Sunday 10 July: This morning we arrived at the mouth of the Danube, via the St George canal (1 of 3 canals). As we approached the mouth, the vegetation gradually changed from trees to long grasses and marshlands.
At the mouth itself, there was slight turbulence, but nothing too dramatic. Most of the delta area is protected by Unesco as a bird and animal sanctuary and is a major breeding ground for migratory birds.
We saw quite a few pelicans and other sea birds near the mouth of the river. Because we were heading into the morning sun, and the channel was quite low and wide so it was very difficult to photograph.
The ship motored out into the Black Sea, turned around and re-entered the river – mission accomplished.It seemed like a bit of an anti-climax after 8 days of travel – maybe the ship should have blown its horn, but that would have disturbed the wildlife.
After turning back from the Danube Delta, the ship docked at the small village of Sfantu Gheorghe (Saint George), a town of about 1,000 people of Ukranian origin in this small corner of Romania, descended from refugees escaping Tsar Peter the Great.
They still speak Ukranian, but have borrowed words from Romanian, Greek and Turkish. In the past they traded fish with Genovese merchants, and their diet is still consists predominantly of fish. The area has hot summers and freezing winters with heavy storms.
We had the option of a touring the delta in small boats but we decided to make our own way to the Black Sea ourselves – Frances was desperate to swim in it.Our ship-board coordinator arranged for transport from the small fishing village of St Michael for the 4 Km to the sea. Our four American companions decided to join us.
The transport failed to arrive, but we caught local transport – a 4WD with large trailer.
The short trip on a dirt track was extremely bumpy, and about halfway there we passed a resort – Green Village. It was a complex of thatched roof buildings with a swimming pool and deck chairs. Nearby there was also a landing strip, complete with cows.
Some other people got on the transport and we continued on our bumpy way. A couple of minutes later we saw the local landing strip – tower, plane and cows.
After about 15 minutes we arrived at a refreshment stand. A nice touch was a refrigerator on its back, filled with ice to keep the drinks cold.After a short walk, and we arrived at the Black Sea. It was fairly windy, which whipped up a little shore break. Frances went in immediately and I joined her a few minutes later.
The water was slightly salty and around 22C which was comfortable, so we really enjoyed the dip.
There were quite a few people sunning themselves on the shore but not many swimming.
There was a quite a strong rip, pulling towards the mouth of the river a few hundred metres away.After about 30 minutes, we had to head back to the boat, but we all agreed that it was definitely an adventure worth having, and a highlight of the trip.