23 rd July 2011 My Aunt Laurie had several falls and ended up in Nambour hospital with a broken hip on the 23 rd July. After the operation she improved slowly but then deteriorated. She passed away on the 19 th Sep and will be sadly missed by all who knew her. During this time I was having my own medical dramas and on the 19 th September I flew to Melbourne and spent 10 days at the Gawler retreat in the Yarra Valley. This was a turning point in my life and I have changed my diet to Vegan and no longer drink coffee tea or Alcohol. I am feeling great and the new diet has made a huge difference to my health and well being. I fly back to Australia on the 16 th March 2012 for further tests. so watch this space
Graham ...

7th May 2011 I am now in Ballina NSW. I arrived back in Australia on the 17 th March after a long flight from Istanbul to Brisbane and have not stopped..!!! I have stayed with many friends and family in Brisbane, Buderim and Bundaberg. Australia

Everyone has been very supportive in their thoughts and deeds and I feel very special :-) There has been lots of talking and plenty of Red Medicine drunk over the last 7 weeks !!!!!!!. Next week I head south to Coffs Harbour and then on to Sydney. As they say Life is a journey not a destination and wonderful friends make the journey fantastic :-) These days are very busy I am continuing my Turkish lessons and also managing to get to Yoga classes as well as a bit of bike riding and lots of walking ...
Graham ...

4th March 2011 Silver Heels has been lifted on to the hard stand and is now wedged between a thousand other boats !! I have ten days to get her ready as I fly out on the 15th March to Australia. My new Turkish friends have been very supportive with offers of dinner , days out sailing and accommodation :-). Hugh and Brenda have also been wonderful and we have managed shopping trips to Marmaris and several dinners on board Scotia plus a few visits to the restaurant and the workers canteen :-). Plus an enjoyable visit from Cliff and Sharman from Blue Cotton in Kusadasi ( formally yacht Sarah )
Graham ...

22nd February 2011 After a month settling into Marina life. I caught a bus to Kusadasi to meet Vals sister Anne and husband John. Unfortunately the weather gods gave us lots of rain so I was not able to show them Ephesus. Maybe next time !!!! We caught a bus to Izmir and visited Vals grave on the 24th ( her B/day ). Which was very special. Managed to see a couple of Bazaars in Izmir before They had to fly back to UK at 4 am on the morning of the 26th !!!!!!!! Then it was down to Kusadasi for a couple of days and then on to Marmaris to finish getting Silver Heels ready for slipping on the 4th March Yat Marina
Graham ...

24th January 2011 I arrived in Yat Marina Marmaris after a pleasant motor/ sail from Orhaniye in company with Hugh and Brenda on yacht Scotia Orhaniye and Yat Marina

I spent 6 weeks on anchor in Orhaniye with Scotia but without heating the cold was getting me down :-( It is a beautiful place even in winter .. Lots of nice walks , Friendly people , Market on Saturdays and a small conveninace store as well as the Marti Marina with super market only a couple of miles away.
Graham ...

10th January 2011 I have uploaded a new page with photos of Val over the last few years Vals page

I am back on board Silver Heels anchored in Orhanyie and will move to Yat Marina in Marmaris in the next couple of weeks. I will put Silver Heels on the hard stand before returning to Australia in March.
Graham ...

2nd December 2010 At 2 am My Darling Valerie had a severe rupture of a blood vessel in Right brain ( Anyeurism ) After getting an ambulance to Orhaniye and " Silver Heels II" to shore, We both went by ambulance to Marmaris hospital a CT scan showed an anyeurism but they where not able to operate there.
So we had to go by Ambulance again 3 hours to EGE University Hospital in IZMIR two paramedics and Doctor Val and me. Val had a angiogram in EGE Hospital in the afternoon ( she was in a unconscious most of the day )
Doctor Ramiz and Prof Tayfun discussed options with me ONLY option operate with 24 hours .. Val had a burst anyuerism on the right side of Brain and an un-burst anyeurism on left side.
On the 3rd dec They operated 6 hours in Theater operation successful but critical time the next 5 days for complications. They clipped both anyuerisms and where happy with the result.... She was in Intensive care for 5 days +++ before moving to a ward on the 8th.
I was able to stay in the private ward with her....during these days and our friend Sharman ( yacht Sara ) was able to come up and help me and Hugh and Brenda on yacht Scotia looked after Silver Heels II. Over the next few days Val improved and was able to talk and knew who she was but confused as to where she was .... on the 11th she started having difficulty lifting her left arm and leg and on the 13th she was not responding to my voice. A CT scan showed 'Vasospasm' due to blood aggravating the brain and she went back to intensive care.
On the 15th her daughter April arrived and we where told that Val was having difficulty breathing and she was then moved to another Intensive Care Unit with artificial breathing equipment ...... At midnight on the 16th we where called back to the ICU unit and told that 4 consultants had declared her brain dead ..... They asked if she wanted to donate here organs and we said "yes" Next morning we again went to see her in the ICU before the Transplant teams took over ... She was prononced dead at 2 .15 pm on the 16th Dec 2010.... Vals other daughter Lynn arrived the same day. They took her liver , two kidneys and both corneas which where immediately sent to patients all over Turkey . The Transplant team where very supportive and helpful. We owe a special thanks to Dr Shukriye Alyarak the Transplant co-ordinator.......
We arranged Vals funeral for the 21st Dec at Karabaglar Cemetary Izmir .. and several yachty friends where able to attend . I will add a new page with photos of the funeral in the next few days .. Thanks to everyone who has emailed and offered assistance
Graham ... Vals funeral

18th November 2010Now we are BozBurun Turkey the weather is fantastic - clear sunny and warm nights cool, but as the days are short power is also short as the wind generator is now in pieces having some tlc. However I have managed to do another page with more Greek island destinations - so just click here

08th November 2010 Almost another month passed and still not up to date with the web pages! So this is just a quick update then I really will do some updating. We left Leros heading south for Khos and as the weather was calm - really calm we anchored for the night off the town of Khos then moved the next day to the southern anchorage near the monastry on the island of Simi, great peaceful anchorage, before moving round to Phedi on the eastern side of Simi, from there we were able to bus into Simi and clear out which we did rather sooner than later as a south easterly was heading our way. We made for Boz Burun in Turkey stayed 3 nights and as the weather was favourable and a yachties market was beckoning we took off for Marmaris. A great sail was had after rounding the point touching 7kts at times wow! We are still here in Marmaris anchored at Pupa Yat after this southerlie has passed we will be heading back to Boz Burun. So now with the wind turning the wind generator and the sun shining on the solar panels I will have some power to do the web pages!

19th October 2010 We have spent the last 3weeks in and around Leros and during that time managed to upload pages for Oinoussia,Khios and Samos but forgot to mention it on this page!
Now we are waiting for the southerly storms and gale warning to pass before leaving for Simi where we will check out and head to Turkey. We had an exciting last couple of days when we left for Kalimnos Island weather was light, we found a lovely stunning anchorage, anchored, then the catabatic winds showed up! We dragged very quickly to the rocky shore and just managed to get out of the bay. We headed for the north bay which for the first day proved lovely and restful, however the light southerly changed to a strong southerly and by the next morning we were surfing on a lee shore! We took off round the point to a small bay across the isthmus anchored, anchored and anchored again (2 anchors) but the winds just kept getting stronge and again we dragged, (lots of very slimy loose weed) discretion being the better part of valour we took off back to Leros about 11nm to the north. This was our first med adverse conditions, driving rain, washing machine seas and gale force winds! We made it just on the staysail to the harbour and slept well. However in the morning the sky was black again westerly winds this time, not good for us, a white out - so when that passed we moved on to anchor outside Lakki town. So here we are for a couple of days we think then we will maybe do one long day to Simi when the winds turn northerlie.

21st September 2010 I have updated Limnos page with images from Lesvos.

14th September 2010Wow how time flies, another month gone and we are now in Pythagorean Harbour Samos Island having spent time in Lesvos anchorages, on to Mandraki Harbour,Oinoussa then Khios town tied up to the wall of the unopened marina on Khios Island next stop was Limnionas Bay before coming into Pythagorion Harbour. We will stay here waiting for friends to come from Kusadasi and catching up with the ones already here. Time again for the laundry and water runs.

18th August 2010Still in Limnos having a relaxing time having been to several different anchorages around the island including a stay in Myrina Harbour clearing in and doing the usual shopping, laundry and old rock veiwing new page with Limnos images.

1st August 2010Still in Lemnos and the 3rd and final instalment of the visa saga   is ready. The winds eased a little yesterday enough to get us off the boat and go for a walk, the landscape is baren dry and dusty but the water clear and warm, my kind of swimming place, I can see the bottom and its sandy! There are a few animal farms not much in the way of pasture but we did see sheep,goats,one horse,peahens and ostriches.

21st July 2010 In Canakkele - we left Bulgaria checking out 10days after we arrived and headed back to Turkey staying one night on anchor in Igneada and one in Poyraz, then down the Bosphorus left at the bottom and on to Tuzla to anchor and rest before tackling the check in procedure! Here is a link to Grahams first instalment  of the process, the second part of the saga. After a trying morning in Istanbul at the passport police HQ we did manage a little sight seeing before catching the busy train back to Tuzla, it was crowded but a turkish family made room for me to sit down and have a chat the outcome was the friendly young daughter who was a teacher dug into her bag and handed me a gift of a silver ring with stones I promptly forgot the hassles of the day!
We deliberated our plan of action after only having 10 days left on our visa and not much hope of getting a new one without leaving the country we decided to relinguish our newly obtained transit log and check out of Canakkele! We had a few days in the sea of Maramara on anchor at Erdek a turkish holiday town, then one night at the Marble islands and on to Karabiga. Here we did the walk to the ruins and once again experienced the wonderful turkish openness and hospitality. On the way to the ruins a couple waved to us from there home and invited us in to the shady garden for tea, offered breakfast and gave us a bag of produce from their organic garden along with a basil plant. We reciprocated with afternoon tea on Silver Heels II.
The next day we reluctantly left and sailed all the way to Chanakkele arriving early evening ready to check out the next day - details of which I will put on the next new page when I have finished it!

30th June 2010 Still in Burgas - been to Varna and Sozopol by bus as well as exploring Burgas town, I have just finished a new page  about the trip up here, but still working on Isanbul- so many photo's.
I have changed the format now to see the thumbnails you just use the up and down arrows stop where you want and put the mouse over a thumbnail image and the enlargement will show- just like that! I have looked at my stats and realize I am not getting many lookers at other pages so maybe its because the menu is not clear enough- again mouseover will show all the different pages to view.

24th June 2010 Burgas Bulgaria, we arrived here 22nd June after a good trip up the Bosphorus, a not so good day in Porgaz, a good sail to Igneada, a good nights sleep there on anchor, and a mixed bag of a day getting into Burgas! We are now tied up at the Burgas Port Yacht club having completed all formalities and will probably stay for 10 days and do some bus trips around the area. I will try and update our trip so far whilst we are here!

18th June 2010 Pendik Marina our friends left after a very enjoyable visit, after an afternoon walking to the the market we managed to sail/motor from Fenerbace/Kalamis to the Princess Islands the following day, had a some time ashore exploring Buyugaz then round to Cam Limani on the next island the following day then across to Pendik and a night in the marina. Since then we have explored the northern end of the sea of Marmara between Tuzla and Fenerbaca, done some sight seeing in Istanbul using only the great public transport system. Visiting markets, sourcing chandleries,sanayi's (industrial areas) electronics and so on, found a couple of good anchorages and have enjoyed the area. We will return here after Bulgaria. I have added a new look page covering the trip up from Kusadasi.

Since my last entry we have been in the Marmara Sea having had a lovely sail from Çanakkale entering the Marmara sea and turning right to head for a southerly anchorage, yes we had a southerlie wind. We have visited a few delightful anchorages and some not so delightful around the Marmara coastline, checking out suitable ones close to Istanbul where we were to pick up friends Marijke and Noel from Australia. We did this successfully and had a few days pottering around Fernabache,Princess Islands and Pendik. All the details will be on the new page when I create it! I have been busy getting this one to work trying to get around conflicting scripts and iefixes but all is working now, I will also have a new look on the attached pages which is taking a little longer to script. If you have any comments on the site please email me  look forward to any input. On this page any new images will be in the slide show at the top of the page.

Think before you complain about the rolly anchorage - at least your still afloat!

We are now anchored off Çanakkale in the Dardanels. Since leaving Kusadasi we have had some great anchorages and visited some interesting villages and towns. We are on schedule to be in Istanbul in time to meet up with friends from Australia. The trip up the Dardanel started with us upping anchor at 7am in Bozcada in flat calm conditions which remained with us till we dropped anchor here at 1415hrs, we did have some current against us at the entrance and later rounding the point at Çanakkale. I will be making a new page with all the anchorage details soon! In the meantime we have sightseeing to do, it is market day in Çanakkele tomorrow - we just have to find it!