Danube Delta and on to Odessa

Our passage through the Danube delta and on to Odessa has been a real highlight of the journey so far; exhilarating, fascinating, frustrating, stimulating, disappointing and traumatic. On departure from Mangalia, we planned an overnight anchorage in the lee of a sandspit short of the entrance to the main arm of the delta. On arrival there, the geography bore no resemblance to that on our paper and digital charts. A conspicuous wreck offshore was now landlocked, high and dry and the spit had extended for several miles. We crept as near as we dared and fortunately the wind and sea were calm, so had a comfortable night. Entry to the delta took us to Sulina, a small town supplied essentially by boat and where the main event of the day is the arrival of the afternoon ferry from Tulcea, upstream, and, like most delta towns overshadowed by crumbling, rusting relics of the communist era. Onward to Tulcea we passed magnificent scenery and saw unusual villages where the residents lived in peasant style dwellings. The bird life in the wetlands was prolific and just like that on the Noosa River. Tulcea is a large town and centre for delta tourism, and where the river is lined with a mixture of tourist boats, ferries, so-called floating hotels, industry of all kinds, and shipyards small and large {they build large ships]. The river is alive with boat traffic and kept us on our toes. There were no vacant berths and we finally managed to secure alongside the Republica, an early 1900`s Mississippi River paddle wheeler, now a floating hotel, bar and restaurant. On departure from Tulcea, we left Romania and, having fought against the 1.5-2.5 kt downstream current to that point, went down the northern arm of the delta at great rate to Ismail, the first town in Ukraine. Officials there have a reputation for being difficult to deal with and lived up to it. We were refused entry to Ukraine, even though we had visas, on the dubious grounds that on a Saturday, there was no agent to deal through and no doctor available for health checks and in any case our visa was just not the right kind. So, disappointed and not being prepared to offer backsheesh, we motored downstream to an anchorage. The next day we attempted to exit the delta via the recommended passage described in the pilot guide and shown on charts at Ust Dunaysk. After running aground in the river and reaching the exit only by hugging the outside bends to, literally, spitting distance we discovered a scene which would have done a Mad Max movie justice. Rusting barges, huge shipping buoys, debris in the shallows all around and no depth of water for our two metre draft. This on a grey overcast day. Stimulating. After running aground again several times, we retraced our steps and after finding a tug master who had a little English, found that a new channel was now being used. So we finally left the delta and had a great overnight sail north to Odessa, where entry formalities took five hours! Our first impressions Of Odessa, where we are berthed at a yacht club marina, are of an attractive big city, and we look forward to exploring it.

Arrival in Romania

Another day`s motor sailing brought us to Mangalia, our port of entry for Romania, and a rather non-descript sea port. In the inner harbour we found a brand new marina with about 100 floating berths, electricity [if we wish, we are now independent of shore electricity as the solar panels are performing exceptionally well] and water and virtually no boats. All built with EU money. So good is the berth that we decided to leave the boat for a few days and travel inland to Transylvania. Our journey took us by train via Constanta, a large sea port just north of Mangalia, and Bucharest inland to the west, then north to Brasov in Transylvania. Enroute to Bucharest [a grey, uninteresting city] we crossed a large flat plain of land densely cultivated by both large agro businesses and peasant farmers. There were crops of all descriptions; vast fields of grapes, grains, citrus and stone fruit. The mountains of Transylvania were very high and the alpine scenery magnificent. At Bran we saw “Dracula`s” castle and others at Rastov and Sinaia. Romanian wines and beers were sampled and found to be excellent. And everywhere evidence of more EU money being poured in to rehabilitate infrastructure,such as the railways. On returning by bus we passed the nuclear power plant at Chernavoda and crossed the Danube-Black Sea canal which was supposedly dug by forced labour at the cost of 10,000 lives.

Balchik - last port in Bulgaria.

Our last port in Bulgaria is Balchik, an older, very attractive and more traditonal town set against a crescent "amphitheatre" of surrounding high chalky cliffs. On arrival, we discovered the harbour already full with about 40 local yachts participating in two regattas, one a cross border race from Mangalia in Romania [our next port]. However, we found a berth and enjoyed the atmosphere, rejecting an invitation to participate in the day`s races.
We have enjoyed our visit to Bulgaria and would recommend the experience to others. The locals are very friendly and there is always someone who speaks English. We met our friend George Paunov, a retired physicist and yachting judge and fluent English speaker, in Bourgas and again in Balchik. He was a source of great advice.
While it can be wrong to generalise, we observed that young Bulgarian men were built like body builders,and young women were statuesque and well endowed and enjoyed showing it.
And Zagorka beer is a very good brew.

Bourgas to Varna

While here we have discovered that prices generally are very cheap, particularly in chandleries, so we have been stocking up. Diesel fuel is about 2/3 of that in Turkey. Bulgarian wine varies in quality but some is very good and cheap, about AU$ 5 a bottle. Liquor is also very cheap. We enjoyed Bourgas in the spring as it was a beautiful green city, but the foliage masks grey buildings and in winter it would be a bleak place. A bus trip to nearby Sozopol old town was a highlight, with old Bulgarian wooden houses surrounding a pretty port and lovely crescent shaped beach. On departure we motored into a headwind to Nesebar, another old town, almost an island connected by a narrow isthmus to the nearby modern highrise resort of Sunny Beach which caters to hordes of British and European package tourists. Nesebar is a very pretty old place which is heritage listed by UNESCO. The buildings are all in traditional style and the many ruins have been partially restored. It is well worth the visit, but under the surface it is about 200 acres of souvenir shops and restaurants. From Nesebar we again motor sailed in light winds to Varna, another port city, where we berthed at the cruise ship terminal. Varna is another lovely green city with miles of pedestrian malls lined with shops and restaurants, and large green parks and beautiful squares, but again with many though not all grey buildings. Throughout Bulgaria, the Communist era infrastructure is crumbling in disrepair with many buildings unoccupied and derelict. The port Captain here in Varna likens Bulgaria`s current situation to that of a car on a long journey; having just left the dirt, the road is better but not yet a highway and the vehicle is old and in need of maintenance and it will be while before they reach the freeway and can afford a new car.

Passage to Bulgaria

Dealing with Turkish beaurocracy when attempting to complete our exit procedure in Istanbul was a nightmare. Suffice it to say that we would not like to have to repeat the experience. An early departure from Kalamis/Fenerbache marina saw Jack Tar passing through the shipping and ferry traffic of the entrance to the Bosphorus during peak hour and at the same time battling a four knot current. It was fun! Passage up the Bosphorus was a delight; it has to be one of the most attractive waterways in the world, lined with beautiful homes, all sorts of yachts, motor yachts, fishing boats and commercial vessels as well as lush green vegetation and old historical forts and palaces. Unlike the blue Agean the waters of the Black Sea are green and turquoise, and on entry we found no wind and motored west through about 100 ships waiting their turn to transit the Bosphorus. The Turkish coastline was largely featureless and the hinterland scarred by open cut brown coal mining for much of the way. Motor sailing in light and variable winds with overnight anchorages at Karaburnu and Igneada saw us to the Bulgarian border where the southern coast proved to be quite beautiful, with green forrested hills sloping down to the sea, golden beaches and pretty towns. No wonder this part of Bulgaria is beginning to thrive on foreign tourism; new construction everywhere. Arrival and entry routine at Bourgas proved easy with officials friendly and co-operative, and we found ourselves berthed at the local yacht club soon thereafter. And for a big city bourgas is quite attractive, so we`ll spend a couple of days here. Our first night saw the locals celebrating families day and end of high school year.

Departure from Istanbul

After much preparation, we are about to depart from Istanbul today 21 May for the Black Sea. Our first port of call should be Bourgas in Bulgaria, a shipping port but one where we can undergo oue entry clearance.