I made it, and I think I’m going to like Baku, the interesting capital of Azerbaijan,once I get it figured out. Arriving at the Heydar Aliev International airport in Baku is a really interesting experience. The terminal is wonderful, with no expense spared, the immigration lines efficient and quite friendly, baggage retrieval speedy and a […]
In the end, it was a bit of an anticlimax, as we slid slowly and very neatly into the small port of Poti. Small the port maybe, but it is a hive of activity, with a miscellany of the world’s tramp steamers here loading and unloading a cornucopia of loads. Ships from Antigua, Majuro in […]
Well, this morning I received a note from my contact at the ferry company in Odessa: From: VLADLEN [mailto:wave_vyt@mail.ru]Sent: Mon 11/23/2009 1:34 AMTo: Max JohnsonSubject: Re: Help! DEAR MR.MAX, THE SITUATION WITH M/V “GREIFSWALD”: 1/.DELAY BECAUSE OF THE WEATHER;2/.DELAY BECAUSE OF THE BULGARIAN FERRY “GEROI ODESSA”. 2/.THE TIME OF THE BERTHING APPROXIMATELY 23.11.2009/13:00 AFTER THE […]
Tension on board the MS Griefswald mounting, and I would not entirely rule out the possibility of mutiny. The Georgian coastlineWe are in a very strange position. Lying idle in the eastern end of the Black Sea, from the deck there is much to see. As I look to my left and sweep through 180⁰ […]
Now don’t get me wrong; the hours pass on board The MS Griefswald at precisely the same rate as they do elsewhere, and I don’t begrudge the UKR Ferry Company the additional eighty or so hours of my life that I have given them, as the experience has been interesting; if a touch slow. Being […]
The problem seems to be that of small ports and big ships. It is Friday afternoon, and we have been advised that we can’t land today because there is a large gas tanker blocking our path to the single dock that can accommodate our ship. So tomorrow morning it is, as long as the weather […]
At the rate that we are travelling, we may never arrive, although I am led to believe that we will be there within four or five hours. I am not sure that I will be too disappointed to see the back of the ship, but it could be my preoccupation with timing and the uncertainty […]
Ah, the miracles of modern technology; the internet on the high seas. Loading the GriefswaldWe slipped almost silently away from the dock in Illychevsk at about midnight, some fifteen hours after I had been urged to be at the dock for “borrdink’. Why it took so long, I have no idea, although when I asked […]
It is now officially time to roll. I have my ticket in hand, the weather forecast is good and today was a simply gorgeous fall day here on the Black Sea coast. Which was a good thing, because I was running out of things to do, and wandering around on a gloomy day wears thin […]