Bates in Bosphorus Straits

We left Istanbul on Oct. 02, 2014 and sailed through the Bosphorus Straits to Bourgas Bulgaria.

After the muster drill, Greg beelined  to the Oceanview café where we could have an outside back of the ship view of the two hour trip through the Bosphorus Straits. It was indeed a beauty. 

The colour of the sea in Istanbul was beautiful. It was a turquoise colour and full of small fish and jelly fish of all sizes.

 We passed under two bridges, clearing the first bridge by only 4 meters. Istanbul is built on mountainous terrain so the ship meanders between the mountains with houses reaching to the top of every mountain.

Here we passed by an old castle on the hill.

 Looking back on Istanbul it was such a stunning view. The sun was just right.

The passageway was, as Zach said when we were doing Alaska, this is just like Shuswap. Only this was different, it was Turkey where every bit of buildable land has a structure on it.  

As we left Istanbul the land became less mountainous and the water was a darker colour but not Black. The bottom of the Black Sea has no oxygen in it so it is black and it does not sustain any life. Another story.