We took over from Garth, Ros and crew and naturally they had cleaned and polished Trilogy to perfection.

Whilst in Canakkale we took the opposrtunity to visit the Gelibulu Peninsular including the Kabatepe Museum, where we were treated to a very modern simulation of the defence of the Dardanelles in 1915. We then visited the Lone Pine War Cemetery and the Chanuk Bair Memorial (NZ) as well as the Alcitepe War Memorial and Mass Grave. All extremely sobering and quite confronting to sense the absolute futility of sending hundreds of thousands of young men from many countries to their deaths. We also visited the site of Troy which was so steeped in realy ancient history that we felt transported in time to imagine life in that era.

We sailed to ANZAC Cove and anchored offshore where it was abundantly obvious that the choice of that cove to mount an assault landing could not have been a worse choice. We woke before dawn to go ashore by dinghy to pay our respects to the fallen of both sides at the 0413 time of the ANZAC landings. I can remember my grandfather showing me the scars on his legs from the shrapnel which caused his evacuation and probably saved his life in 1915.

We have been made to feel very welcome by the Turks and especially so when they learn that we are Australians. Perhaps this was best captured by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk who spoke of the fallsn ANZACs saying "your sons are now our sons".

The sail to the lovely island of Bozcaada lifted our spirits again as we fairly charged along at 9 knots under mainsail and the lovely Code 0 headsail. The skies were sunny the seas were sparkling and we had a 10 knot breeze on the starboard beam - sailing rarely gets better than this! Crossing the traffic separation zones at the entrance to the Dardanelles was a bit challenging as we tracked about 50 commercial vessels of all shapes and sizes entering or leaving this very crowded watarway.

Bozcaada was picture perfect and we visited the remarkably preserved castle overlooking the beautiful harbour and town.

We then sailed to Ayvalik entering 'the lake' via a narrow channel close to sunset. As we entered the quite modern Setur Ayvalik marina we were welcomed by a cannon shot and the calls from the minarets announcing the end of the day's fasting during this month of Ramadan.

The following day we visited a restored windmill once used for grinding flour at the monastery but now a flash restaurant overlooking the town and harbour and a library noted for it's antiquarian treasures. Then on to a restored church now housing an eclectic collection of toys and gadgets before catching a local ferry across to Alibey. We wandered the town absorbing the very greek like character of the surroundings before returning to Ayvaik and a delightful meal by the water's edge.

A local bus ride to Bergama brought us to the ruins of ancient Peergamon which was really amazing despite the best of the 'treasures' having been taken to Berlin. Hippoctaes was born in Pergamon and rose to become the father of medicine; much of his work continued to be practised until the 16th century.