Crossing the Caspian Sea - Part 2

It's probably good to point out that the Caspian Sea is actually the world's largest lake-and saltwater too! It's also one of the most polluted bodies of water on the planet. That being said, it's an absolutely brilliant turquoise in color! At least that's what all the travel sites say. For us it is grey and wet, just like the sky.

We stayed up last night well past 4am drinking and laughing. We were joined by a Ukrainian trucker and his cheap bottle of vodka. Somewhere in the conversation he decided it was time to discuss gay marriage. That certainly livened things up!

One by one we eventually fell asleep waking to the ship rocking on the open "sea." We were by now in the middle of the storm that blew into port last night.

Water, water every where. A stirring chess match owned the afternoon. Another 15 hours of sailing was ahead of us. Scrabble, Yahtzee, and solitaire kept the lazy day going. The rain and rolling sea kept the boat rocking.

We spotted land at sunset. It was the northern coast of Turkmenistan. The rind and rain had died down, the sea was calmer, and we estimated landfall by 11pm. That would get us in a few hours earlier than planned. However since you can't drive after 10pm and our hotel is set for tomorrow night, all was up for grabs

As predicted (and promised), nothing is as it seems. We were told to get ready around 10:30pm. Some of us had just gone back to bed. It then became a hurry up and wait scenario.

The Turkmen army showed up to secure the ship. Having been kicked out of our cabins, we waited in the dining hall. At midnight a lady from immigration came in and reviewed driver destinations and passenger manifests. And we waited.

With our warm and comfy hotel rooms waiting for in us town, shortly after midnight we moved down to the truck and then waited as they took off a couple of trucks before us. By the time we got off the ferry it was past 2am. We were escorted to passport control where it took two more hours to get our paperwork complete. Our rooms were still waiting.

Then it was on to customs. There we met our guide/escort. His name is Shavkat. A pleasant young man in his 20s, he was able to get things moving. By 5am it looked like we were ready to go, just one more signature...AND...that belonged to some official not in yet. So it was back to the VERY COLD truck and several more hours of shivering in our sleeping bags. Our rooms were still waiting.

By 9am we were still not cleared. We broke out the stove and made hot coffee and tea. It's was still quite cold and we had no end in sight. We were now well into our 40th hour of "crossing" the Caspian Sea and still locked up in the customs yard. The Turkmen sure do know how to welcome visitors to their country! And our rooms were still waiting.

It took 41hours to officially cross the border into Turkmenistan. This is "overlanding!" Gotta love it!!

Now 10am, we opted to stink for two more days, get a head start with wild camping, and left our warm and comfy hotel rooms behind. The open road and the marvels of the Turkmen awaited.