Boats On The Bosphorous: March 2016

Welcome

We'll periodically post images of vessels that drift past our perch on the Bosphorous. If you are a new arrival, the Bosphorous is the waterway (straits) that divides Europe from Asia and cuts right through the middle of Istanbul. You could swim from Europe to Asia (or vice versa) in about 30 minutes - if you could survive the boat traffic and/or the pollution.

The blog's perch is about half way up (or down) the Bosphorous - not the city's most supreme view. Yet, it's not too high, not too low - good enough to afford a decent view. Then again, anything better in terms of view will cost you upward of a million. Dollars. No... more. Much more. This view is free.

The aim here is to provide regular images and - where possible - further details regarding boat traffic between the Black Sea, the Marmara and points beyond.

It's not CIA - although they used to maintain a prominent viewing location (and probably still do) - The transit through the Bosphorous is Russia's traditional outlet to the world's oceans - most other Russian outlets ice over in the winter. But, there is no hidden blog agenda, no intent to spy. This is just our view and publicly available data related to those views: Boats on the Water. Passing by. Happened to catch them ....

Thursday, March 31, 2016

YM Hazar

Front hatch open. Something that needs air inside?
There's a man at the stern in an orange jacket - up to something?

Name : YM Hazar
Heading: South.Sea of Marmara
Type: cargo
Flags: Turkey
Date: 31 Mar 2016
Weather: spring

Gagliarda

Who is SetraMar (along the side)?
And the large S in the smokestack is S for SetraMar?

Name : Gagliarda
Heading: South.Sea of Marmara
Type: cargo
Flags: Malta
Date: 31 Mar 2016
Weather: spring

Azra S

Azra S has a load of wood on the deck.
She was once a part of the ??? LINE - all that's left of that is the word LINE.
Note her various flags - front and back.

Name : Azra S
Heading: South.Sea of Marmara
Type: cargo
Flags: Tanzania
Date: 31 Mar 2016
Weather: spring

Emona

The name on the back pretty clearly says this is the EMOHA ... until you realize that - out of Burgas - we may have to translate from the Cyrillic alphabet (where H = N).
We got several shots of the ship but are opting for one good one.
Yellow flag atop the mast!

Name : Emona
Heading: South.Sea of Marmara
Type: cargo
Flags: Bulgaria
Date: 31 Mar 2016
Weather: spring

Wednesday, March 30, 2016

First Brother

We've got a small helipad up near the bridge(would not like to try to land there except in an emergency!).
The flags are fairly clear - Turkish flag is nicely unfurled.

Name :First Brother
Heading: South.Sea of Marmara
Type: carrier
Flags: Malta
Date: 30 Mar 2016
Weather: almost rain/ some haze

Orcana

The other day, a friend asked if we had seen.caught the sub going north. In fact .. we did - without a camera in hand.
This blog manages to catch maybe a little less than %1 of the traffic: limited hours - even when the weather is good.,
We were a little slow on the trigger for this one: the Auto-focus had a mind of its own.
The paint-job is nice .. and notice the orca on the smokestack.

Name :Orcana
Heading: South.Sea of Marmara
Type: cargo
Flags: Netherlands
Date: 30 Mar 2016
Weather: almost spring

Saadet C

The Panamanian flag is pretty clear to see.
And we had never particularly mentioned the hold numbering : 3-4, 3-3 ....

Name :Saadet C
Heading: South.Sea of Marmara
Type: carrier
Flags: Panama
Date: 30 Mar 2016
Weather: almost spring

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Maersk Progress

Again ... gray and overcast.
Maersk Progress is fairly big, and we wanted to give you a sense of the size by including the buildings in the foreground.

Name : Maersk Progress
Heading: North/Black Sea
Type: tanker
Flags: Singapore
Date: 29 Mar 2016
Weather:: maybe Spring

Sun Light

Would that there would be a little more "Sun Light".
We have moved on to Daylight savings - no .. off daylight savings (?). Whatever .. we've got more hours of daylight in the evening (when it matters for this blog)
Sun Light is kind of "small fry"- but nothing is too small for us, except boats that don't really resolve in terms of mega-pixels.

Name : Sun Light Heading: North/Black Sea
Type: cargo
Flags: Palau
Date: 29 Mar 2016
Weather:: maybe Spring

Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Ferries/mixed

Lots of simultaneous ferry traffic - despite the poor weather
2 DB (Denizcilik Bankasi) and 1 private North/South ferry all in the same frame!

Kriti Jade

Nothing unusual: you can more or less see the captain at the helm in the bridge close-up

And you might spend a minute figuring out the Greek writing for Kriti Jade ...

Name : Kriti Jade
Heading: South.Sea of Marmara
Type: tanker
Flags: Greece
Date: 23 Mar 2016
Weather: almost rain/ some haze

Monday, March 21, 2016

Wadi Sudr

Name : Wadi Sudr
Heading: North/Black Sea
Type: cargo
Flags: Egypt
Date: 21 Mar 2016
Weather:: maybe Spring

Vilesh River

Together with Dida, Vilesh River headed north this evening. Nice warm light ..

Name : Vilesh River
Heading: North/Black Sea
Type: tanker
Flags: Russia
Date: 21 Mar 2016
Weather:: cold - getting warmer maybe

Dida

First Dida came past on the outer lane. (When there is a faster vessel, the slower one takes a farther-away path - the outer lane - so that the faster can pass by on the inside) You can see that Dida is a bit farther out in the straights to allow for a closer passage for Vilesh River.
We've seen Dida go by before.

Name : Dida
Heading: North/Black Sea
Type: cargo
Flags: Turkish
Date: 21 Mar 2016
Weather:: almost Spring

Friday, March 18, 2016

Valery Kokov

Name :Valery Kokov
Heading: South.Sea of Marmara
Type: cargo
Flags: Russia
Date: 18 Mar 2016
Weather:: cold - getting warmer maybe

Oluja

Name : Oluja
Heading: South.Sea of Marmara
Type: carrier
Flags: Marshall Islands
Date: 18 Mar 2016
Weather:: cold - getting warmer maybe

Kurtarma 6

Name :Turkish Coast Guard
Heading: South.Sea of Marmara
Type: navy
Flags: Turkish
Date: 18 Mar 2016
Weather:: cold - getting warmer maybe

Thursday, March 17, 2016

Turkish Navy

We got a group of Turkish navy heading north today.

Name : Turkish navy group
Heading: North/Black Sea
Type: mixed navy
Flags: Turkish
Date: 17 Mar 2016
Weather:: cold - getting warmer maybe

Wednesday, March 16, 2016

Sukran - S

Name :Sukran S
Heading:South.Marmara
Type: cargo
Flags: Turkey
Date: 16 Mar 2016
Weather:: cold - getting warmer maybe

Ulusoy 8

Weather was close to freezing, but now slightly warming
The water is mostly green, Cold as ice.

Name : Ulusoy 8
Heading: North/Black Sea
Type: tanker
Flags: Malta
Date: 16 Mar 2016
Weather:: cold - getting warmer maybe

Friday, March 11, 2016

Selin D (again)

We're sure Selin D has been past before but we couldn't locate the link - we have earlier pictures of her, so she must be somewhere in our archives - (yes, we are so big now that we need to go to the archives to verify earlier visits!)
Again. sorry, here is the previous visit
[updated]

Name : Selin D
Heading: North/Black Sea
Type: tanker
Flags: Malta
Date: 11 Mar 2016
Weather: really nice

Boats On The Bosphorous