After looking at the courtyard of the hotel and discovering that the camping site was the ground floor of a gutted office block full of mosquitoes some of us decided to try our luck an sleep anywhere in the hotel. Pete and Kirsten still had their room with all our luggage in it so with Pete and a few of the boys heading to the port to check on the ferry status some of us took advantage of the spare space (10 in a standard size hotel room isn't bad! Despite being a late-comer I also managed to get a space in the bed. Something about no-one wanting to share with Darrell but I was pretty happy to not be eaten alive outside!). We received a text from the boys at the port at 5am instructing us to get up and go. I don't think I've seen the group work so well together before but we were super quick getting to the port only to be sat around for another couple of hours at the dock. At least we could see the ferry though!
The boat left at 10am on 3rd June for a planned 16 hour crossing to Turkmenbasi so we were assigned cabins which were so stuffy and dirty that they ended up as luggage storage. There was a lounge which wasn't so comfy but it would do as it would only be for 16 hours...right? I'm not even going to describe the toilet but thankfully Pete upgraded one cabin to crew so we could have clean toilet to use and a power socket!
With everyone thankful to be on the ferry the lounging on deck started and I joined the pilate's club! A pot noodle dinner and some shut eye (some on the very windy deck and me in the lounge) as we cruised across the incredibly calm Caspian.
Woke up at midnight with the anchors coming down. We'd docked with the port on the horizon so we knew that we were on board for a bit longer. Another day went by and due to us being anchored there was no wind and a lot of flying insects on deck so everyone was getting pretty fed up in the heat. Dinner consisted on snacks on deck as everyone was accepting another night on board as we used binoculars and praying that the ship in our berth would get a move on! Luckily the anchors came up and we docked at 11pm and the “doctor” came on board and we signed a document and we were finally on dry land at midnight only to have to wait at customs for another 2 hours. We drove out of the port and bush camped at the roadside, everyone exhausted and in bed at 3.45am for a 7am wake up but glad to be in Turkmenistan!
photos: sunset over turkmenistan. Darrell enjoying life on deck.
No comments:
Post a Comment