We have been based in Turkey for the past 6 years. Our crew includes Danforth, a Golden Doodles who crossed the Atlantic with us on Medbound 2007 Rally & Tatli (Turkish for sweet or dessert) a toy Maltipoo. Also we have a Turkish seaman Mehmet Ali who has been with us for 4 years who assists in all aspects of our boat maintenance & operation as well as cooking for us every day. In 2010 we participated in the EMYR (Eastern Mediterranean Yacht Rally) which started in Istanbul & proceeded along the Turkish Aegean & Mediterranean coast, then crossed to North Cyprus, back to Mersin on the eastern Med coast of Turkey, then to Latakia, Syria, Jouniah, Lebanon, Haifa & Askelon, Israel, Port Said, Egypt (entrance to the Suez Canal) then back to Herzliya, Israel. In 2012 we participated in the MYRA (Sea of Marmaria) & KYRA (Black Sea Rally) starting in Istanbul & along the Back Sea Turkish coast to Samsun. This summer we joined an abbreviated EMYR due to the geopolitical turmoil in the Middle East which included many ports not on the 2010 rally. The rally could not visit Syria, Lebanon or Egypt. We were in Israel at the beginning of the Israeli/Gaza conflict & while in Askelon, about 5 km from the border we witnessed at 10PM an air raid siren alert immediately followed by the bright white streak of an Israeli missile across our bow intercepting a rocket from Gaza with an explosion that looked like fireworks. The rest of our summer cruising has been along the fabulous Turkish Turquoise coast with it's many beautiful turquoise & azure blue anchorages. Lowie & David Bock MV Salty Dawg Nordhavn 55-04 Alanya, Turkey Sent from my iPod