Some last minute sightseeing was paired with shopping lists and repacking our bags for the ferry. Everything we have been told-Drago crew and passengers alike-was promised to change at any moment.
Poor Aussie Joe's visa issue had not been resolved by the time we left so he had to stay behind to sort it out. He'll fly from Baku and meet up with us in Ashgabat in a few days. The tattooed Kiwi departed the group today as his tour ended in Baku.
With food to cover the next day or possibly two, we took taxis to the port, loaded up the back locker with our bags not needed on the boat, prepared a food prep box for what we would use on the cruise and waited...and waited...and waited. Sorry, snapped one photo and got spanked. Will try again later.
It was now 6pm. The ship was docked, there were drivers lined up with their trucks, and the immigration office was staffed. And we waited, being totally ignored with our big orange truck parked ten feet from their window.
Around 8:30pm the immigration agent came out and processed Dave, Frenchy, and Sura. Then one by one we waited to get processed. The agent must have gotten an "A" in the "mean" class at agent school as he was quite stern, took his time, and both made and answered numerous personal phone calls. It was amusing to watch his demeanor change as he would finish a friendly call and once again turn on his official composure. The processing taking a good hour, we now knew nothing more about our boarding time than before. The Turkish drivers asked if we had food and were prepared to sleep in the parking lot. And then it started to rain, lots of rain. Past 10 pm and we started to claim our corners in Sura.
At 11:00 pm there came a knocking on the bus telling us to go find the boat. Dave drove out over the breakwater and lined us up for loading. As John said, "we're now 150 meters closer to Turkmenistan. And then we waited...and it was still raining.
One by one the big tractor/trailer rigs drove on. And we waited...and waited, being relocated with every staging. We were now 160 meters closer to Turkmenistan.
Update 11:40 pm - cracked open the ghivino (Georgian) jug! It might be a long night. John and Frenchy imitated Gene Kelly in front of the ship.
Post loge: 12:41 am. We're loading. It's been a blast watching the whole loading process, the cool elevator that lifted trucks to the second deck, etc. good news...last one on may mean first one off! Next stop, our "luxury" accommodations. What an adventure!
Post-post loge: 1:26 am Winding up grimy stairwells coated with crude oil, we ended up on some upper deck meeting a lady who was surprised to see us. "You have cabins?"
Stay tuned for Part 2...
Those beds don't look too bad!
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