Mangalia

They listen out on VHF ch67 and not ch16. After checking in we were told it would not be possible for us to anchor in the yacht harbour.

There are now several ATMs along the main street.

At one restaurant (Cozina) here they tried to charge us 133 lei noi for a meal that cost 90 lei noi. After several readjustments downwards we asked for the menu and made the correct calculation. Since we started cruising we have visited 53 countries and this is the first time this has happened to us.

However there were no charges for tying alongside in the yacht harbour and once we had cleared out with the extremely friendly harbourmaster we could leave without going to the customs dock.

Port Tomis

Port Control uses VHF ch67.

There is now an extension to the northern breakwater so swell should not be so much of a problem though the evidence of the mangled mooring bollards on the dock bear witness to its previous severity. While we were there we had only light winds and the only problem was the jet skiers and power boats charging in and out.

It is no longer possible to anchor in the harbour here because there is a fountain occupying its centre.

The marina office does not open on Sundays. If checking out on Sunday it is necessary to settle marina charges on Saturday.

Sulina

We checked out of Constanta for Tulcea intending only to stop at Sulina for taking on diesel. We called Sulina Port Control on VHF Ch 16 and 67 at the fairway buoy and when we were abeam of the control tower. We received no response. We found the fuel barge at the location indicated on the sketch map closed so we continued up stream. When we were around mile post 6 we were caught up by a police boat sounding its sirens and flashing its lights. We stopped and were informed that we had to return to Sulina to check in even though we explained that we had checked into Romania at Mangalia and had cleared out of Constanta for Tulcea. Back at Sulina we were directed to a totally unsuitable customs dock where we damaged our hull. We then had to go through the whole procedure of checking into Romania again despite our protestations. We then moved to a more suitable mooring dock where water and electricity would have been available if we wanted it. We then managed to purchase some diesel from a fuel barge which is situated to the west of the closed one. This we were told we had to do through an agent. The price was 33/L lei noi at the pump but we were informed that we had to pay any extra customs tax on top of 3 lei noi/L. We saw no paperwork relating to this. We then discovered that we were to be charged US$10.00 per night for staying at the “marina”. By this time we were so angry that we insisted on getting our ships papers back from the harbourmaster and leaving immediately. We were told that we could not leave until they had telephoned Constanta to confirm we had permission to sail into the Delta. However when we insisted they produced our ship’s papers. We do not beleive that any of this was legal. We interpreted some of it as an attempt to make us stay in the “marina” for which they could charge us. This is the worst experience we have ever encountered with any officials anywhere. It is difficult to understand how one could avoid this situation if one wants to cruise the Danube via the Sulina Canal. Perhaps shallow draft yachts like ours the Bratul Sfintu Gheaorge could be used. We had no charts for this. According to the Admiralty Sailing Directions craft with less than 2M can negotiate the bar at the mouth of the river at 44 52N 29 38E.

Tulcea

It is not possible to go alongside the town quay. This is taken up by tripper boats, restaurants and even shops. These are all on floating docks held off the quay by stout iron poles and restrained by wire hausers. It is necessary to find a local boat that will allow you to moor outside them. It may be possible to tie up outside one of the restaurants. In general the locals are very helpful. We were charged €10.00 per night to moor outside a local tripper boat “Aurora” on their private floating dock. We had to move to allow them to take trippers out and then again on their return but this was not a problem. One problem as the amount of detritus flowing through the mooring area on the 2kt current. This included very large branches or even whole trees. You could hear the banging against the hull in the night.

Clive Probert, S/Y Sanyassa