Ayvalik happens to be in the middle of Northern Aegean sea with many un-habitated  islands with lots of northerly winds coming from pine covered mountains over a large bay area. This makes it excellent area to live with one of the richest oxygen and cleanest air area in the world. The water is also pretty clean and deep cobalt blue colour. Wind almost never stops, some days it goes over 25 knots (that's when Becky goes to shopping) and some days are nice breeze, beautiful for cruising.

Dinner time: Fried Levrek (Sea Bass), salad, baked potatoes, melon.

Kid enjoying a nice day at sea.

On Sundays and Thursdays, we go to the local market for fresh food, vegetables and other items at real bargain prices. You can get an Old Navy dress here at $3, an export surplus of Ralph Lauren shirt for $2. We get lots of fish, abundance of fruits and all other foods items for about $50 per week.

If it is a cruising/sailing/swimming day, we take Daisy for a short walk before we head out. In one hour distance, we generally anchor at a pristine bay of an unhabitated island which are plenty. As soon as we are under way, kids fall asleep, so it is normally a smooth sailing all the way.

Before the lunch hour we normally have our first swim. After lunch, we take a little rest and explore the area by our inflatable boat. Back at the boat by 4 or 5 pm for a late tea and biscuits.

We depart around 6:30 pm and get into the marina by 7:30 pm. Some days kids form a chorus of crying occasionally joined by Daisy's barking due to excitement for docking.

After docking safely, comes another round of washing the boat, walking Daisy, showering with kids, preparing meals, having dinner and by 9:30 pm we all are exhausted, ready to fall asleep. Most nights we watch a little bit television, catch up on emails via the wireless connection at the marina and have some desert/fruits. Some nights our friends come over to catch up on the latest gossips, politics, whatever.

We also have a few Canadian boats at the marina, some just passing, some staying longer. I will write about them later on.

Visiting the shore in a dingy above.

Left from top: Waking up in the morning, leaving the dock for shopping, food at the farmers market, leaving the marina

Getting ready for a swim

All priced to go but you still have to bargain at rock bottom prices.