Passing through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles

Nessabur after note:

At dinner we find out that after we went ashore in Nessabur the tenders had to stop whilst the ship repositioned due to the gale force winds! If we had known this we might have been a bit concerned about getting back to the ship. Fortunately the winds were very short lived and had all but dropped by lunch time: we should have visited in the afternoon but the town would have been considerably more crowded.

Day 10 October 9th  At Sea (Sunny intervals and 25C)

From Nessabur to our next port of Izmir is 422.1 nautical mile so it is fairly relaxed to do it over two nights and one day. Normally a day at sea is that: all day with no land in sight. This is different as we see land all day long and on both sides of the ship!

We arrive at the entrance to the Bosphorous at dawn: ships are only allowed to pass through in daylight and there is a one way convoy system for large ships. Commodore Rynd gives an excellent commentary from the bridge. One anecdote is that the Turkish authorities are allowed to board ships to check if we are carrying the plague: we are not boarded but the tanker behind was! Very interesting seeing Asia on our left and Europe on our right as we sail up the straight, under the two suspension bridges( 10 meters and 6 meters clearance) and into the Golden Horn of Istanbul at around 08 30.

Golden Horn busy with morning ferries

Hagia Sophia Mosque, Blue Mosque and Topkapi Palace, Istanbul

The weather could not be better, warm, sunny and very clear. Past Istanbul we enter the sea of Marmara which is much wider but we can still see land on both sides and there are some islands to see as well. Time for a couple of swims, IB did a galley tour and IG listened to a talk on the Crimean war before lunch.

Then we passed through the Dardanelles and saw the Gallipoli monuments and beaches.

Gallipoli, with the British, French and Turkish War memorials

This took rather longer than anticipated as we had to manoeuvre very slowly past a tanker carrying LPG, The Commodore of the ship opened all the bow areas that are normally crew areas so we all had a great view of all the sights. The ship went north after leaving the Dardanelles so we could see the Gallipoli beaches and by now the sun was low and it was time for our last formal evening with a show of dancing in the theatre, which left us a bit disappointed yet again. With all shows it has been the content rather than the actual performance: it must be difficult to please such a varied audience.

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