Off Sailing

11^th June 2011

This morning was occupied by shopping for provisions, food and drinks, a basically taking over the foyer of the hotel with bags and bags of groceries etc, enough for 18 adults and 2 children. It took two bus trips to get us to the marina where we arrived aound 1 pm and went through the many procedures to get us underway. We had lunch at the marina restaurant and were briefed at around 3pm. We are now waiting for the other boats to complete their briefing before heading off. The breeze has freshened up to just over 20 knts from the NW and we are all anxious to get away.

Our boat "Risis"

The Hollingsworth & de Boos boat "Pamina Blue"

The Lovell's boat "Xenia"

We finally left the marina at around 5pm in a stiff breeze of 30 gusting up to 40 knots WNW. We sailed most of the way to our overnight location on a headsail and were doing 8 to 10 knots most of the way.

We arrived at Ciftlick Buku at around 7 pm with the breeze blowing 35 knots from the West. Mooring the boats was challenging in this wind, but anxious restaurant owners were all flagging us in to tie up at their wharf, so help was available with the lines. As long as you eat at their restaurant, there are no  mooring fees and wireless internet, showers etc are available for free.

We had a nice dinner at the restaurant and headed back to the boat for a well earned sleep.

Our mooring for the night

We are not sure what internet access we will have whilst out sailing but will endeavor to keep the blog up to date as much as we can.