[Old_Salt]

Anyone can hold the helm, when the sea is calm.
Calm however has no bearing, whatsoever, with the word..Monsoon.

I was onboard a vessel on a voyage from Thessaloniki to Istanbul when the phone rang.The caller said your next mission is ready.It was to be a voyage from Salalah to Colombo, across the Arabian Sea, in monsoons.


Lets start with the voyage from Thessaloniki to Istanbul, via Cannakkale Strait.

Thessaloniki is considered as Greece's cultural capital. Apparently Frappé was invented in the Thessaloniki International Fair in 1957 and has since spread throughout Greece and Cyprus to become a hallmark of the Greek coffee culture.










Cannakkale is a narrow, natural strait and internationally significant waterway in northwestern Turkey
One of the world's narrowest straits used for international navigation, the Dardanelles connects the Sea of Marmara with the Aegean and Mediterranean seas while also allowing passage to the Black Sea by extension via the Bosporus.



The Kilitbahir at the straits narrowest point…Kilitbahir Castle is a fortress on the west side of the Dardanelles, opposite the city of Çanakkale, where there is a corresponding fortress from which Çanakkale takes its name. The two castles were constructed by Fatih Sultan Mehmet in 1463 to control the straits at their narrowest point. Kilitbahir's name, meaning "lock of the sea", reflects this defensive purpose.



The Osman Gazi Suspension Bridge, was the 4th longest in the world when it opened.




Ask any sane sailor, and he would avoid venturing into the Arabian Sea during the SWly monsoons.
So much so is the reluctance, that offshore companies use to offer higher wages during these months as people would prefer to see the dark side of the moon, than come out sailing.
The Indian ocean which is calm 8/9 months a year, gets all worked up in these 3 months.

I had 2 day to kill before I embarked on the next sojourn, so decided to split it between Istanbul and Salalah.

The port of Ambarli is where the ship docked. It’s a good 40 odd kms from the area of interest in Istanbul. UBER has a tie up with yellow taxis and that worked like a charm.

Blue mosque had recently opened up after 5 years of restoration and marked that as my starting point. I will let the pics do the talking.



On the chandeliers, ostrich eggs are found that were meant to avoid cobwebs inside the mosque by repelling spiders.





Next was Hagia Sophia, which was originally a cathedral, and was later turned into a mosque.







Had a sumptuous lunch at Konyali (Claimed to be operational since 1897) followed by Turkish Coffee.





Next stop was Grand Bazaar, over crowded, and over priced as usual…



On the way back stopped at a local restaurant to have some Turkish Pide and ordered a two foot long…





Next morning flew down to Salalah.

The best time to visit Salalah is from June to August which is the monsoon months. The beautiful Salalah has a monsoon season that is not common in other cities in Oman. The monsoon season (also known as Khareef) typically starts around June and lasts until August. During monsoon, Salalah is transformed into a beautiful oasis due to the light drizzles that cool the air. The Salalah Tourism Festival takes place during the monsoon season from July 15- August 31, every year.


My stay was at Crown Plaza,. Their restaurant, Ocean Blue is bang on the beach. The waves and the sound of water just next to the restaurant is extremely soothing and locals/tourists were flocking to enjoy the waves and taste the salt in the air. As they say, the cure for anything is salt water: sweat, tears or the sea.








Vessel arrived at Salalah early morning and had a cargo work of close to 20 hours. She came direct from Baltimore after crossing the Suez Canal.

Some pics just around departure from Salalah.







As we were asked to arrive Colombo within 90 hours, required speed for the voyage was 17.5kts.High speed is usually better to cross areas of turbulence, however as a general rule, if your speed reduces by more than 25% due to weather factors, it is better to slow down, than damage the vessel or cargo.
As this is south westerly monsoon, most weather would be aft the vessels beam and the winds would actually give a slight push.

Weather prognosis using onboard software, checking for wind and swell.







Vessel was sufficiently loaded, her GM(Metacentric Height) was quite nice.
GM plays a very critical role in ships stability. A high GM can make the vessel very stiff(violent rolling), and tender if too low. GM affects how a vessel reacts to weather forces.

Something about the monsoon..
The southwestern summer monsoons occur from July through September. The Thar Desert and adjoining areas of the northern and central Indian subcontinent heat up considerably during the hot summers. This causes a low pressure area over the northern and central Indian subcontinent. To fill this void, the moisture-laden winds from the Indian Ocean rush into the subcontinent. These winds, rich in moisture, are drawn towards the Himalayas. The Himalayas act like a high wall, blocking the winds from passing into Central Asia, and forcing them to rise. As the clouds rise, their temperature drops, and precipitation occurs.

Once in the open sea, vessel did experience mild rolling due to swell but nothing much to complain about.





For want of space, mud and pots, a sailor did what he does best. Make best use of the available resources. This single pot had a fruit (orange), veggies (tomato,pepper) and flowers, all in one.







Signing off with an onboard meal, when the weather had become a bit mild and everyone again had the appetite.

Bon Appetite..

[shankar.balan]

I love reading things like this. So informative and all the names are so evocative of the mysteries of travel, history, geography all shrouded in the mists of time for millenia. Shows us what a microcosmic life most of us lead and opens our eyes to so much more.
Thank you Old Salt for sharing!

[Arun_S]

Thanks for sharing this journey details. Really good photographs.

All the straits names you had mentioned I had read in books long back. Went back to check in google were it is located and their significance. Nice refresher course in Geography .

Keep writing such wonderful posts.

[Kkumar]

Excellent narration and great photos. Ship voyages changed the course of the world by inter connecting the continents. Even today the backbone of world wide commerce is shipping industry. It has always been a pleasure to hear stories from the sailors about faraway land. Waiting for more stories from you. Thank you.

[raptor_diwan]

Fantastic images! Thank you for sharing them. The color grading in the images is exceptionally vibrant and pleasing to the eye, such visually appealing photos.

[ruzbehxyz]

Thanks for sharing. The photographs are superb !

I too have transited these straits many times.

The maritime route is from the Black sea, where you cross the Istanbul / Bosporus Straits in to the Marmara sea, then the Dardanelles / Canakkale straits into the Aegian sea and finally to Mediterranean sea.
The Turkish Straits are among the most important maritime trade corridors in the world. Both the Bosporus and Dardanelles Straits comprise the Turkish Straits, which together enable tens of thousands of vessels to pass through them each year. In 2019 alone, 40,000 vessels transporting nearly 650 million tons of cargo utilized the Turkish Straits, proving their incredible worth to global commerce. It is estimated that the straits makes way for around 48,000 ships annually, reportedly three and four times denser than the traffic of the Suez Canal and the Panama Canal, respectively.




The Bosporus Strait:
The Bosporus Strait or İstanbul Boğazı (Istanbul strait) or Bosphorus Strait is a natural strait and an internationally significant waterway located in Istanbul in northwestern Turkey that connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Marmara.

The routes serves a significant amount of international commercial shipping traffic in the form of Bulk carriers, Container ships and tankers. There are numerous dangerous points for maritime traffic that require sharp turns and management of visual obstructions. This iconic waterway has a length of 31 kilometres (19 miles) and a width that varies between 730-3300 meters. The Bosporus is fairly deep and ships over 150 metres long or 10 metres deep must pre-book their passage. Those over 300 metres long must follow a special clearance procedure.



The Dardanalles / Canakkale strait:-
The Dardanelles or 'Strait of Çanakkale', also known as the Strait of Gallipoli, is a narrow, natural strait and internationally significant waterway in northwestern Turkey that forms part of the continental boundary between Asia and Europe and separates Asian Turkey from European Turkey.


Old British Admiralty navigation chart


Maritime importance:-
The Bosporus is a Chokepoint for the maritime transit of oil. The strait is one of the world’s critical maritime routes for oil transportation from the Caspian Sea region and Russia to areas including Asia, Western and Southern Europe. Around 38% of Russia’s, one of the world’s biggest maritime crude oil producers, marine crude oil exports benefits from the strait.
The strait is also the primary oil export route for Eurasian countries such as Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. It is estimated that more than 3% of the global supply or, in other words, around 3 million barrels of oil per day and 20 million tons/year of petroleum products pass through the iconic waterway.

[bhargav_dave]

Amazing travelogue! The places are incredible and so are the pictures. I envy you (not so much the voyage in the monsoon though!).

[xantia]

I am catching up on the travelogues, so this was the first on the list. To craft and publish a sea-tale is unique and I loved this one. The other one being Treasure Island! Today is my day for being educated, and this was one. Take care and look forward to many more.

[Raghu M]

The information in the thread is terrific. Sat back completely relaxed and read through. One concern was, the log finished so soon! Please continue to share more experiences. Safe sailing and of course driving too!!