Early morning docking gave us some spectacular views of Turkmenistan. A completely different landscape to the one we left on the East of the Caspian Sea. Big mountains of rock, with no clusters of trees or bushes in sight. The water was a beautiful crystal blue and we were once again greeted by a baking hot sun, although it was thankfully not quite the 50 degree heat we were warned about.
A quick unload left us dazed at the ferry port at Turkmenbashi, with just one thought in our minds in the early hours of the morning. Our visas don’t start until tomorrow. The guards said they could start processing our visas at midnight, so we then set up camp at the ferry port for the next 18 hours, sharing some shade with the Drift Kings and Warren Point. Luckily SDOP brought a massive tarpaulin which we set up from the ambulances to make a massive shaded area where we spent the time cooking with the other teams.
The MadVenture group kindly invited us to come and eat dinner with them, as they have big enough facilities to feed 40+ people. They cooked us the best pasta we have had yet on this trip and we spent the time chatting to everyone, hearing all about their adventures so far.
The long day ended with the processing of both our and the ambulances’ papers. We spent four hours walking from room to room and spending $160 per ambulance on tax and insurance. Once this laborious process was completed at 4am we were all ready for a good sleep in the Turkmenbashi visa office waiting room.
