That bloody boat!

 

22nd October

We soon found out that there aint a-lat in Alat! A one-horse town. The horse being Alat port. There’s nothing else there. An arid wasteland for miles around. We spoke to the port officials and were led to the customs officer. There were about a hundred articulated trucks (from all surrounding countries) parked up, waiting to board the next ferry we assumed. The custom officer warned us that once we purchased a ticket to travel, we could not leave the customs compound. We asked around to try and find out when the next ferry was likely to sail. No-one knew. Maybe this, maybe that. Maybe tonight. Maybe not. We mulled it over, and decided to go get some food supplies and the prepare for the enclosure of customs! What else could we do? If we weren’t there, ready to board, when departure was announced, there would be no silk road route for us. This was the only option (as Iran wouldn’t allow us to drive through their territory!)

We loaded up with food supplies and accepted our lot; new members of the central Asia “modern day caravan”: the truckers! 🙂

And we settled in quite well in the trucker yard. Smiles and nods of hello, we were very welcomed there. Lots of visits to see the van. They were all bespectacled by it. It transpired the accounts clerk at the port spoke some English; he told us the ferry probably wouldn’t leave that night due to strong gale winds. Our spirits were high, however, and we set about cooking up some lamb for dinner in the customs lot of Alat port. A knock on Seline came when we were frying up the lamb… we were leaving tonight afterall! We would travel in a convoy (our little Seline and a hundred odd giant artic lorries) back towards Baku, where we would board the boat. This didn’t make sense to us, but wahey! We were moving anyway!

 

 Things happen slowly in customs and in cargo ship life (we were beginning to learn this!), and we finally set off on convoy at midnight. Wrecked and exhausted, we rolled into Baku port enclosure at about 2am. This was a long and trying journey. An opportunistic young port official asked us if we had beer in the van. We stupidly said yes (tiredness), and he confiscated it! We were so mad when we copped on to his antics. There’s no law against having beer in the van! We were just so tired. He knew what he was working with…little brat!

We parked in beside the police cabin (as instructed) and tried to get some more info about what was going on. We were told to go and sleep. Apparently we would leave tomorrow…fingers crossed. Spirited a bit dampened at this stage, and overwhelmed by exhaustion, we fell asleep.

23rd October

We woke late this morning. We’d been up until 3 the night before. We did the usual; hassle anyone we could for info! Our ferry would leave later that day, they said. A flame from our hope-candle still flickered 😉

To pass some time we walked around the port terminal. And then, out of nowhere, a huge ferry could be seen in the distance! Thank the lord! Freedom beckoned. We hurried back to the police cabin, passports in hand, eager for our exit stamp. After some commotion we were ushered out of the office. Not our boat!! Noooooo! What to do now? We rang Vika. Our helpful lifeline made some enquiries and then told us that this was not, in fact, the boat we would be sailing on. Our boat would dock later in the day. Well that was some consolation anyway! The hours rolled on and on and the boredom and sense of captivity grew stronger and stronger. Until finally, another boat arrived!

The rest of the day involved waiting, making tea, hassling officials, waiting, playing guitar, wandering around the terminal, waiting….and then at 2am, finally, boarding!! We were last one, after all the trucks. The ramp onto to boat was broken! Ten men bounced up and down on it while we crawled over it in Seline, to ensure the wheels didn’t get stuck….such a robust safety mechanism. Seb was horrified! Once onboard, we scoped out our cabin. A cute little room with bunks, a bathroom and a desk. Basic, but not so bad! We ventured up on deck to have a look, excited about the journey ahead! And then we retired to the cosy bunks, tired but glad to be finally on board.

 24th October

A loud screeching, dragging sound woke us at 7 am. It was the sound of the anchor! We’d been moving for maybe two hours max. Why this anchor drop now? We got up to investigate. The small canteen was full of the truckers. Breakfast was about to be served up. We had set sail in the wee hours, and then travelled only as far as the headland north of Azerbajjan. Here we would stay anchored, until the winds on the Caspian Sea died down. We asked the obvious question, ‘how long will that take?’, and got the answer we had come so accustomed to; a shoulder shrug.

After breakfast we explored the boat. We had full access on the boat, to go where we wanted, so we ventured down to the engine rooms for a gawk. This was pretty cool! We wandered around in the hull and went to visit Seline. To our horror she was parked at the back of the cargo hold, with the back door of the hull fully open. If she slipped backward she’d fly off into the Caspian! No-one seemed to give a dam about this. In fact, later that day some of the Kazak drivers were sitting over the ledge of this open door, fishing into the powerful, thundering waves below! Nutters!

  We ate lunch at 12. The boat provided 3 meals a day, at 8,12 and 7. The truckers would wait at the canteen door at least 10 minutes before they opened each time. Then they all rushed in and sat in their own groups. It was like school really! But the grub was decent, and Marian the cook looked after us well 🙂

We whiled away the rest of the day with walks around the boat and a bit of reading and researching for the trip. We had some Georgian wine with us and so dipped into that after dinner. The swaying boat rocked us soundly to sleep by 10 o clock.

25th October

To out utter disappointment, we awoke as we had went to sleep…anchored! The seas were still impassable. We decided to venture up to the Captain’s office to nosey about and suss out the situation for ourselves. The Captain was delighted to have visitors, and we were invited to have coffee and play around with the binoculars and steer the boat. The boat was built in 1986, and had some rather archaic systems in place. But it was cool to have a look around and check out the weather and radar systems, and of course, pretend to press the’ big red button’ 🙂 This worried them slightly, and I had to hand back the binoculars then 🙂 They reassured us the wind was still too high to cross into the open water of the Caspian. We should be prepared for another night anchored.

 While in limbo, we took the opportunity to seek out Marcia, the very friendly lady in charge on the boat. Marcia looked after the rooms, the cleaning. And Marcia spoke some English. She was our lifeline on board. And all the truckers loved her! Taking selfies with her and winding her up. She very kindly let us use the washing machine on board to wash all our clothes (the washing pile had become huge).

That evening we read, chatted and debated how long more we might be stranded on this bloody boat. The novelty had faded by now. It was becoming more like prison than school. We cheered ourselves up with some tunes on the guitar. And I demolished Seb in game after game of checkers. We drank some more of the diminishing Georgian wine supply, and then hit the bunks early.

26th October

The screeching, dragging sound woke us again. Yes!! The anchor was finally lifted! We were heading into the open sea. Bound for Kazakstan! Wohoo! Another 30 hours to cross the sea now, but at least we we’re moving. We needed this! The food and the routine was getting old, the sense oppression was becoming a bit stifling, and we were running out of activities to entertain ourselves. Things got so bad, we turned the bathroom into a salon and gave each other hair cuts! Both being entirely inexperienced at this, I think we both made a decent crack of it 😉

 We whiled away the day in the usual way, (meals at 8, 12 and 7) and willed sleep to come. Seb had started to feel a bit sea sick at this point and we were both keen to be on solid ground again

27th October

Arrival in Aktau. Thank the heavens!! We were never more glad to see a port! Finally, freedom beckoned! And freedom was eventually achieved, after 3 hours of crazy Kazak border and customs bureaucracy!

 We put the key in Seline, revved her up, and sped out of that ferry port like a bat out of hell! We made our way for Aktau city, as it was getting late, and we were in no fit state for a long slog of a drive.

On entering Aktau, we found a pub called ‘Guns and Roses’. We were never so overjoyed to have a cold, draught beer in our hands. We tried to laugh and joked at the ordeal we had just been through. Ha ha ha! But we couldn’t really laugh whole heartedly. We were still a bit fragile and institutionalised by the whole thing!

Let this be a lesson to all who consider a winter Caspian sea crossing. We’ve since fully recovered, you’ll be happy to hear, and the PTSD therapy we had worked wonders 😉

It has to be said, however, that we did get and interesting insight into “trucker life”.  Most of the drivers on board were in their fifties or sixties.  Some were younger, but looked weathered by a hard life.  They seemed to be having great banter with each other anyway- the boat was a great opportunity to socialise.  All in Ruskie of course!  They had a great laugh at our expense anyway- we stood out a mile.  Heads turned when we came into the canteen for meals; quietness descended when we passed through the TV room (showing another Ruskie action film…)

They were very friendly to us though, getting info from us using sign language and they were very interested in the van.  As time wore on, they became very interested in whether we had any booze or cigarettes in our possession!  Their vodka supplies were running low as the days passed, and cigarettes were passed around preciously.  Our near neighbour (an old Kazak man) invited into his cabin for a drink (we thought).  When we went in and he invited us to sit, we saw he had a table laid out, with napkins, nuts and three empty glasses.  It turned out he thought we were bringing the vodka!  And was quite dismayed when he found us empty handed 🙂

 

We waved them off at the port in Aktau

Now, onwards and upwards with exciting adventures ahead!…