According to the programme, the ship was going to enter the Bosphorus from the Black Sea at 3:00am and would sail past Istanbul at 4:30am. We did consider setting an alarm to wake us up so that we could see the lights of the city, but we didn't. Bruce woke up at about 3:30am and noticed that we had just sailed past the city, so it seemed that we were about an hour ahead of schedule. By the time the sun rose, we were in open sea again... the Sea of Marmara.

After a leisurely breakfast and an even more leisurely morning (we didn't even go the lectures!), we just relaxed on deck. At around midday, we noticed that open sea was beginning to give way to land on both sides as we approached the entrance to the narrow strait linking the Sea of Marmara with the Aegean Sea. This 61 kilometre stretch of water, ranging in width from 1.2km to 6km, is known as the Dardanelles. It was no surprise to see a small ship approaching us at this point to deliver a pilot who would assist us through the tricky waters ahead.

The scenery was looking quite familiar by now. Although it seemed like a long time ago, it was only eight days since we had last passed this way, heading from Canakkale to Istanbul!

After lunch, we were all on deck to listen to the commentary given by our cruise director, Neil, as we passed the Gallipoli monuments. As we listened, we felt more and more humbled by the terrible sacrifices made by so many people in this area during the first world war. Bruce made an attempt to capture some of the commentary in these two videos, but sadly the wind makes most of it inaudible. We were both very moved by what we saw and heard and were also impressed by the knowledgeable and sensitive manner in which Neil delivered his commentary.

These famous, heart-rending words are attributed to Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (although some people dispute this), who was a commander of Ottoman forces at the Dardenelles during the first world war and later the founder of modern Turkey. They grace memorials on three continents, including at Anzac Cove, Gallipoli. A procession of Australian prime ministers have spoken them, to invoke a supposedly special bond between Australia and Turkey, forged amid the slaughter of the 1915 Gallipoli campaign in which some 8,700 Australian and more than 80,000 Ottoman troops died.

In Australia, which will commemorate the centenary of the British invasion of Gallipoli on 25 April 2015, these emotive words are interpreted as a heartfelt consolation to grieving Anzac mothers.

Our host for the evening, Captain Roland Andersson, seen here with four lovely Irish ladies. Their energy during the whole trip was amazing and put us to shame!