After a day wallowing at anchor, the ship got under way at about 8pm.
We had been told "maybe tomorrow", by
several people, including one horror story from a galley chef, that
once they had been at sea 2 weeks waiting
for weather. Evidently they don't re-dock because of the expense. I
shudder to think of the state of the food
and facilities, and the atmosphere, of 200 truckers marooned at sea
for two weeks!
Anyway, "maybe tomorrow" was wrong, and I was quietly smug at my
ability to read internet weather charts. Big
ships can sail in almost any weather, and the charts indicated 30 knot
winds and 3 metres waves, hardly a storm.
But the winds were from the side. I guessed that the problem wasn't
the safety of the ship, but the safety of
the cargo. There is only a foot of space between each wagon, and they
sway on their suspensions. The ship must
have strict parameters for rolling, otherwise the wagons would sway.
Each wagon weighing 40 tons is only held
down by 4 chains. So I reckoned that with the wind coming from the
side, the Captain wanted 2 meter waves maybe
only 20 knots of wind.
This, according to the internet charts, would occur around midnight,
and steadily improve thereafter.
Sure enough after about 2 hours when we were away from the coast and
into the Black Sea proper, boy did she
start to roll! It was even worse for us, because our suspension is
soft compared to a trucks, and we were
rolling about half as much again as the ship! It was the weirdest
sensation, sitting in the van, rolling from
side to side, and every now and then, a set of big ones! Stuff was
rolling around and curtains were swaying a
foot from the vertical! But the worst of it was over within 4 hours,
and we dropped off to sleep in our virual
hammock, and had a surprisingly comfortable night.
We woke in the morning (Day 7!!) to glorious sunshine, smooth sea, and
only a gentle roll, which by now we were
quite used to.
By 4 in the afternoon we were docking in the northern Turkish port of Zonguldak.
Being last on, we were first off - having to reverse backwards down
the ramps, and be chocked up to prevent the
van grounding due to the steep angle. No problem!
Then of course we had to do the whole admin security visa passport
customs thing all over again, only this time
in Turkey!
It was a bit of an epic, but not really entertaining, so I'll spare
you the details, and be brief.
We got the narco dog treatment, dog seemed more interested in the
front tyre that had been pissed on, although
it showed a passing interest in the drinks cupboard. This answered my
question, just how much can these dogs
smell, becasue although we are always clean crossing borders, my van
has seen more partying than average, so
there are bound to be traces in its nooks and crannies. Answer, not
much. Either that or the dog is just for show, and the handler is
trained to look for panic!
Then they refused my internet arranged insurance documents, and we
couldn't re-insure locally for 3 days, so
faced with us parking outside the customs office for 3 days, they let
us through.
They didn't take credit cards as promised, so they bunged me in a taxi
to go milk atm's in the town.
But I must praise them all again on the Turkish side, strong, a pain
in the arse, but courteous and eventually friendly.
By time it was all done and dusted we were exhausted. But in Turkey.
We grabbed a meal in the first restaurant
and fell asleep in their car park.
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