After 7 years on dry dock and 1.5 months of repair, maintenance and preparations, we were ready to set sail south on the Aegean waters. Our two children and myself planned to anchor at the beautiful Bademli area in between two islands, Garip Adasi and Kalemli Adasi. The next day, we planned to stop at Candarli bay and then continue to Foca.

Of course, leaving Ayvalik was not so easy. We had to return back after 30 minutes of motoring to pick up one of the passports left behind.

After an hour delay, we finally left Ayvalik. When I checked the weather report, I realized that the storm which was supposed to be here in 3 days is now showing tomorrow afternoon. Deciding not to get caught, we moved further south to go to Candarli. I looked it up on the map, going into the bay was two hours, if we could make it to Foca before dark..., so again change of plans, we kept going. Nearing Foca is always windy as expected. It was continous head wind around 25 knots gusting over 30 knots with some choppy waves. We found a safe anchorage on the north side of Orak Adasi just as it was getting dark. This was the place for our first night to stay.

  The night at Orak Adasi went without any issue. The anchor held well, wind continued to blow but we were not affected. We got up early in the morning, had some breakfast. I asked my daughter to pull the anchor up as I started the engine. An hour later we were sailing in about 20 knots wind, there was no boat in sight for a long time. Along the coastlines, we noticed these huge structures apparently fish farms. As we got closer to Cesme, we spotted the Turkish Coastguard just passing by. I radioed them and ask about the passage through Mercan rocks into the bay, he did not advise going that way. So, we sailed between Greece and Turkey to Cesme marina. I called the marina on the phone to reserve a place and got directions. We were in our spot an hour later.

Once we checked in the marina, we decided to stay until the strong wing passes. It seemed like Ayvalik was hit very strong wind after we left. It has caught with us and would continue the whole week.I must mentioned the fish farms along the coastline. All along from Ayvalik to Bodrum the shorelines were covered with fish farms, huge structures with miles and miles long and very little space in between. they literally destroyed the boat tourism in the northern part of the Aegean coastline. Naturally, we did not see any boats sailing in the area.

When we arrived at Cesme Marina, we were planning to stay for a couple of days. On the second day, we learnt that the high wind from north would increase starting the next day. So, we decided to keep going as south as possible. On August 9th, Saturday morning wind pickep up at around 20 knots in the marina, 28 knots out in the sea. We thought once we turned around the peninsula, it would be easier tail wind. Wrong! It was high waves about 2-4 meters, gusting up to 36 knots. Especially getting out of marina far out enough to turn southeast made me to question my decision. After turning the tip, we took the wind from behind, so it was a bit easier. Later around Alacati, the wind turned against us again and we had to motor all the way to our target resting place Gok Liman. During the trip some dolphins came to accompany us.

The wind did not go down but the Poseidon map showed lower wind speed around 12-18 knots in about 20 miles out and 7-8 knots after we turn into Kusadasi bay. So, we decided to leave. The wind was blowing hard in the bay from the land but that did not deter us. My son, however, dropped our horse shoe rescue buoy into the water, before we reallize it, it was gone so far away. Someone will get a brand new free rescue horse-shoe buoy :). In any case, wind did not slow down until after we got out almost into Greek waters and turned towards Kusadasi. We got into Kusadasi Marina without any problem

We left Kusadasi on a picture-perfect day. We travel through Mycale strait between Turkiye and Greece (Samos Island) possibly the narrowest point between the two countries. There was a Turkish flag on an island "Bayrak Adasi", we took the east side of it due to larger ship traffice usually goes on the west side. Keeping on the Turkish side with our sails on, we spotted a nice location between two islands called Tavsan Adasi and Su Adasi. Kids wanted to swim and enjoy water so, we decided to call it a day. We anchored inside the bay and tied a line to a rock just in case. I made a lantern inside a water bottle, tied that in the middle of the rope in order to alert if a boat comes in at night. With dingy, we went to shore line, exploring, swimming, just plain good time. I prepared a nice dinner. At night, we watched the meteor shower on deck. After a good rest, the next day, we crossed the bay all the way to Gundogan, Bodrum where my brother had a summer villa.

We had a good time in Bodrum thanks to my brother and his wife. We spent some quality time with my niece, her daughter and husband, some old friends from med school. We had such a delicious Turkish cuisine for two nights in a row, filled up our fridge with more food and left overs. Completed our shopping and get ready to cross to Greece. On August 16th, We employed an agent to do our exit paper work from the port of Yalikavak. At 11 am, we approached the customs port and finished our exit process and left Yalikavak (Turkiye).