Wooden houses in Istanbul, Turkey

On the trip from Greece to Istanbul, we were lucky to have found a good marina, Atakoy, right on the outskirts of the city. On our walks, we tried to discover the older parts of the city, where tourists don't usually visit. Down near the sea shore, we wandered into this old neighborhood, where the houses were built in the Turkish style with over-hanging stories. When the people in the houses saw us take out the cameras, they quickly disappeared. Why the houses didn't fall down amazed us, but they all were inhabited. Notice the electric and telephone lines draped from house to house.

CHARLIE in Myrina Harbor on Limnos Island

This shot is taken from the Byzantine Fortress above Myrina Harbor. The two large yachts are from the Greek Coast Guard. CHARLIE is the one on the right. Myrina is a lovely harbor and we had fun shopping for gifts in the town center. It was here that we got our ship's papers to exit the European Union. The Coast Guardsman told us that he loved America, especially Orlando. Then, he made us wait for 24 hours while he checked our passports. Finally, the next day we returned for all the papers and still had to wait while his assistant made a copy. This operation seemed to take forever, and finally Lenny said, "What's the problem with the papers?" The Coast Guardsman yelled out to his assistant, something in Greek, and when we asked what he said, this is it(and it is the TRUTH), "I told him to stop playing tennis with his penis and bring the papers right now." We actually managed not to laugh. As soon as we were properly stamped and sealed, we untied CHARLIE and headed off to Turkey. It was the next morning at about 9 that we finally tied up in the harbor of Canakkele, the entrance port of Turkey, only 1 hour from the ancient ruins of Troy.

Limnos Island most western point

This shows the rocky shore at the north and west of Limnos Island. You can see the white water breaking on the lowest rocks and the dark line where the high tide stops. This was a calm day on the sea, although we had a following wind from Samothraki that blew up to Beaufort 4. These rocks are typical of the Aegean Sea. The local wisdom is that the depth of the sea is determined by the steepness of the shore line. A sharp, steep shore means a deep ocean floor close to land, and a shallow shore means a shallow ocean floor. That means we could sail close to these rocks without fear of grounding.