving south-east to Finike. Winds continued to be variable but mainly from our stern making for an easy cruise.  They were light enough that I was able to do laundry underway.  Knowing we would be in a marina for 6 months, we decided the rest of our time should be at anchor.  So when Marcia, our Shell Point neighbor and dear friend, suggested we stop in Knidos it didn't take much discussion to rearrange the list again. We left Bodrum mid morning after fueling and a pump out so we could get our Blue Card stamped in case we were stopped by authorities.  We arrived mid afternoon to discover a well protected horseshoe bay with beautiful crystal clear waters.  Surrounding the anchorage are the ruins of the ancient city of Knidos.  This is what I had been dreaming of.  I was ready to throw out all our plans to move on quickly.  I'm picturing a week sitting at anchor and exploring the ruins.... but there is always someone sensible aboard.  This time, it was King.  He reminded me we would have all next summer and promised we would return.

Ostinato (top middle) anchored in the 4th century BC harbour of Knidos

10/16 From Knidos we sailed to Bozuk Buku south of Fethiye.  I was disappointed we were not going to Fethiye.  My strongest memory of our trip 13 years ago was of the Lycian rock tombs on the rock face behind over looking the harbour. I had really looked forward to seeing them again.  We kept telling ourselves that we had all next summer to cruise this area so no need to add 2 days onto the trip. I also knew that after we were in the marina a week, we would be asking "what was our hurry".  We searched for a good hour looking for shallow enough water to anchor, without tying onto a tree. Our final choice was a spot fronting a small restaurant and swimming area in 30 feet.  Boat boys converged as soon as the anchor was set  .....vegis, bread?  I thought I was back in the Caribbean.  A free ride to the restaurant?  A glass of wine sounded lovely.  We ordered a round  ....and how about a little calamari? Yes, yes that would be nice.   All was enjoyed until the bill arrived.....100 TL!!!  (that's about $45) Ouch!  Another valuable lesson learned.

David and Wendy on Amusant decided to do the final jump to Finike from here...Ostinato was still 2 days away.  Our last anchorage of the year was near Kas in Bayindir Limani.  What a thrill it was to

Lycian tombs near Kas overlooking our anchorage

sail into the bay and see Lycian tombs on the hillside overlooking the anchorage.  Actually, anchoring was another issue.  While we arrived at 1500 in 30 knots of wind, it was 1800 before we were finally settled.....at a marina/restaurant dock.  Holding was poor in 35 ft but we kept at it, thinking we were set only to see us slowly dragging past the other Catamaran in the anchorage.  Finally both of us were dragging and dark was beginning to drift in so King threw in the towel and moved over to a small cover in the SE corner.  Finding nothing available less than 50 ft, we headed to the restaurant to see if we could squeeze in.  We did, but not before we wrapped the prop with the mooring line......and we were doing soooooo good!  Price for a slip was dinner in the restaurant.  Uh oh!  What a pleasant surprise to have a lovely meal for 3, with wine, and a slip for the night, for 95 TL.  Less that what we paid the night before for a glass of wine and an hors d'oeuvre.

10/18 - Finike - Another beautiful day.  The temperature started at 70 and slowly rose to 85.  We eased out of the slip at 0730 without drama.  (we are getting better ) Winds continued to be light so, with our reefed main, we motor sailed down the coast.  In Knidos, we were told that the dorado were running so Bill and King started putting out a fishing line.  Let me add here there has never been a fish caught from Ostinato. This includes close to 30 days at sea, crossing the Atlantic.  We caught a bird but I don't think that counts since we didn't eat him.  Anyway, you can imagine everyone's surprise when the line started whizzing.  You would of thought we had won the lottery.  A blue fin tuna!  The poor thing was only 15 inches long but hey....the boys had caught a fish!  The line went back in the water asap.  An hour later, another hit!  This time, maybe 20 in!  I didn't have to ask what dinner would be tonight.  NOTE:  The editor has lengthened the size of both fish by 3 inches.  The picture is below, so you can decide for yourself.

Ostinato's first fish! Wahoo!

Bill has sent this one in as "hard evidence"....you decide

We arrived at Finike Marina early afternoon.  The dinghy guys met us at the entrance and guided us to our new home......a side tie.  Really?  After we have been practicing our med mooring all the way down the Turkish coast!  And we have this really nice passerrelle (gang plank)....no matter. We are right across from the showers.  A primo spot!  Bob and Joanie, from Namir, one of the yachts we crossed the Atlantic with, met us at the docks just as they had in the Azores.  What a great surprise.  Minutes later, David and Wendy were also on the quay.  You would think we hadn't seen them in months.  The sum total of who we know in Finike were out to greet us.  Sweet.

As tradition requires, we joined the crew of Amusant for a champagne toast to celebrate the end of our journey.  It was quite the summer.

THE END............

Finke at sunset

View from Ostinato in Finike. The mountains will soon be snow covered!

Assos.....no, we did not climb the coliseum steps.

Assos beach

 The Sacred Way - Asklepion - The first hospital 

Temple of Apollo at Didyma

 Medusa at Didyma

Turkey has a bounty of fresh fruits and vegis

Ostinato's crew from Port Tomis to Finike

Ostinato's route summer 2014