Checking out of Turkey

(June 2009)

Our check out was a bit of a chore. Everyone told us something different and eventually, to get the job done, it took the combined effort of us, an agent at Haydarpasa container port (TL100, which we didn’t want to spend but there was no way in this world we could have done it without him) and the wonderful girl in the office at Pendik marina (she translated by phone). Nobody wanted to deal with us but with persuasion we eventually got stamped out by the Port Police and Customs at Haydarpasa, even though we should have had the Harbour Master’s stamp first. The Harbour Master at Tuzla didn’t want anything to do with us at all (neither did the HM at Karaköy, under any circumstances) but the marina Manager got on the phone, spoke to a guy and we had to get a taxi to the commercial docks at Tuzla and quote that guys name in order to get the Harbour Master’s stamp. Even then it was done begrudgingly. I wouldn’t be surprised if we weren’t caught in the middle of some internal politics between the Harbour Masters at Karaköy and Tuzla. Can you believe all that? And I’m making it sound easier than it was! Afterwards we spoke to Pendik Marina Manager who told us that they were currently in talks with the relevant authorities to arrange that the marina would be able to take your paperwork away and return it to you with the formalities completed. He estimated being able to provide that service in about another month. If what we were told is correct (that Kalamiş /Fenerbahçe already provide this formality clearing service) then, with hindsight, maybe we would have been better to have left Pendik marina after doing our sightseeing and spent one night at Kalamiş to let them deal with our paperwork***. Of course, this entire sorry tale was only relevant for us because we wanted to check out of Turkey to go to Bulgaria after the Bosphorus. And there was us imagining that we would just wander across Galata Bridge to Karaköy and get our stamps all in one building – bang, bang, bang - as simple as that. The point where it moved into the realms of the surreal was when the ‘Director’ of the Customs Office spotted us on our way out of the door, made us come and sit on his sofa and attempted to find out whether we knew his family who lived in Cambridge in the UK. I could understand what he was trying to ask but he didn’t seem to find it possible that we didn’t know his family in Cambridge. He didn’t speak any English, nor did our Agent, and he insisted on making our Agent ring the Pendik marina office girl to get her to translate. I explained to her what I’d already told the gentleman by sign language, that Cambridge was miles from Plymouth and that I’d never been there before and didn’t know his family. We managed to get away, as we still had to deal with Tuzla HM, but he would have preferred it if we’d stayed for çay and lunch.

***PS When we returned from Bulgaria, three weeks later no checking in/out service was yet available at Pendik Marina. Kalamiş/Fenerbahçe marina do not provide a service for yachties either. Ataköy Marina advised us not to even stop in Istanbul but to go somewhere else and check in!