Black Sea Ferry Crossing - Explorer Genes

Traveling across the sea on a ship is something wee Greg and Mandy both dreamed about being able to do one day. So, when the opportunity came along to take a three night voyage across the Black Sea from Odessa, Ukraine to Batumi, Georgia we didn’t hesitate to jump on board! The ferry plied along through the black sea waters at a steady 11-knots (12 mph) crossing from Europe to Asia on one of mankind’s oldest sea faring routes, and to our delight we had no mobile phone reception and no wifi. This was an ultimate slow travel experience that made us feel like our real adventure was just beginning.

But first… preboarding.

Making our exit from the Ukraine, and boarding our ferry turned out to be nothing close to what we were expecting! Here’s how it went down:

1. We were told to arrive to the UKR ferry terminal “office” which was 20 km outside of Odessa, from 9-11:45 a.m. We queued for about an hour, allowing for ticket confirmation and registration.

2. Meet some fellow travelers while queuing… coincidentally we met a fellow Oregonian, Jerry, who had retired and decided to travel the world for years with a very tiny backpack only! After ticket confirmation everybody boards a mini bus which took us about 5km down the road to the ferry terminal.

3. Here is where things went a little haywire. We naively expected to board the ferry once arriving at the terminal (not sure why). Instead we are told to simply wait… outside what appeared to be the customs office of the port. We waited, and waited, and waited. During this time we of course got to chatting with our very diverse group of fellow travelers, soon to be ship-mates. Brits, Olivia and Bea, who were a mother-daughter duo had previously been traveling in the Stans, and were now heading to Georgia so that Olivia could participate in a master chess tournament. As well as Jerry, our fellow Oregonian, and Peter, a German who blessed our group with his gift of Russian fluency… helping us all immensely in semi-translating what the hell was going on, or not going on. Finally after two hours the doors opened.

4. Inside, our passports were methodically checked against the ship register (again) and then we were ushered BACK outside to wait, on the steps, for an undisclosed amount of time.

5. After another hour, the doors reopened and we were herded back inside, but this time to a room. With no instructions, we were left to mill around and stand for about 20 minutes until finally somebody figured out that there were departure forms on a table which we needed to fill out. The departure forms, however, were all written in Ukrainian. Doh! Suddenly somebody shouts… “I got English forms!!” as we all dash to get the limited supply. This allowed at least to crack the code, though, for the remaining Ukrainian forms. Exiting Ukraine it seemed, was going to be a group effort.

6. A Ukrainian official suddenly burst into the room and motioned for us to queue up and one-by-one submit our passports for yet another ticket check and registration. Then, we shuffled back into the previous room once having registered again.

7. As we waited for the third round of registrations to be completed, a new and previously undiscovered door suddenly flung open at the far side of the room. One passenger, a Polish backpacker entered, and the door quickly closed and locked behind him.

8. We all waited for that Polish backpacker to return, but he did not. The door reopened and one other passenger entered. Door shut! Many minutes passed before the door once again opened. Nobody is coming out, only in. We could only guess what lay behind or beyond that door. One more enters. Door closed and locked. Looking around at our group there was about 50 people… this was going to take a while.

9. At last, our turn past the mystery door. And, what lay beyond… customs inspections and interrogation, before getting our exit stamps into our passports. Surprisingly, once we were on the other side of the foreboding mystery door the Ukrainian officials were somewhat welcoming, gave us instructions in English, and even smiled a little!

10. Into yet another waiting room, this time with actual seats, that were even padded; anything was an upgrade from the ground. Here is where we were relieved to find the Polish backpackers, and the others who had disappeared earlier. As the rest of our group began to trickle in, we applauded for each as they entered and sat down.

11. Once we had all made it, we exited the building to the outside, but on-the-way our passports needed to be reexamined again just to make quadruple sure we can (be allowed to???) now exit the Ukraine.

12. We placed our luggage into a fork lift with bucket (because why not?) and boarded a mini bus bound for the ferry (???) docked about 1/8 of a mile away.

13. But… wait!! One more passport check!! Another queue at the entrance to the ferry. Anybody would have an easier time stealing the Mona Lisa than illegally sneaking onto this ferry.

And voila! After 6+ hours of customs and immigration we’re on the ferry! At this point we got to see how big this ferry truly was. We walked by at least 100 semi-trucks on two levels, and a number of rail cars.

Things got a whole lot more cozy once we arrived on the ferry and checked into our room. We decided to splurge and get the nicest double room available at $374, about $50 more than the standard bunk room for two. The rate included all meals for our three nights aboard. However, we then discovered we’d be arriving 12 hours earlier, than planned and therefore denied us our full 3rd night aboard at sea. Boooo!

Still, the splurge got us a bigger, front facing quiet room, at the bow of the ferry with an incredible view and an abundance of cool sea-breezes. Well worth it for some much needed peace and quiet on the open sea.

Our personal en-suite bathroom WITH a shower that had lots of hot water! Wow!! What more can you ask for?

Mandy checking out her last view of the Odessa harbor (check out new red hair).

We were so ready to eat when dinner rolled around at 18:30. Pictured is a typical meal we had. Sausages and meats galore, always a grain, bread, and a “salad” always made with cabbage, red peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers. Condiment options on table were tartar sauce and ketchup. Not the most amazing food ever, but good enough and we were happy to be fed hot food. The ferry also had a bar on board, which served wine, coffee and hard liquor. No beer. Boo. We did, however, buy our first bottle of Georgian wine for 5 euros at the gift shop realizing we have a lot to look forward to!

Greg pauses on one of the landings. There were three floors of rooms and we were on the second.

Views from the deck.

Almost sunset!

So many semi-trucks!

And yes, everyone, that speck of land rising up on the horizon is the closest we’ll probably ever get to Crimea!

Enjoying the afternoon sunshine on the lounging deck. Blissful!

Greg and Jerry, Oregonians on the Black Sea, having a sunset chat.

Our tables were assigned so we got the pleasure of having our meals with Swede Anna-Maija, German Hans, and Danish Arne, all planning to motorbike across Georgia. Meal times were always the highlight of the day on the ferry. We loved having them as our meal companions for all 7 meals! We thoroughly enjoyed getting to know them and talking with them about food, culture and of course, the inevitable subject, American politics…sigh…

Arne!

Stormy skies!! We got a some hard rain and a little lightening but nothing ferry-rocking. In fact, it was a pretty smooth voyage the whole way.

And yes, in addition to the small amount of foot passengers, there was a whole slew of…you guessed it…male, mostly Slavic speaking, truck drivers on their way to Georgia and the middle east. A large number of whom seemed to be treating the ferry ride similar to us, as a chance to unwind, and take a break from the rest of the world. They however, were much more intoxicatingly unsteady, and half naked, for most of their trip. But, hey, at least they weren’t behind the wheel! 🙂