Sozopol, and the Ropotamo RiverMay 16, 2004 Varna, Bulgaria May 17, 2004 Hi Folks, We are still here in Varna, enjoying the several friends we have made, and appreciating the still waters of our alongside mooring, plus the electrical hookup and the availability of hot showers. Varna is our favourite spot so far in Bulgaria. More about it in a future log. This will be the first log using the new address list I made up of those who indicated they still wished to get my logs directly. I have added several new names to the list … welcome aboard This log is long and rambles a bit, so I will close now and hope you enjoy it. Do not hesitate to send me feedback, questions or additional ideas or comments; all are appreciated. All the best, Aubrey **************************************************************************** Log #32g Sozopol, and the Ropotamo River Varna, Bulgaria May 16, 2004 We left Bourgas at noon on April 28th, after a good washdown of Veleda (from the coal dust) while we had a fresh water hose. For a week’s mooring we paid only 28 Leva (about $25.00 Cdn), and 6 Leva for the metered electricity. Although the people were friendly, the showers, water, and electricity acceptable; the bouncy open moorings at the outer end of the large dirty industrial port two kilometres from the main gate and town made for uncomfortable and remote shelter. On leaving, we motored deeper into the bay to check out the area, and saw three more large industrial cambers mostly unfinished, but with much potential for shipping. At the foot of this large bay was the conservation area Judy and I visited earlier in the week. Going out the south side of the bay we eyeballed the small harbour of Otmanli and the larger Lukoil Marina. This marina has been developed by the oil refinery for “company” yachts, a legacy from the “socialist” (communist) era where the companies and government provided the recreation facilities as opposed to private developments and individual ownership of yachts. As we continued out the bay we were going through the channel south of the island, Sveti Anastasiya, when we were hailed by Bourgas Control on the VHF and told the area was out of bounds. No mention of this was indicated in our pilot, but we did a 270? turn to starboard to avoid the rocks extending south of the island and proceeded out the middle of the bay. The pilot indicated yachts can stop and visit the uninhabited island, a former prison, but we did not wish to risk another out of bounds message. As we exited the bay towards Sozopol, a Bulgarian warship entered the out of bounds channel and appeared to anchor south of the island. Perhaps there was a military exercise going on and the area was only temporarily out of bounds? We are not sure. Going eastwards around the headlands and across the next bay to Sozopol we checked out our old (original to the boat 26 years ago) Benmar Cetek autopilot, only to have it lock up on us, turning us in tight circles to starboard. To free it up, we had to empty the starboard cockpit locker of everything so Judy could squeeze down there to disconnect the chain drive from the steering quadrant. We are not sure of the cause of the problem, and have to decide if it can be adequately repaired (by taking out all the components, the fluxgate compass, the control unit and the power unit which drives the chain sprocket, and shipping them back to California to asked the company’s assessment) or replace the whole system with a modern below decks steering system. Our Simrad wheel pilot is doing a good job, but we will want a reliable backup before crossing the Atlantic again. Our Benmar broke down during the long passage from Bermuda to the Azores when crossing in 1999, and we went without any autopilot for a 1500 mile two week leg in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. I do not want to experience such a situation again. During that time, Judy was seasick, or not feeling up to standing a watch, and I virtually was single handing Veleda for those two weeks. I could not have hand steered for much of that time, and was relieved by the mixed blessing of northerly winds. We were pounding into the swells created by the winds, but Veleda will track quite well when close hauled as we were for much of that time. So I was able to set the sails in tight, and lock the helm amidships to allow Veleda to steer herself for hours at a time. I lived in the cockpit for those two weeks, doubling up the cockpit cushions for comfortable short naps at night. I set an alarm for every 25 minutes to wake me up in order to check the sails and scan the horizon. If the wind shifted or Veleda went off her close hauled course, I would hear a change in the hum of our wind generator which would wake me to the changed situation and allow me to reset the sails and the helm. I actually did not mind that challenge of the situation as I had entertained thoughts of doing a single handed crossing if Judy had not wished to retire as early as I did. When I retired in January of 1998, I could not see myself as a “house husband” in downtown Toronto, and I wanted to go cruising. Judy still had her dental practice. I indicated that if she did not want to retire, I would single hand Veleda to the Caribbean and she could fly down and join me for holidays. Then I would single hand Veleda across the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, and she could fly over to join me for holidays. She thought about it for … about 30 seconds, then said she was coming too. She retired June 30th of 1998. We set sail on July 3rd. Veleda has not been back to Toronto since. I am lucky in that Judy really enjoys sailing too, and it is not a matter of her “putting up with it”. So we continue sailing the world and plan to do so for many more years, as long as we are able. Going into Sozopol, we went alongside the outer breakwall at first, but were informed it was a “private” area that would charge 10.00 Euro a day. So we went into the small fishing boat town docks where we were helped to make fast bows to in the Mediterranean style. There were still many small fishing boats on the hard, with people working on them getting ready to launch. A hundred metres across from the town docks was a Bulgarian Navy base with a large supply ship, a coastal patrol size warship and six smaller missile patrol boats. The water in the harbour was dirty and seaweed slimed any lines in the water. The old town of Sozopol is on a peninsula, with many old traditional Bulgarian houses, the ground floor made of brick or stone with wooden upper stories extending out over the cobblestone roadways. Across the small isthmus is the new part of town with hotels featuring package holidays taking advantage of the beaches and dramatic scenery. We didn’t bother going over to the new town, but enjoyed strolling the old, collecting pictures of the traditional houses and the purple blossoms on local trees. There is a wine warehouse that has been reputed to have good buys, but we were refused service when we were there. Why, we do not know. Maybe they were not open for business, or maybe it was just for wholesale sales. However, prices for wines in Bulgarian stores are cheap, and only a few cents more than in that wine warehouse. It is a pleasant town, but we were ready to move on after two days. On May 30, we left shortly after 0900 for the conservation area at the Ropotamo River. We had heard mixed reports as to whether we were allowed to anchor there, but decided to try anyways. En route we saw a large breakwater that was not listed in our pilot, a few miles north of the Ropotamo. Upon checking it out we found a large resort harbour at Dunya (?) 42?22.24’N, 027?42.74’E. The hotel was still under active construction, but there were a few restaurants and kiosks open in the area. It was not as deserted and in much better condition than the abandoned harbour development closer to the Ropotamo. There was 20 foot (6 metres) depth at the entrance and around the outer jetty, safe for mooring to it or anchoring off. There were three bollards on the jetty, and three buoys for stern moorings floating inside the breakwater. On the jetty were two deep keel sailboats not yet launched for the summer season. Shallow sand bars circled the shoreline and the inner part of the camber. The breakwater was in a north/south direction with a southwest opening thus providing good shelter from the predominant N and NE winds. We were invited to secure and come ashore, but we just scouted the depths and turned back to actually sail 2 of the 3 miles south to the Ropotamo. On approaching the Ropotamo we centred Veleda between the rocky outcrop from the monument (not visible until about 150 metres from it) and the remains of the training wall extending out from the river, both well marked in our pilot. We anchored in 6 metres of water about 100 metres north of the derelict jetty. It was good to be quietly at anchor in an empty sheltered bay, with few signs of civilization around. We saw a few herons, and many cormorants, seagulls, terns and swallows along the line of rocks extending out from the training wall. We heard quite often the echoing calls of cuckoos, but were unable to eyeball them. Launching Sprite, we were able to motor across the shallow sand bar into the Ropotamo River, past a few fishing and dilapidated tour boats moored just inside the entrance. We knew we were going into some type of nature conservation area, and were uncertain whether motor boats, or any type of boats, were allowed up the river. So, in our “ignorance”, we continued upstream, winding our way past high marsh grasses on one side and sand dune hills on the other. A mile or so up, we saw a road running parallel to the river, and around a few more bends was an observation point off the road with a few men who waved us back; we were inside the park boundary and boats were not allowed (unless one of the permitted motor tour boats). So we headed back to the entrance where we saw a boat coming in from Veleda. In our guilty conscience, we thought it would be park officials telling us no anchoring either. However the two men in the boat just warned us of the shallows we were negotiating to get out into the anchorage. Then we noticed a larger boat alongside Veleda. Oh boy, we thought, we were in for it now. However, the boat was not alongside Veleda, but was on a buoy close by, left by the fishermen we saw entering the river. This was their buoyed mooring position. We watched the swing of the boats, and several times they came within a few feet of each other, so later we re-anchored giving more swinging roo m to the fishing boat. We spent two and a half days there, enjoying the isolation. I took Sprite around the rocky headland and down the coast to an abandoned house to snoop around. It was high on a hill, with a beautiful view along the craggy coastline and a wide expanse of water providing a magnificent view of the setting sun. Next day we went for a dinghy ride up to the abandoned hotel and breakwater just north of the river. A tall rusty crane still protrudes from the partially completed hotel complex, the skeletons of dozens of cave-like rooms blankly staring out across the silted harbour and breakwater. This too is in a sad state with erosion eating away at the concrete pier, exposing rusting rebar. The site is beyond redemption, and probably will never be completed. It does lie at the end of a beautiful two mile long sandy beach with dunes extending inland, behind which the river wends its way down to the sea. While at anchor we puttered around on a variety of maintenance tasks. Judy cleaned and greased the winches; we got the new deck wash system operational, and washed down the hull. It is most pleasant at anchor to enjoy the isolation, and putter around on board doing odd jobs, reading, listening to good music in the cockpit, watching sunsets, leisurely preparing and enjoying meals, watching and listening to birds, and just “being”, at one with the boat, the water, the coastline and the sky. It was cool, and so we had our wood stove going in the evenings, casting off a comfortable warmth, and giving a crackling glow reflected off our teak bulkheads. Happiness is … a nice quiet sheltered anchorage such as this. Next log