The Bosphorus - 8th busiest seaway in the World

We did take a cruise up the Bosphorus on a ferry. It left at 1:30pm  dropped us in a ferel little town for three hours and returned at 7:00pm. We resolved to do it again, only this time in our own boat.

It was the penultimate day in the Istanbul area and we were joined by Stina Appelqvist on her way from Sweden to the Reading Festival in England... Thanks for making such an effort Stina!

There is a story about that suit case but I'll let Stina tell you that one....

Blue Mosque

It is a busy waterway, large freighters headed north and south and ferries crossing east and west but all very predictable and just enough to add some excitement.

Al set up the GoPro and time lapsed the southbound journey. The GoPro does make everything look further away, but take a look at the video, it will give you a good idea... Bosphorus South Bound

Dolmabahce Palace

More fascinating than the ships and ferries is the historic opulence on either side. Castles, palaces and summer homes. The last one of which sold for US$150 million.

Galatararay University 

Heading north you are up against a 4 - 5 Knot current so the going is slow. At certain points you can catch a counter current and pick up a bit of speed.

We left Atakoy Marina at 2:00pm and got to our destination, a harbour called Poyraz at the entrance to the Black Sea at 5:35pm. So three and a half hours to cover 22 miles.

Rumeli and Anatolian Fortresses

Esma Sultan Seaside Residence
Under the Bosphorus Bridge

Super modern, super light looking bridges, the Bosphorus Bridge is gravity anchored suspension bridge. It is 1560 meters long and the clearance above sea level is 64 meters. It was completed in 1973 when it was the 4th longest in the world. It is now the 22nd longest...

At the northern head of the Bosphorus is the third bridge. Kali Bridge is under construction and fascinating to see how they do it with no disruption to the seaway.















Our view of Kali Bridge from the restaurant at Poyraz where we moored for the night. In the morning our most ambitious sail yet, 88 Nautical Miles back to Port Marmara but now we would have the wind, the waves and the current to push us along.











Sunrise on Friday the 21st August as we cast off and headed out.














With the sun rising behind the Kali Bridge and all the advantages mentioned we covered the same distance as the day before in less than two hours.

Disregarding the shipping lanes and keeping the boat in the main thrust of the current we reached speeds of 12 knots at times with no sails up.

Beyberbeyi Palace

The long jouney to Istanbul took three stops from Canakkali via Lapseki (20miles) on to Port Marmara (46 Miles) then Silivri (45 miles) and on to Kalakoy Marina, Istanbul (31 Miles).

The trip back from Poyraz which 24 Miles further on from Kalakoy all the way to Canakkali (151 Miles) was done with only one stop, such was the advantage coming the other way
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We had four more days to get Stina to somewhere she could fly out to London to catch the Reading Festival. The most convenient although a long way was back to Limnos, Greece but there was another 'Bucket List' item on the agenda before then....

We wanted to live the experience sailing into ANZAC Cove just to get an idea of what those guys saw as they arrived 100 year ago straight into the utterly impossible.