Eastern Mediterranean Sea

The weather looked good: Sunny blue skies, winds north at 6 knots, a slight bump on our port bow.  We had entered the Eastern Mediterranean Sea.  The mosques and smells and sounds of Port Said Egypt, the long rock jetties that protected the northern entry to the Suez Canal all faded in the distance behind us.  We had done it.  We were so proud of our personal accomplishments at sailing successfully through the sporty Gulf of Aden and through the pristine waters of the historic Red Sea.  Here, before us, lay the Mediterranean Sea.  The crown jewel of our global circumnavigation. We made a note of that slight bump in the waters from the west.  Marmaris, Turkey, was our destination, 390 NM to our NNW.  

We left Port Said under motor sail initially, with main only.  The radio was active with Israeli navy calling vessels asking their intentions, and the winds starting picking up to 16-18 knots NW with a small current behind us.  Our course to Marmaris was 298-300 degrees, and by 2300 on our first night in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, we heard warnings again for “live fire exercises” on VHF Channel 16.  The swells were bouncy and UN Warships were active on the radio.  Between sailing Sea Child, dodging Suez-bound ships and monitoring radio calls, the first 24 hours into the Eastern Mediterranean Sea was busy.

Our second day at sea was again active, this time with more unusual happenings on board Sea Child.  The winds had turned north, though light at 12 and with them a chill in the air.  We resorted to light sweatshirts as a light rain fell through high clouds.  A small bird actually flew into the master stateroom of Sea Child, a first for our world journey.  We had a blue-footed booby catch a ride with us as we sailed from the Galapagos Islands to the Marquesas Islands back in 2009, and random insects held on to our life lines throughout our various passages, along with a net full of flying fish on our trampolines.  The sight of a bird flying around my sheets and pillows was so unusual! How was I to catch this bird and set it free, without it making a mess all around us?

At noon, we put more oil in our starboard engine and Eric again made adjustments to that troublesome Harken roller furler system on our jib.  Winds became more variable, seas still bouncy, and by 1400 the winds were all over the horizon.  We had the forecast, a western system was rolling east, bringing with it good winds (as in 18-25, gusts to 40) but also, big seas.  I can take the wind, just reef the sails and sail the boat.  Its the seas that get me.  Their size, especially with this system they became 8-10’ on the beam and even larger, with wind gusts to 40.  We triple reefed the main and hanked the staysail in preparation for the winds a few hours prior, but as the winds increased, we ended up dropping the staysail and sailing with triple reefed main alone.  The use of Otto, the infamous auto-pilot, was barely possible, as each wave had to be approached by steering to port as we went up one side of the wave, then steering starboard as we went down the backside.  Each wave hit Sea Child with a vengeance, and at 2315, our metal coffee pot flew off the stove and crashed into the floor.  This loud racket had Eric fly up from his sleep, sure that the mast had just come down.  At this point, I recommended we slow Sea Child way down, 5.5 knots was just too fast over these building seas, now at +10’.  

We dropped the staysail again, slowing Sea Child down to about 2-3 knots.  While slow, we were more comfortable in a strong Eastern Mediterranean gale. The dark night brought more high winds, steady at 36 knots, and by dawn, the winds were steady at 40.  Our log is filled with notes such as “this is not fun” and “slow but steady sail to Marmaris” and “crashed by big wave’.  We were 100 NM from Turunc, Marmaris, Turkey, so close yet so far in these storm conditions, so uncomfortable was our final passage of this marathon journey.  Our friends on Laragh and Taimada experienced much of the same weather as we did, and our other friends on Cool Running II had set a course to Cyprus instead of Turkey to wait out the system we decided to sail through.  During my night watch, I considered changing course and steering more east, to go with the winds and seas.  But due east of our position was the coast of Syria with the UN Warships and that just did not seem to be a good option.  

At 10:00am on our third day, our SUP boards which were lashed onto the center beam on our starboard trampoline came loose, jerking their way to freedom in the thrashing waves.  Eric, while in his life harness and tether hooked to the jack stays, went forward to re-tie the boards down.  I steered the most comfortable course I could, all the while watching him retie our boards. After further inspection, Eric found that one of our trampoline leads had broken through the support rod that the trampoline is threaded through, causing the boards to shake loose.   The break even ripped up a small bit of the fiberglass that holds the trampoline rod itself.  The power of those waves left a lasting impression on both of us, as we have such respect for mother nature and are thankful to have been able to sail through the most powerful system we’d seen since the nasty sail north from New Zealand to Fiji back in 2011.

By noon on our third day, we had shaken out the 3rd reef, now sailing along with a double reef main and staysail.  We were picking up speed again, the winds backing down to 21-25 apparent with the wind angle at 40-60 degrees.  Turkish weather forecasts were now heard on VHF Channel 16, and the skies cleared.  We sailed through the lee of Rhodes, Greece, which tamed the seas enough to pick up more speed, now averaging 11 knots boat speed.  Our ETA to Marmaris was midnight.

The sun set on our last night at sea, the silhouette of  Rhodes shadowing the orange sky.  At 2251, on Wednesday 4 May 2016, Sea Child dropped anchor at Turunc Buku, Marmaris, Turkey.  The lights high above us suggested that the terrain was mountainous, as Turkish music floated over our empty anchorage.  We were exhausted from our crossing, but ecstatic all the same.  We made two beverages to enjoy as we sat in the cockpit and took in our surroundings.  We made it, we were in Turkey, our anchor was down, Sea Child was quiet.  Tears of relief slowly ran down my cheeks as another new country lay ahead of us.

As the sun rose on Sea Child, we peeked out of our stateroom windows at a new landscape.  Turkey, Turunc, this quiet little bay surrounded by the highest peaks dotted with little hamlets high above us.  We were reminded of the Pacific North West, with tall pine trees crowding the steep terrain.  Little coffee shops were open and a few people were visible on shore.  Rows and rows of closed umbrellas dotted the sand, and a little footbridge was shadowed by a red ice cream boat.  Civilization was all around us, Western Civilization. We were in a whole new world.  

To be continued in the next post: Turkey and the Failed Coup

Notes:  

Turunc, Marmaris, Turkey

36 degrees, 46 min N, 28 degrees, 15 E

Total miles sailed from Port Said:  391 Nautical Miles

Average Boat Speed:  6.5 knots

Total miles sailed from Langkawi, Malaysia to Marmaris, Turkey:  5,697 NM broken down as follows:

Langkawi, Malaysia to Similan Islands, Thailand: 200 NM

Similan Islands to Uligan, Maldives: 1,760.2 NM

Uligan, Maldives to Socotra, Yemen: 1,248 NM

Socotra, Yemen to Bab-el-Mandeb (Mouth of Red Sea) 651.9 NM

Bab-el-Mandeb to Massawa, Eritrea: 311.8 NM

Massawa, Eritrea to Suakin, Sudan: 278.5 NM 

Suakin, Sudan to Port Ghalib, Egypt: 483.5 NM

Port Ghalib to Suez Yacht Club (southern entrance to Suez Canal) : 300.8 NM

Suez Canal: 71.4 NM

Port Said to Marmaris, Turkey: 391 NM

We left Similan Islands, Thailand on 16 Feb 2016, arriving in Uligan, Maldives 24 Feb 2016.  We made a quick trip back to the USA to meet our 3rd grandchild in Newport Beach California, and were away from Sea Child in the Maldives for 7 days. We then set sail from Uligan, Maldives to Socotra Yemen on 20 March 2016.  From then onwards to Turkey, our adventures through the Arabian Sea, Gulf of Aden, Red Sea and Eastern Mediterranean Sea (the Muslim world) left indelible memories we will cherish for our lifetime.  

Please come back for more Sea Child Adventures.