A hazy early summer morning across from Çanakkale on the Dardanelles Strait, the Sea Cloud II is moving south towards the Aegean Sea. Sails are furled and she moves under power to negotiate the treacherous waters of the strait. It will veer left and pass broadside to me as it approaches the narrowest part of the strait at about 0.8 mile at Çanakkale.

I happened to be onshore at Eceabat across from Çanakkale preparing to cross the Gallipoli peninsula to travel to Gökçeada, one of the Turkish islands.

(that short journey crosses the heart of the Gallipoli battlefield, a battle which has fascinated me for a long time and one of Churchhill's bigger mistakes of WWI. More on that in a later post. This part of the strait was the site of a fierce naval battle in 1915. An underwater park near this point allows exploration of the ruins of ships sunk: among them HMS Triumph, HMS Majestic, Bouvet, HMS Irresistible, Louis, SS Carthage, and HMS Hythe)

The Sea Cloud II is operated as a cruise ship by a German company but is registered in Malta. The keel was laid in 1998 in Spain, it was launched in 1999, but not fully complete until 2001.

347 ft long, 52 ft beam, 18 ft draught. It has 32,000 sqft of sail and 3300 hp engines. 63 crew and 96 passengers.

Would have been nice to see it under sail ...

Stealing a few images of the interior:

I suspect a cruise on this ship is not for the likes of you and me.
On the other hand, it's just a floating hotel with good food and nice decor.
Not that I'd turn down a (short) trip if one was offered to me.

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