With the winter closing in we were pressed for time so after a couple of test sails we left Istanbul stopping off in Marmara Adasi for our trip south to Marmaris.
Half of this island is set for production of marble and it is the only time we have arrived at a break water made completely from massive polished marble slabs.
On the second day we stopped off in the Marmara Bay on the west side of the island. As we motored gently in to what we though was 5 m of water there were shouts from the shore. "Its okay" we said as the keel came to a gentle rest on the sand in the 2.5 m the boat draws. Later it turned out that during recommissioning of the battery, the depth sounder offset had "reset itself" and we were no longer measuring depth under the keel!
Later we met up with our shore based marine advisers. A couple keeping the Viking Hotel, shutdown for the offseason. It turns out we shared the same Norwegian roots as the couple had also met there. They sent us back to sea with pickles. The pickled green tomatoes proved to be exquisite and lasted through the Philippines.