Ukrainian Bureaucracy Anchored at Mis Tendrov July 5, 2004 Hi Folks, We are now half way through Ukraine, and will continue our itinerary down to Sevastopol and Yalta in spite of my negative reactions as indicated in this log. The people we have met have been nice, but their bureaucracy sucks! We have to check in and out of every port, with different forms at each, and the officials hard to contact and when they come, they often do not know what to do with us or the forms they need. At times, they do not come to us, but have us go to them wherever their offices might be. The shortest has been a one hour wait and the longest a 32 hour wait! Otherwise, we are fine. The weather is improving although there have been several thunderstorms go through, similar to the Great Lakes in the summer. We are anchored at present off a peninsula at the northern end of the Crimea called Mis Tendrov (Point Tendrov). The spellings of various names will change depending on whether the Ukrainian or Russian languages are used. Most of the coastal areas we are visiting use Russian and are sympathetic to Russia, especially Crimea. Our next port is Chornomorske, our last port before Sevastopol. I hope I can send this while there, as I am ahead in my writing and have another log already to go about our trip to Odessa. My next log after that will be about Odessa and Kiev, two beautiful cities. We have enjoyed two great river deltas, the Danube in Romania, and the Dnieper/Bug here in the Ukraine, and are now back out into the Black Sea on our way down Crimea. Enjoy this log; I did not enjoy writing it. All the best, Aubrey ****************************************************************************** Log #32p Ukrainian Bureaucracy The 20 mile trip from Tulcea, Romania into the Chilia Channel to Ismail, Ukraine was uneventful. The new shaft and coupling seemed to work well. We noted the reduced power with the older, smaller prop, but it was adequate, and after all, we had used it for several years before replacing it. The day was cool and gray, little traffic was encountered on the river, and after leaving Tulcea there were no signs of settlement until we reached the industrial outskirts of Ismail. Our Pilot book indicated we should tie up at the passenger terminal, which we did, at 1700 (45 19.6N, 028 50.0E) unassisted, along a high (approximately 10 feet or 3 metres) steel barge pontoon, making access difficult for low freeboard boats. We stayed on board until, about a half hour later, a young stern-faced officer in green frontier police uniform, and a similarly clad but more attractive young blond woman came down, peering over the railing. The first words, from the woman, were a harsh, puzzled, "What are you doing here?" A nice greeting! We tried to explain we were boaters arriving from Tulcea in Romania, seeking entry to the Ukraine, and that we had all our documents, passports, crew lists and visas ready to show the officials. She did not want to see any documents, but continued with abruptness asking why we had not informed them of our arrival, and who was our agent. AGENT? We tried to explain we had called on VHF but received no reply, and that we did not have an agent. At one point she suggested that we should go back to Romania, as we should not be there. She must have asked a half dozen times, "What are you doing here?" It was late on Sunday afternoon, and we indicated that we would be happy to wait until the morning for whatever officials would be on duty. "You must go back to Tulcea." No, we couldn't as we had cleared out of Romania and wanted to clear into the Ukraine. Her English was limited, and we asked if she could contact an agent for us who spoke English. "You must wait here!" OK, we weren't going anywhere and were quite prepared to wait until the morning to get things straightened out. She left the young man to guard us and to ensure that we did not get off the boat. Back in another fifteen minutes, she again asked, "What are you doing here?" Then back into the passenger terminal she went, leaving her guard on the pontoon. So, we had supper on board, and puzzled ourselves about the situation. At 2100, five people came down, the lady officer, two uniformed officers and two men in civilian clothes. The guard was still on the pontoon. The smaller man in civilian clothes spoke some English and indicated the officials were here to check our papers. We suggested it would be easier for us to climb up onto the pontoon than for these heavier and less fit gentlemen and the lady officer in a skirt to try to climb down. No, they would come on board. How? They could not jump down, and were afraid to try climbing down. We finally unlashed our heavy passarelle that we had not used for the past two years since leaving Kemer, and manhandled it up to the pontoon and onto the top of Veleda's cabin, midships. They then gingerly came across, the one heavier civilian having a most difficult time of it. Unfortunately our attractive blond lady officer did not come aboard. Shucks! The civilian who spoke English explained he was an agent for shipping lines, and the officials had no precedent or policies for a private sailing pleasure craft, only passenger and cargo ships. However they opened their briefcases and got out a myriad of forms, stamps and stamp pads. The other civilian was a doctor who asked through the agent for our health certificates. We had none as we have been sailing for six years and never had to present them before. After a bit more interpretation and confusion we were asked are we healthy. Yes. No, but have we had any illnesses or been in the hospital recently? No, we have been healthy and have no diseases. I'm not sure if I nudged Judy not to amplify on any of our Canadian health check ups. However, she did volunteer that we had health insurance coverage for the Ukraine; he was not interested. I think we had to provide about six crew lists, of which we had had dozens photocopied. However, we had to correct them after the officials minutely examined them for five minutes. What was wrong? Apparently they were disturbed by the fact that the name on the passport and the crew lists were not the same. What?? On the crew list it was Judy, but her passport was Judith Claire. So we had to correct the Judy to Judith on the lists and of course date and initial each correction. Then the declarations for the customs official. We had anticipated such declarations earlier, but they were not required in Bulgaria or Romania. We had separate lists indicating nil cargo, nil ammunition or weapons, nil drugs, and a detailed list to the last cent of every form of currency we had on board (Canadian Dollars, British Pounds, US Dollars, Euros, Turkish Lira, Bulgarian Leva, and Romanian Lei). They looked at some of these lists trying to figure out what they were. I signed, dated and stamped each of them, some in duplicate as suggested by the befuddled officials. Then they gave us a four page customs declaration form asking the same information, but also about some equipment on board such as radios, camera, computers (with their approximate values), and itemized food, including vegetables and meat, as well as amounts of alcohol and cigarettes. Of course they did not have the form in English, and so the agent helped to fill it out. One form for each of us, claiming different things (e..g. I claimed the money but Judy, whoops, Judith, claimed the camera even though she seldom uses it). Oh, what the hell. Great confusion! It was not as simple as saying these forms need to be completed. The officials did not seem to know which forms to use, what information was needed on which form, how many copies were needed, who got what copies, which copies had to be signed and dated by me, the agent, or the officials, and which were to be left with me; not to mention the language difficulties, although some forms were bilingual, Russian and Ukrainian (and one which they had in Spanish, not too helpful for us). The filling out of the forms by the officials, the agent and myself was interspersed with seemingly unrelated (to the forms) questions as: what are you doing here; where do you come from; how long do you stay; where are you going; what size is your boat. We had no feedback as to what forms had been successfully completed, stamped and filed, as the forms seemed to be passed around with questions and disagreements between the officials about what needed to be done, all of this in harsh, bass, flat, Russian or Ukrainian voices, ignoring us or considering us as an inconvenience, not fitting neatly into their bureaucratic niches, or forms. Some welcome to the Ukraine! The agent told us not to go ashore until next morning after he had checked out something else with the harbourmaster or other officials. They left at 2230, after an hour and a half of anxiety and uncertainty on our part. At no time was there any friendly Welcome to Ukraine on their part. We were still not sure whether we were formally in or not. Next morning the agent came with another official who looked at some forms. When they left, the agent, who was trying to be understanding and supportive of us, indicated we could go ashore, but before we left Ismail for our next destination, we had to check out again with all these officials, and do a similar check in and out at every port. In addition he did not know what the harbourmaster's charges might be. If we were to be considered as a commercial vessel occupying a commercial pontoon, as we were, we would be charged commercial rates at a minimum of $250.00 US per day. If this decision was made here, we would then have to face similar charges in every port! He was trying to get the officials to be flexible and waive any charges, but cautioned us that an official got into trouble a few years ago for letting a vessel go without appropriate port charges. A nice welcome to the Ukraine. We started considering leaving the Ukraine immediately after Ismail and heading directly back to Turkey if we were to get this kind of reception in every port. The only thing we wanted to see in Ismail were the remains of a Turkish fortress, and the panorama advertised in our Black Sea pilot. Don't bother! All there was were the remains of a mosque with a dramatic mural of the final assault on the Ottoman fortress which used to be on the site, and a recorded version in English of what took place. There were no fortifications left as the fortress was destroyed after the Russian conquest, and the mosque building (no minaret) with a lopsided crescent on its dome is all that remains. We walked back to Veleda after having sent some E-mail. The visual impression of the city was one of drab gray buildings, many in poor repair, a wide main boulevard, streets potholed, sidewalks irregular, and many overgrown with trees. We visited a couple of glittering onion-domed churches, only to find the domes were all that had been restored, and the churches were still in a sordid state of minimal reconstruction after the communist era. Later that afternoon I took Sprite for a short trip along the shoreline, and upon my return the guard asked if I took any pictures which I had not, and indicated I was not to take the dinghy anywhere. Great hospitality! That night alongside the passenger terminal pontoon, we were disturbed by the adjacent loud disco. At 0230 we had an intruder onboard! I heard creaking on the foredeck, and when I got up into the companionway hatch, I saw the shadow of someone coming aft from the foredeck. I yelled at him to get off, and he jumped for the pontoon and vaulted, none too elegantly, over the rail and ran back towards the terminal building. A few minutes later as I was explaining to Judy what had happened, we heard some other people on the pontoon. I went again to the hatchway, and a couple of young men were there, asking the perennial question, What are you doing here? I controlled my reaction and tried to understand it was just curiosity on their part, and that they were a bit drunk after the closure of the disco. I explained we were from Canada and wanted to visit their country. After a few minutes, their harsh Slavic tones seemed to be softened and they were interested in what we were doing there and where we came from. I went below to put some clothes on and gave them a few Canadian stickers. One asked if he could come down in the morning to take some pictures of us. Yes, 0900 would be fine. They were joined by their girlfriends from the disco who gave us a swizzle stick from the disco as a memento. Some security on this supposedly guarded pontoon! In the morning we were hailed by the dockmaster and asked to relocate to another pontoon. When there we contacted the agent and asked him to call the officials to clear us out so we could continue our voyage. That was at 0900, and we had to wait for over 32 hours before they finally arrived and cleared us out.. Ridiculous! A few people came to look at our boat, and a few came on board. Many of the young people spoke some English as they took it in high school. I resented having to wait a full second day to be checked out, and so went over town again to send some E-mail. While there, I had a phone call that the officials finally showed up at 1600 and I caught a taxi back to Veleda. It was still one and a half hours of paper work, uncertainly filling out for a second time many of the forms completed just two days ago; and at the end of it all we were cleared only to their next port of Vilkovo near the end of the Chilia Channel, but before exiting the delta to Odessa. We wanted to be cleared straight to Odessa. No such luck. Kirill, our agent, said that, after telephone conversations with Andrei Somotkin, the manager of the marina in Odessa, he finally got the port controller to waive any port charges and he (Kirill) was not charging us anything for the many hours he put in chasing the officials. So financially we were OK, but we were still unsure if we wanted to stay in the Ukraine. Vilkovo was still 40 miles down the delta, and we would not be able to make it before sunset. I told Judy to not ask permission to anchor en route (which was our intention as we could not make Vilkove before dark). It would just confuse the officials. I just wanted to get out of Ismail and perhaps out of Ukraine. We started this process to check out of Ismail at 0900 Tuesday and were not cleared out and finally on our way until 1730 on the Wednesday. Ridiculous! However we were finally off down river where our quiet night anchorage was again disturbed at 0300. Details in my next log. Next log