Hello From Ukraine

[georgecaptain]

Originally Posted by CeesH

привет George,

Nice to see an Ukraine friend here. I have spent about 10 holidays in Ukraine, visited most of the country. Crimea has a special place in my haert. Love the shore and beaches of aswell the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.

Please don't say that the roads are bad, with a normal car you can, with a little care of potholes, visit the whole of Ukraine. My visits where made with a 9 meter Mercedes 1213 Motorhome. Love the country.

And I loveeeeeeee the home made самогон (hope the spelling is correct)

CeesH

Hi CeesH
Yes, you are right самогон.
If you will visit my country again that let me know. My father in law make the best of самогон. I offer to drink it together

[georgecaptain]

Originally Posted by SkiprJohn

Aloha and welcome aboard!
Good to have you here.
kind regards,

Thank you.

[georgecaptain]

Originally Posted by atoll

i'm a firm beliver in, if you want to learn a language properly, you have to sleep with the dictionary

Put dictionary in your bed and you will learn language very quickly.
It's my way too.

[georgecaptain]

Originally Posted by Dockhead

Yes, from Sochi and Novorossysk, where I spend a lot of time anyway on business. I have some friends with a yacht in Sochi; I have also rented them. The boats were all Russian flagged and we didn't cross any borders, so we didn't go through this procedure, but even for Russian-flagged boats it's terrible. Some friends of mine run rallies from Sochi to Istanbul and from Sochi to Abkhazia, and although they are an official yacht club with supposedly official support, they have horrible problems clearing in and out of ports. So you really don't want to be a foreigner and do that.

The coast is extremely beautiful with Caucasus mountains reaching right down to the sea -- around Sochi is the place where the ancient Greeks thought Prometheus lived. But even without border problems I think not so good for cruising -- the sea is very shallow close to shore and there are few bays and no islands at all, so hardly any place to stop for the night. From Sochi you have to sail all the way to Tuapse to find a port.

Black Sea is also challenging from point of view of weather -- propensity to sudden storms and horrible sea state from the seabed form and shallow water.

I wish you to visit Crimea. Very beautiful peninsula.
As for the weather in the Black Sea and the shallow waters along the coast, so many seas can find that.

[CeesH]

Originally Posted by georgecaptain

Hi CeesH
Yes, you are right самогон.
If you will visit my country again that let me know. My father in law make the best of самогон. I offer to drink it together

I sure will do George, we have many friends all over the Ukraine. We love the nights in the woods or at the beach and specialy Пиво и рыба. and when the man start singing... wow

CeesH

[Crimea Cruiser]

In Crimea there are not many suitable harbours or Marinas for that matter. Cruising sailboats are relatively non existent as are resources for them. There are the bays and inlets in Sevastapol but most all the harbour is reserved for the Russian Black Sea fleet. Mostly aging hulks. But being renewed with new frigates and submarines in coming years. The is Balaklava harbor has a few small marinas without any amenities. This is the harbor that contains the recently revealed secret Russian underground submarine lair built into side of mountain. The famous resort town has a small seawall harbour with mostly a few sailboats trying to lure Russian tourists to take day cruises or hourly cruises ( mostly all without sail ). There is a small shipyard there with railway, but the hard is cluttered with tugs and ferry boats. No real room for hauling for repairs. Various other towns along southern coast such as Sudak, Koktebel, Feodosia and Alushta and others have piers for ferrry services only, but no real sheltered harbours to speak of. The sea bed is rocky everywhere along southern coast of Crimea. Winter usually has horrific gales coming off sea from the Caucasuses and Turkey. Even in summer the number of afternoon gale days are high. Especially around the Sevastapol point.

It is not a hospitable sea in winter. In fact it was originally called the inhospitable sea in ancient times. As merchant trading started to increase the name was changed to hositable to promote trading. Eventually the name was changed to Black Sea as it has huge lower anoxic layer of water in lower depths. So not much lives in lower black depths.

As far as transient entry, I can not tell you as I have yet to see any yachts arrive from outside of Black Sea area. Freighters yes. Yachts no. But if you come prepared for lack of services, you will find the Black sea pretty much all to yourself. Most normal Ukrainians and Russians can not afford yachts for recreation so the area is still wide open for opening such services for transients. And the seas empty other than naval vessels and freighters or the occasional jet ski.

[Dhillen]

Jora,

Thanks for this. Your descriptions are very interesting to a lot of us who like to cruise overseas. The Ukraine is a special place and while I traveled across Russia once (Trans-Siberian Express) I have not been there. Maybe some day.

Keep sailing.

Dhillen

[Sailtexas]

Hi George welcome to CF it's good to hear you sharing here. Cheers

[georgecaptain]

Originally Posted by Dhillen

Jora,

Thanks for this. Your descriptions are very interesting to a lot of us who like to cruise overseas. The Ukraine is a special place and while I traveled across Russia once (Trans-Siberian Express) I have not been there. Maybe some day.

Keep sailing.

Dhillen

Dhillen, I did not write this post above.
You must thanking Crimea Cruiser. He write it. I agree with you that post is very interesting.

[georgecaptain]

Originally Posted by Sailtexas

Hi George welcome to CF it's good to hear you sharing here. Cheers

Hi Sailtexas.
Thanks.

[Crimea Cruiser]

I meant to say Yalta. Sorry.

The famous resort town has a small seawall harbour with mostly a few sailboats trying to lure Russian tourists to take day cruises or hourly cruises ( mostly all without sail ). There is a small shipyard there with railway, but the hard is cluttered with tugs and ferry boats. No real room for hauling for repairs.