Telltales 67

Telltales 67: With contributions from Maynard.

Black Sea: Romania

Sunday Monday Aug 1st till Saturday Aug 6th, a rather warm week.

We spent another leisurely day in Odessa, where the marina is conveniently located in the centre of town. And since it is such a beautiful town, it is a joy to walk around, sip a coffee on one of the terraces and watch people go about their business.

And even horse riding in the city center

The only setback was the heat. It got very hot and humid. We first blamed it on being in the Dnieper river delta, with low land all around us, but later we found out that it was simply extremely hot, even for Ukrainian standards. Thankfully we had shore power connected to the boat, so we were able to turn on every fan we had on board, in order to be able to sleep. However even at 2 in the morning the temperature was still 32 degrees. Roland slept on deck, for the first time in 2 years and continued sleeping on deck for the next couple of nights.

Tuesday was the day that we left Odessa for a new country: Romania, the fourth country in our Black Sea circumnavigation. A 160 mile overnight trip from Odessa would bring us to Constanta. We cleared out with customs, immigration, harbour patrol and God knows what else, to motor out into a very calm and steaming hot sea. The river delta brings very shallow water and even 20 miles out at sea depths are still only 20 meters, so we sailed 160 miles with never having had more than 22 meters of water under the keel (strange concept after having depths of 1500 meters plus). Upon leaving Odessa we passed the local yachting club, who had organised a regatta and we saw some 20 boats, from modern Jeanneau to old rundown sailboats. Still it was nice to see that sailing is a sport here as well. 2 hours into our sail, Odessa radio announced a squall coming over with 25 - 27 meter/second winds. And indeed we got some wind, on our stern though, so we were being blown into the right direction. We motorsailed through a quiet evening with both jibs up on a graceful reach towards Constanta.

Roland fired up Sylphe's new BBQ and cooked up some chicken legs meal in the middle of the sea, under sail, and earned great praise from Maynard. We enjoyed a beautiful sunset and bright stars. Throughout the night the wind picked up, and still on a gentle reach course, we sailed onward with 8 knots. We reached Constanta at 4 in the afternoon. Not bad!

Constanta port activity

Constanta is another 2500 year-old city attractively positioned and well sheltered from Black Sea weather. It is a very large commercial port and is modern and quite busy. Fortunately the yacht marina (if we can call it that) is located in Port Tomis in the centre of the ancient Greek town with a view of some grand architecture from the 19th C.. Immediately on arrival it became obvious that Romania is very different from what we have enjoyed over the past month. The Harbourmaster, Customs, and Immigration all came to meet us at the dock and began joking about. Were we smuggling guns? Or did we only have Vodka Kalashnikovs? It was all very laid-back. Straight to the bar for some excellent Romanian Pinot Grigio and Roland and Maynard began to try to absorb some of the local culture. Here we are back in a country that is most European; with an alphabet we can understand and a language we can almost speak (not that it is necessary as Romanians seem to be some of the best linguists we have encountered). Despite this, we feel culture shock and we realize that in our time there, we had gotten very used to the Ukraine and the Ukrainians. Romania just seemed strange to start with. By the following day we had adapted and began to better appreciate this new experience.

Romania is more prosperous that the Ukraine and Georgia, having had their revolution some ten years ago. In talking to people we got the impression that not enough progress has been made since then and a general despondency exists. However this is also a holiday town and the people are good-natured and cheerful. The first evening we explored our immediate surrounding and had dinner, washed down with more excellent Romanian wine, in the old casino which you will see from the photo is a most spectacular example of 19th C. Empire style. It was all slightly pathetic though as there were only two other tables occupied and the orchestra continued playing as we closed the place down.

Constanta Casino

The weather continued to be hot and humid and Maynard's mandatory tours of the archeological museum (recommended!), Greek ruins and Roman baths, the following day, left him feeling rather exhausted. After a fan assisted siesta we headed by taxi for Mamaia, which is a holiday resort 10 kilometers up the coast. What a scene! This strip of land with sea on one side and a large lake on the other, is Romania's premier resort and it is two miles of hotels, restaurants, bars and amusement parks. Sounds horrid right? Wrong; these former social countries can teach the rest of Europe something in this regard. OK it is tourism for the masses, but it seems very up-market compared with the Scheveningens or Blackpools of our world. A very good dinner was had and we managed afterward to have our espressos next door watching a parade of Romanian beauties modeling swim-suits in the cafe. One has to entertain the audience??? We managed to tear ourselves away and got back to Sylphe early enough to have several hours of discussions with the group of young policemen and security guards in the marina. (Sylphe tee-shirts and Canadian pins all around). The sun came up, but we never heard the mosque, although situated right opposite the boat.

In Constanta we had the unusual experience of meeting two other foreign yachts, which much to Roland's disgust (or was it delight?), were both Dutch!!! Are the Dutch finally living up to their reputation as sea-faring nation, after all?? One was a single-handed sailor who had sailed his 30 footer from Ibiza in the past 8 weeks and the other an elderly couple who had sailed from Holland via the waterways through the Danube on to the Black Sea. On the first day in the Black Sea, she had been seasick. We both wonder if they will be able to get to their destination in the Med., as things can get tougher once in a while. Still, we have seen a grand total of 6 foreign yachts after leaving Turkey. And on the Turkish Coast it was only another 6 that were encountered. So, there are still places to go, without the usual crowds....one does get another crowd in return, but they are all on shore.

Constanta downtown

The next day we head to sea again and after a pleasant day-sail arrive in Mangalia, built on the ruins of the Greek City of Callatis. Here alongside the town quay we were the object of much attention, so much so, we were concerned about Sylphe’s security. Fortunately all ended well and the most we had to do was order several people off the deck when they came on board to have their photos taken.

Mangalia is not particularly noteworthy. It is probably best known for the modern Daewoo shipyard that the Koreans set up in 1997. The small archeological museum is worthwhile to visit as it is built on an excavated burial mound from the 4^th C. BC. Also The modern Hotel President has done a commendable job preserving the remains of a 6^th C Byzantine house that was unearthed when they started construction of the hotel.

The Hamangia thinker and companion (Neolithic)

Elsewhere, scattered around the town, there are Sarmatian burial grounds, remains of the Roman town wall and Greek temples but these have been so well trampled on over the years that they are of little interest. To finish our day, we decided to try the elegant dining room of the Hotel President and were disappointed by a fairly indifferent meal. The wine was fine though!

Onward now to Bulgaria, our last strange and new country before we once again reach Turkey.

Ahoy

Roland

S/y SYLPHE