Alibey to Babakle and on to a six hour slamming to Limnos

All our guests have gone home now....

We still have Jarrad, but he's family so he doesn't count as a guest and we, and the kids are very happy to have him aboard. He takes the 'art' classes and keeps them entertained for hours.









It was time to make our push for Limnos so we could officially check out of Greece and then head for the Dardinelles and Istanbul.

The first leg would be a fast one with a howling Meltimi blowing into our starboard quarter. Just the way a catamaran and crew like it. The Meltimi is effected by the land contours here, so it blows easterly through the Ayvalik Gulf but NE when you get out of there. We were headed for a place that feels like it is at the end of the earth, right on the very western most tip of the Turkish coast and the staging point for the hammering across to Limnos. Take a closer look at the map above...

It was a fantastic sail nearly all the way to Babakale. Eyebrows from the other yachtsmen in Alibey were raised when we pulled out but as I said, it doesn't matter how strong it is as long as it's from the right direction. Strangely though it died almost totally when got about three quarters of the way there??

Babakale is remarkable for where it is, it's 1770 Castle and the seemingly magic trawlers that moor there.

Unremarkable in that not much happens in Babakale....




Below are two panorama's. The first was taken the afternoon we arrived. Huge trawlers were rafted two deep on either side of us. There would have been 20 of them and it looked for all the world as if they were there for the long term... End of fishing season we assumed, repairs, no way of getting out, certainly not without us having to move.

That's us right in the middle Med Moored

Here is a closer up of the trawlers all rafted one next to the other and stacked two deep.

We walked up to a nice restaurant with a view of the harbour and out across to Lesvos, Greece, but had a quick look at the castle on the way up.




Built in 1770 to ward off pirates, it is in very good nick and worth a look












A reasonably early night and either they popped some LSD in our Bovril or we were all dog tired, but when we woke the following morning all those huge trawlers had magically disappeared!

How they got out without bashing into us, or at the very least waking us with the din, we have no idea!

I am writing this blog from Athens Airport on route to Sydney for a Board meeting. This meant ensuring we were on Limnos and therefore an airport by the weekend. The wind prediction was not pretty until Saturday at best and if the Meltimi is vicious anywhere in the Med, it is through the crossing to Limnos and at the most undesirable direction for a catamaran. Right on the beam! (from the side)

We had got ourselves set, bicycles off, sunshades up in readiness for a couple of days in this place of 'not much to do', but come lunch time, still no wind. So at 12:00 on Thursday the 23rd we decided to make the crossing, packed up and left within 30 minutes of making that decision.

Well... As soon as we got a couple of miles out into the straight, she decided it was time to hand our butts to us in a basket! Whoooweeee... 6 hours of romping stomping Mediterranean chop as we bounced and rolled until there was no land in sight. Nothing for it but to just keep going until we finally entered Moudros Bay on Limnos.

This is an historic place for Australians. It is where all the ships and troops were assembled before heading off to Gallipoli in 1915, the slaughter of thousands and probably the most ridiculous campaign in human history. Thank you Winston.

Looking at these locals fishing off the quay, it is difficult to imagine now this bay full of the battle ships and troop carriers of the day. A beautiful, serine port, very friendly and welcoming to Australians in particular.

A very well cared for war cemetery a kilometer away is a somber place for Australians, Brits, Canadians, French and ever Russians alike.

Many of these headstones indicating the occupant remains unknown.

A couple of days here was enough to take it all in so on Saturday the 24th we motored on glass like seas around to Myrina, the capital of the island and the place where Customs and Immigration are ready to clear us out when I return from Sydney next Sunday.