Caspian Sea

The Caspian crossing certainly did not fail to deliver on uncertainty and adventure. After arriving at the waiting room outside the customs area we were wondering why they needed a waiting room. Well, we waited in there about six hours before the customs officers decided to let us through and get all the paperwork done. Luckily they had a waiting room. It was cold outside!

Customs clearing was easy enough. When everybody was done we got on a shuttle that took us to the boat that would eventually take us across the biggest lake in the world. We boarded the boat and got some very nice cabins and a friendly welcome. All set and good to go. Happy days!

Then the wait started…

We were aware there might be some delays, but why would that happen to us? We were already on the boat.

Soon after boarding the boat set sail and off we went! But not out of port! We stopped 25km from land and sat there for two nights. The captain let everybody know there was a hurricane somewhere and we were sitting tight until it passed. We didn’t see a hurricane or stormy weather, but what do we know about the sea and boats? Later on Nico told us that there was indeed very stormy weather on the Azerbaijan side when he flew into Baku.

On the third day the boat started moving again. We were all relieved, because we only packed so much food and water (and vodka) to last the voyage. And the vodka was already gone before the boat started moving.

It took the boat until about eleven pm that night to reach Baku port. Then it stopped again 10km short of port. The captain could not say how long we would sit, because he was waiting to be cleared by customs. Everybody went off to bed for the third night on the Caspian Sea.

The next morning around six o’clock everybody was woken up. The boat has docked and the port customs officers were coming onboard. We got our passports back and shuffled off the boat. We made it to Baku at last! It only took from nine o’clock on Saturday morning to six thirty on Tuesday morning to do about 200km. Great success!

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Port

Still port...

Still

STILL!

Deck

Not port!

Catching some rays

On the bridge