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| Starboard fuel tank |
Turkey and Greece are neighbors but are currently not being very neighborly. Greece has opened its borders to foreign yachts of any flag, including Turkey. However, if you are sailing from Turkey to Greece you must have professional crew! Which means crew that actually work in the industry and have all the proper credentials. Now that requirement is only for boats sailing to Greece from Turkey. Private yachts from other countries do not have to meet that same requirement. The requirement is only for privately owned yachts coming from Turkey (regardless of the flag they fly). That presents a problem as most private yacht owners do not have "paid professional crew".
Starboard fuel tank cut open
So there are two options: the first option is for Michael to hire professional crew to sail with him to Greece and for me to then fly over and meet them. The second option, is for Michael and I to sail down to Cyprus and then back up to Greece. We have decided to go with the second option. Cyprus is the only EU country this side of Greece that you can sail to. And, of course, there is no requirement for "professional crew" if you sail to Greece from Cyprus. Politics!!
Fuel tank out and in pieces
Meanwhile the work on Talaria continues. The starboard fuel tank is out. It had to be taken out in pieces but its out. We are now waiting for the new stainless steel tank to be made. While that is being completed the painting continues. Both the fellow replacing the tank and the fellow making the tank had to evacuate due to the fires. Their homes survived and they have moved back in but the fires have slowed the work down. The fires around Marmaris and other parts of Turkey continue but the smoke seems a little less today. We are anxious to leave as we feel we should not be outside much due to the smoke. The extremely high temperatures have relented a little as well. Last week it got as high as 114 degrees! Today it was 96 degrees when we went outside and we thought it was great!
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