Anit Limanı

Not wanting to have to beat all the way up the coast to the entrance to the Dardanelles against both the prevailing wind and the current, we left Bozcaada early in the morning of Wednesday 20^th May and motored north. We had rather expected the wind to pick up during the morning but in the event it didn’t so we had no sailing at all. The water flowing out from the Dardanelles spreads out in a fan shape from the channel entrance and our pilot book says that a yacht approaching the straits should be prepared for a significant current up to 15nm from the entrance. Happily, we found relatively little current against us as we made our way north between the mainland coast of Turkey and the island of Tavşan Adası but we did meet the other main hazard of the Dardanelles – shipping.

Approaching the Dardanelles. BV is the small black arrowhead southwest of the channel entrance    

The Dardanelles (Çanakkale Boğazi to the Turks) is one of the busiest shipping channels in the world and very narrow with it. Shipping is required to follow a formal Traffic Separation Scheme (TSS, a sort of motorway for ships) with east- and west-bound lanes and a separation area between them. Small vessels (such as yachts) are required to remain outside the TSS unless wishing to cross from one side to the other, at which point the vessel must do so with a heading at right-angles to the main traffic flow (in order to minimise time in the TSS). It’s a bit like playing Frogger live!

Whilst preparing BV for this adventure, I had fitted her with AIS (Automatic Identification System). All large ships are required to have it fitted and smaller vessels may do so. The system sends out VHF radio message detailing the vessel’s size, speed, heading, course over the ground etc. BV’s system displays this information graphically on the chart plotter, as well as BV’s course and speed, so it is easily possible to see if we will conflict with another vessel. The system has been invaluable on several occasions so far and, as we lined up for ‘Frogger – the Dardanelles Version’ it proved so once again, particularly as there was a lot of haze so the visibility was not great.

Crossing the Dardanelles in haze – thank goodness for AIS! 

However, using the AIS we saw a suitable space in the approaching east-bound line of shipping and, with a small amount of course and speed adjustment, got across to the ‘central reservation’ from where we had a clear run across the (amazingly!) empty west-bound lane.

Gallipoli Peninsula in haze. The Helles Memorial (Commonwealth) is to the right and behind the lighthouse    

Our reason for crossing the Dardanelles TSS was to reach the Gallipoli (now Gelibolu) Peninsula. We planned to anchor in a bay on the south of the peninsula, at a place that the WW1 Allied Forces had known as S Beach, and cycle around the battlefield and memorials of the southern part of the peninsula before visiting the ANZAC sites a couple of days later.

Old castle at Seddülbahir, just east of Helles Point (now Mehmetçik Burnu) and V Beach    

As a result of the current streaming out of the Dardanelles and the requirement to cross the TSS with a heading at 90° to the TSS, we had ended up quite a long way south of what was Helles Point (now Mehmetçik Burnu). We therefore had a longish motor back up to the peninsula and along its southeastern shore, during which time we were able to identify some of the landing beaches and the castle at Seddülbahir, which were important during the campaign.

Turkish Martyrs’ Memorial from BV’s anchorage    

Shortly before lunchtime we anchored in the northeast corner of Anit Limanı (S Beach) – excellent holding on mud. The beach is now overlooked by the enormous Turkish Martyrs’ Memorial (WW1 was declared a jihad by the Ottoman Sultan) and the French cemetery and memorial both of which we planned to visit that afternoon as well as various other sites a little further south and west.

As we dropped anchor we realised that there were hundreds, probably thousands, of jellyfish in the bay. We haven’t seen this many in one place for a long time. Perhaps not since we were moored in the Beaulieu River when Alex and Charlotte were small; they spent several very happy hours with their fishing nets catching the jellyfish and filling sandcastle buckets with them until they were almost solid jelly. Where’s there a 7 year old child when you need one?!

View south from our anchorage – more shipping

Anit Limanı, Turkey