Black Sea sunrise.
I joined the ship in Istanbul and sailed her up the Bosphorus into the Black Sea. This takes around an hour and a half depending on other traffic in the waterway. Quite strong currents flow out of the Black Sea. Being landlocked the rivers that flow into the Black Sea have only one way of then emptying out into the Med and that is through the Bosphorus and Hellespont waterways.
I must admit that jet lag had me in bed my 9PM. I woke early this morning to see the sun rising over the eastern horizon as dawn broke on this calm and peaceful morning. An area of high pressure sits over Bulgaria and so I expect we will have settled weather over the next few days.
Nessebur harbour
Today we are in Nessebur, Bulgaria. It is a beautiful little town with a very small harbour. We have anchored outside and are running our guests ashore using our little tenders boats. It is a run of around 10 minutes from the ship to shore. I first came here some 15 years ago. It has not changed much other than it now can get very busy with tourists. Since Bulgaria joined the EU little places like this have been ‘discovered’. It still remains a little gem. Narrow streets contain little shops and art galleries. It has been described as Bulgaria’s Dubrovnik and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
It is our welcome gala dinner tonight where I get the chance to introduce the Senior Officers at a pre dinner cocktail party and then we sail overnight up the coast to Varna. But more on that tomorrow.