25 May 2009, Kusadasi, Turkey.

Today we visited the first Turkish port of our cruise. After Kusadasi; Istanbul, Trabzon and Sinop will follow. Kusadasi is the port of entry for the tours to Ephesus; known from the Biblical days of the apostle Paul. Apart from that main attraction, the area has several other things on offer, not the least the good shopping that is available in the town, with the emphasis on leather. A number of years ago they built two new finger piers here and since then the calls by cruise ships have more than quadrupled. There are days when all piers are full and occasionally a ship might even have to anchor. The town it takes its name from is a little island to the West of the port. Translated Kusadasi means Bird Island. Nowadays this island is connected by a causeway with the main land so that the castle on it is much easier to get to, so it is not really an island anymore. Since last year the promenade in front of the port even boosts a Dutch Restaurant, with real Dutch coffee so Kusadasi is really getting there.

Overview from when the piers were built. On the concrete area at the end of the piers, the cruise terminal was built. Photo courtesy Kusadasi Port Authority/from my port database.

We arrived bright and early at the Pilot station and that was at 06.00 just when the sun was rising. Our official arrival time was 07.00 but I always try to be a little bit early at the dock so that the Shore excursion manager has time to set things up before the guests are starting to stream out of the ship. Secondary reason was that by being a little bit early I would be ahead of the Ocean village II, the Wind Sprit and the Sea Cloud who were all arriving at the pilot station at 0700 hrs. Thus by 6 am. we had the pilot on board and 20 minutes later we docked at pier 5 which is right opposite the cruise terminal. It could not be better. The Ocean Village II docked next to us at the same pier and the Wind Spirit at the pier next door. Until last year Wind Star, the company who owns the Windspirit was part of Holland America but it was sold last year to Ambassador Cruises. Most Holland America Line personnel came back to the mother company but some preferred to stay with Windstar as they enjoyed the easy going life of these ships. So it was interesting to have a look to see if there were still familiar faces onboard.

Photo courtesy, unknown source on the internet.

The Ocean Village II is a formal Sitmar vessel but that company was taken over by Princess Cruises so the ship entered service as the Crown Princess in 1990. The ship was designed by Mr. Pinao (of Centre Pompidou fame) and resembles a symbiosis between a dolphin (the area above the bridge) and a 1930’s motor ship (the funnel) …………..

Later on it sailed for Aida and now it is going down under at the end of the year as the Ocean village brand is being wound down. Ocean Village was set up as a Carnival brand to serve the cheaper end of the British Cruise market but obviously it did not take off enough and instead the ship will be employed in the Australian market. It is not for me to criticize ships design but I do think that the Prinsendam does look at little bit better in comparison. However life onboard there must be good, as the British were very noisy when we pulled away from the dock. Everybody seemed to be in very high spirits.

In the course of the day the wind started to blow in an area North of Samos which is to the West of Kusadasi and that brought waves into the port area. These waves rolled in between the two docks, bounced back, met with the next waves coming in, combined and then hit the stern. So every so often when two waves met and doubled, a strong shudder went through the ship, just as if the ship was running aground. It was a bit un-nerving to feel this shudder so I was quite happy to get back to open sea.

Being in port with wind in Kusadasi is not fun at all, as there is a current running around the finger piers which in combination with the wind can easily set you upon the dock. Therefore the standby of a tug boat is compulsory and that tugboat is sitting at the end of the dock, ready to push the ship away if it comes to close to the knuckle.

We headed to the North West and set course for the Dardanelles. We will be at the entrance at 0600 tomorrow morning, just after sunrise and then sail with 15 knots (the top speed allowed) through this gap that gives access to the Sea of Marmara and eventually Istanbul. We had great weather today and the forecast for tomorrow is the same.