26 Aug - 27 Aug 2004 Buyukcekmec

Sea of Marmara

Republic of Turkey

Buyukcekmec Koyu

SY "Kamu II" at anchor.

Click below for a bird's-eye view of our anchorage:

N 41° 00.30' E 028° 35.64'

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2004 Map

Crossing the busy sea lanes in the Sea of Marmara with a few near misses whilst fighting a fire in the engine room of SY “Kamu II” which was caused by a dry-running electric Jabsco water-pressure pump and its burning 24-V motor.

25 Aug - 26 Aug 2004 Asmalikoy

Sea of Marmara

Republic of Turkey

Marmara Island

Asmalikoy

SY "Kamu II" at anchor, inside the small harbour.

Click below for a bird's-eye view of our anchorage:

N 40° 36.93' E 027° 42.39'

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2004 Map

24 Aug - 25 Aug 2004 Cardak Limani

Mediterranean Sea

Dardanelles

Republic of Turkey

Cardak Limani

SY "Kamu II" at anchor, on thick mud.

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N 40° 22.86' E 026° 42.78'

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2004 Map

Anchoring right opposite Piri Reis' birthplace, the famous 16th-century CE navigator and map-maker whose gazelle-hide charts of the Mediterranean and Africa were geographically detailed and included wind roses, currents, recommended anchorages and notes on supplies and the local tribes - a treasure chest of information for yotties.

20 Aug - 24 Aug 2004 Çanakkale

Mediterranean Sea

Dardanelles

Republic of Turkey

Çanakkale

Town Marina

SY "Kamu II" with her stern to the yacht pier and with two permanent bow moorings.

TL 45 m (€ 25.-) per night.

Click below for a bird's-eye view of our harbour berth:

N 40° 09.13' E 026° 24.26'

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2004 Map

Buying a transit log for € 30.- (valid for one year) and getting a collection of clearance stamps for the Turkish Republic from a bunch of clowns: (i) the harbour master, (ii) the translog sales point, (iii) the harbour doctor, (iv) the passport police and being issued with a 90-day visit pass to Turkey on arrival, (v) the customs officer, (vi) the marina manager and (vii) the harbour master’s deputy; amounting to the total of one afternoon of Turkish real-life comedy and seven glasses of excellent Turkish tea; all seven glasses of tea and this slapstick entertainment were free of charge.

Matt: Touring the Gallipoli battlefields together with Turkish guide Ali Efe and South African sailing friends Anita, Tom, Karla and Dane, and pondering over the tragedy of past battles, especially at ANZAC beach where in early 1915 CE, in an attempt to seize the strategic advantage in the ongoing WWI, the British government authorised a suicidal attack on the peninsula in an attempt to seize Constantinople.

DM Konni: Scubadiving with Turkish diving buddy Ceyhan to an old German torpedo boat from WWI.

Refuelling with 170 litres of diesel fuel for TL 1.64 m (€ 0.91) per litre.

19 Aug - 20 Aug 2004 Anit Limani

Mediterranean Sea

Dardanelles

Republic of Turkey

Gelibolu Peninsula

Anit Limani

SY "Kamu II" at anchor, below the Turkish War Memorial.

Click below for a bird's-eye view of our anchorage:

N 40° 03.00' E 026° 12.66'

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2004 Map

Swinging freely at anchor right between the Turkish War Memorial (Cape Helles) and the French cemetery and mourning for the more than 130,000 fine young men (total Allied deaths were around 21,000 British, 10,000 French, 8,700 Australians, 2,700 New Zealanders and 1,370 Indians; total Turkish deaths were around 86,700) who had been mislead and were sent to dead by their megalomaniac governments in the Gallipoli campaign during WWI.

Bridging for the first time ever the terminals no. 30+ and no. 50 on our ailing starter motor with insulated heavy-duty multi-purpose pliers in order to start our Perkins 4.236M diesel engine.

Trudging uphill through the Dardanelles against a powerful south-setting current of about 4 knots with the dream speed of 6 knots through the water (as measured with the ship’s log) but only making good 2 knots over ground (as measured with the GPS) and slaloming, with the Balkans (Europe) on port and Asia Minor on starboard, through a seemingly endless two-lane chain of cargo vessels and tankers.

Passing the historically meaningful Hellespont, so called from Helle, the daughter of Athamas, who was drowned here in the mythology of the Golden Fleece, which had also seen many daring swimmers complete the crossing, starting off with (i) Leander (who crossed in order to tryst with his beloved, the priestess Hero), followed by (ii) Lord Byron (who famously swam the Hellespont as a feat of his athletic prowess), onto (iii) the US ambassador of Turkey (1973 - 1977 CE), a certain Mr. Macomber (who did it for a still classified reason).

18 Aug - 19 Aug 2004 O. Hefaistia

Mediterranean Sea

Aegean Sea

Hellenic Republic of Greece

Eastern Sporades

Nisos Limnos

Ormos Pournias

Ormos Hefaistia

SY "Kamu II" at anchor, off the beach.

Click below for a bird's-eye view of our anchorage:

N 39° 58.35' E 025° 20.64'

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2004 Map

Passing the cave where Philoctetes (famed as an archer and an active participant in the Trojan War), the hero of Sophocles' play which we enjoyed at Epidaurus, supposedly cured his suppurating leg after a snake bite, and commemorating the East German postmodern dramatist-turned-dissident Heiner Müller who produced a successful adaptation of Sophocles' play in Munich in 1968 CE which became one of his most-performed plays.

Leaving Greece and Europe without clearing out.

17 Aug - 18 Aug 2004 Ak Mourtzeflos

Mediterranean Sea

Aegean Sea

Hellenic Republic of Greece

Eastern Sporades

Nisos Limnos

Ormos Mourtzeflos

Ak Mourtzeflos

SY "Kamu II" at anchor, off the beach.

Click below for a bird's-eye view of our anchorage:

N 39° 59.00' E 025° 02.73'

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2004 Map

15 Aug - 17 Aug 2004 Ormos Plati

Mediterranean Sea

Aegean Sea

Hellenic Republic of Greece

Eastern Sporades

Nisos Limnos

Ormos Plati

SY "Kamu II" at anchor, off the beach.

Click below for a bird's-eye view of our anchorage:

N 39° 51.20' E 025° 03.60'

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2004 Map

Struggling to make good the total of less than 50 nm in 24 hours, tacking into gusts of more than 50 knots and into short, steep waves during our pre-dawn approach to Limnos Island and eventually motoring away at top speed from the vertical lightnings in a threatening and almost unearthly electrical storm during the small hours of the night.

13 Aug - 14 Aug 2004 Ormos Stafilos

Mediterranean Sea

Aegean Sea

Hellenic Republic of Greece

Northern Sporades

Nisos Skópelos

Ormos Stafilos

SY "Kamu II" at anchor, off the beach.

Click below for a bird's-eye view of our anchorage:

N 39° 05.10' E 023° 44.94'

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2004 Map

Visiting traditional Skopelos town, one of the most captivating towns in the Sporades, with its labyrinthine streets where the balconies on many of the traditionally whitewashed houses almost meet in the centre of the steep streets that are made up of seemingly hundreds of steps.

12 Aug - 13 Aug 2004 Agnondas

Mediterranean Sea

Aegean Sea

Hellenic Republic of Greece

Northern Sporades

Nisos Skópelos

Agnondas

Ormos Agnondas

SY "Kamu II" alongside the town quay.

Click below for a bird's-eye view of our harbour berth:

N 39° 04.99' E 023° 42.57'

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2004 Map

DM Konni: Scubadiving with Dolphin Diving Centre +302427021599, located on Nostos Beach; watching highly intelligent octopus (Octopus vulgaris, probably the most intelligent of all invertebrates), beautiful little nudibranchs (noted for their extraordinary colours and striking forms) and a school of barracudas - opportunistic predators relying on surprise and short bursts of speed (up to 25 knots).

11 Aug - 12 Aug 2004 Koukounaries

Mediterranean Sea

Aegean Sea

Hellenic Republic of Greece

Northern Sporades

Nisos Skiathos

Ormos Koukounaries

SY "Kamu II" at anchor, off the beach.

Click below for a bird's-eye view of our anchorage:

N 39° 08.80' E 023° 24.12'

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2004 Map

Anchoring off the crowded Koukounaries Beach, also known as Chrisi Ammos (Greek: Χρυσή Άμμος, meaning "golden sand") since the sand there is extremely fine, backed by pine trees and a lagoon and touted as the best beach in Greece.

10 Aug - 11 Aug 2004 Stenon Trikeri

Mediterranean Sea

Hellenic Republic of Greece

Stenon Trikeri

Nisos Aryronisos

SY "Kamu II" at anchor, off the beach.

Click below for a bird's-eye view of our anchorage:

N 39° 01.07' E 023° 03.20'

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2004 Map

05 Aug - 10 Aug 2004 Rahes

Mediterranean Sea

Hellenic Republic of Greece

Stenon Oreon

Rahes

Village Harbour

SY "Kamu II" with her stern to the jetty and with one with bow anchor.

Click below for a bird's-eye view of our harbour berth:

N 38° 52.79' E 022° 46.55'

Click here for a summary of this year's travels:
2004 Map

Matt: Climbing the 2,918 m high Mytikas, Mt Olympus' highest peak, and being at one with the twelve great gods of ancient Greece - Zeus, Poseidon, Hephaestus, Hermes, Ares, Apollo, Hera, Athena, Artemis, Hestia, Aphrodite and Demeter, all of them presided over by Zeus, ruling with an iron hand concealed in a silken glove, robust, grave, in the fullness of maturity, bearded, with thick waving hair, dressed in a long mantle which left his chest and right arm free, on official occasions holding in his left hand a sceptre, in his right a thunderbolt, and with an eagle at his feet, where they passed the long days in feasting and happy conversation, sitting at their golden tables drinking nectar from golden cups constantly topped up by Hebe and passed from hand to hand, being entertained by Apollo playing on his lyre, sung to by the Muses, and eating the sweet-smelling ambrosia that if a mortal ate of it would make her or him, too, immortal.

Refilling one of our 9-kg LPG cylinders for € 14.- (including "home delivery" by means of a Greek wheelbarrow) at an LPG-filling station near the harbour.

Refuelling with 60 litres of diesel fuel for € 0.73 per litre.