Crazy vacation - part I

P A R T (I)

I have not been blogging for quite a while about my activities for several reasons, however, I have decided to blog in order to document a vacation I took in Turkey.

It reminded me of earlier blogs that I had written ten years back when I visited Turkey with family. It was nice to go back and read what I wrote and then

I am reciting from that earlier block as it seems that some commonalities still exist.  The following tells you how the earlier blog began (http://oraclejo.blogspot.com/2007/08/untitled.html)

• maybe it is LIS (Lack of Interest Syndrome) or my every-once-in-a-while mood swing cycle. Not being in the mood. As a remedial, I am taking a break, Yeah, I am traveling! What is unique this time is the fact that I shall be traveling on vacation with family and relatives.

well, this time i already traveled and I am back, I traveled on a sailing trip to the southern coast of Turkey with five guys namely 

• Zaher Bushnaq
• Rajai Bushnaq
• AlaEddin Busnaq
• Husam Katkhoda (Bushnaq)

The name Bushnaq comes from Bosnia because this family came from Bosnia early days of the last century.

The target (without a plan )set forth by Captain Rajai Bushanq was to sail from Marmaris to Bodrum and back in 5 days and 4 nights. Well, to cut your suspense short, i will tell you right away that it did not happen. Nothing happens without a good plan.  It is more than 400 Km round trip. In navigation, nautical miles unit of measure is used. A nautical mile is equal to 1850 Meters and hence it is longer than 1 Mile.  To add a piece of information, sailors, Pilots, and navigators in general use nautical miles, because a nautical mile is a measure that is based on the circumference of the earth and is equal to one minute of latitude. Note on the map that one sails very close to the Greek waters and you do not want to slip into their territories by mistake; it is too close

First Day:  Saturday 22/4/2017,  we left Amman at around 11, we arrived in Istanbul, then immediately (well not exactly immediately, but after 3 hours) took a connecting flight to Marmaris, where the rented boat was waiting for us. 

Upon arrival, it started raining, and when it rains, it pours. We took a minibus to Marmaris, and it took around 1 and a half hours to reach our destination, it was dark and we could not see anything on the way.,  When we arrived at the Marina, it was still pouring rain and there was nobody there. We knew the name of our boat (PEARL) and we luckily found it.  We were soaking wet, and to my pleasant surprise, the boat was equipped with 4 small bedrooms. Each bedroom is very small, equipped with a bathroom (so-called bathroom, to give you an idea, it is smaller than the bathroom of commercial aircraft, except it has a shower as well).  The boat tips badly with wind and gets really scary at times

Forgot to mention that it was also cold, really cold. I had to wear my CASHMERE blouse to get warm in addition to the woolen blanket that you can see in the picture. Notice that the window is located on the ceiling. As for your belongings, there is a small area on the right, that you need to manage.  I was tired and even though the guys wanted to go to a restaurant (pub to be honest) I declined as it was too wet to venture into such things, and I slept like a baby.

The morning after:

Husam keeps shouting. This is a habit of his, so we had to wake up early, it was not raining anymore, but was still cold.  Well, I am pleased to learn that there is a public WC with a shower area. it was spacious and clean, and without any reluctance, I decided to use the public WC rather than the in-boat alternative.  The in-boat alternative is built for people who are not tall, i am 191 cm tall and hence not the perfect fit to use the bathroom with its miniature shower area

Ammar Sajdi