Across the Big Blue Sea

On the morning of Tuesday, February 21st I called the port office to find out if they finally had any idea when my boat to Italy would be arriving and departing from Ashdod.  They still didn’t give me a very clear answer, but it sounded like it might be docking by around noon to start operations at the port. I decided not to take any chances and headed down to Ashdod after I got off the phone, figuring I could always come back to Tel Aviv for the night if I had to.  The bus from Tel Aviv only took about 45 minutes and I got off at the point that looked closest to the port.  From the distance on my map, it looked like I could walk so I didn’t bother trying to catch a cab.

After nearly 15 minutes of trudging down the street with all my bags, I finally made it to the waterfront.  The port itself appeared to be off to my right so it took me another 10 minutes to get all the way there.  When, drenched with sweat and huffing and puffing from exertion, I finally got to what looked like the entrance to the harbor, there were no guards or gates or anything around.  The last time I spoke to the port office they told me the building was located in the back port area (whatever that meant), but I had no idea what to look for.  I ended up breaking down and calling them and they told me I needed to go to the ZIM building.  I really had no clue where I was so I walked to a gas station hoping to get directions.  That was where I saw a cab pulling out and decided to just have him bring me there so as not take any chances of missing the boat.

It was a good thing I did because the office was on the complete other side of the port and it would have taken me ages and several hundred calories to walk there.  Once inside they gave me my passenger manifest and told me I could go through security check right around the corner.  When I got there, it turned out that I actually couldn’t go in that gate, but an immigration officer came over and asked me all the million and one requisite questions (Why was I in Israel? Where did I go while I was there?  Did I know any Israelis?  Where did I stay when I was in Jerusalem?) and then told me I could go in the main gate about half a kilometer away where they would check though all my luggage.  She told me the ship had just arrived, but it had to go through a thorough inspection that could take up to two hours before I would be allowed to board. 

I had some time to kill so I would have liked to have gone to the beach or even just a restaurant, but those all seemed very far away and I still had all my baggage with me.  Instead I just walked to the main entrance, had them go through all my belongings for about 15 minutes and then sat right inside the gate for another hour waiting for them to give me the go-ahead to board.  Finally one of the border officers waved me over to a taxi where a couple had just arrived to get on the same ship as me.  The husband was an American man in his early 60s named David and his wife was an Austrian woman in her early 50s named Margaret.  After the officers finished questioning the couple, the cab driver drove us over to the immigration office where they took our passports (mine was returned, the couple's wasn't until much later) and then brought us over to the ship, which we were finally allowed to board.

When I got to my cabin, it was very spacious with a large porthole looking out onto the side deck and a decent size bathroom.  The room was almost as large my entire studio apartment back home.  Actually, who am I kidding?... it was LARGER than my studio apartment back home (kidding again, but not by much.)  The furnishings hadn’t really been updated in a while, but it seemed pretty clean.  For the first time since I started traveling seven months ago, I actually unpacked all my things since I knew I would be staying in the same place for at least nine days.  I then took a spin around the boat and up onto the top deck before heading over for dinner.  The meal was huge with three courses plus wine and/or soda if you wanted.  Lunches were also three courses and by the end of the voyage I think I had gained at least five pounds (one or two of which I may have lost through unpleasant means, which I will go into in more detail on later.)

While we were at sea, the days were pretty lazy and relaxed with not much to do besides read and wander around the ship.  There was a TV in the dining room that passengers could watch, but all the  channels were in Italian.  Aside from the Austrian/American couple who split their time between Austria and Israel, there was one other older passenger named Oscar who we thought was German, but couldn’t determine for sure since he barely said a word to anyone.  I don’t think we ever figured out what language he actually spoke.  The officers themselves were all Italian as that’s where the ship, part of the Grimaldi Line, is based.  It was not accurately a container ship, but rather quite literally a “cargo” ship as it was transporting cars and trucks as opposed to large container crates.  At each port they would drive the cars on and off the ship to be transporting throughout Europe.  It was actually nice that way because until the last few days when the top deck filled up in Turkey, that deck was completely empty allowing the passengers to walk around outside for exercise.

The boat left from Ashdod en route to Turkey at around midnight on Tuesday night.  From what I can recall most of the first day at sea was pretty calm and warm so I spent most of it outside on the top deck as we passed by Greek islands on the left and right.  Then things started to get kind of rough.  The waves picked up and the entire boat was rocking back and forth so that we had to hold on as we walked down the hallways.  I was wearing pressure point bracelets and kind of late in the game took a Dramamine pill, but that second night after dinner I definitely was not feeling well.  Margaret was also not doing so hot and David had to bring her food to her in their cabin.  When I got back to my own cabin, I tried to lay down, but quickly had to jump back up and run to the bathroom because my dinner was definitely not staying down.

The rough seas continued for most of the next day so I basically spent the whole time lying on the bunk in my cabin, except for when I got up for meals that didn’t end up staying in my stomach anyways.  Finally by the next day we got into a more protected area near the ports in Turkey and I started feeling much better and was actually able to eat.  I found a 500-piece puzzle in the passenger lounge and spent much of the day putting it together.  A short time later we arrived at our first stop in Turkey and the ship was docked at the port for most of the day.  Unfortunately, the port officers wouldn’t let the passengers off the boat so we had to admire the view of the multi-colored Mediterranean buildings and many mosques and minarets from the outer decks of the ship.

I had finished my puzzle, but the next day there was another one mysteriously placed beside it that I found out later David and Margaret had found somewhere for me.  I busily got started on it until we got to our second stop in Gemlik, Turkey, where we were actually allowed to disembark for a few hours.  The city was too far away from the port to walk so we had to take a cab.  David and Margaret decided they didn’t want to spend the money so I ended up going by myself.  It was a nice, sunny day and I had a great time walking along the waterfront (along with a thousand other Turkish families) watching the fishermen and catching up on my e-mail at an outdoor cafe.  There was even a little miniature sailboat race going on with a bunch or kids right outside the marina.  I only had about 3 1/2 hours in town and there were a few things I needed to buy that I had trouble finding at the local stores so by the time I got back in a cab it was about five minutes before I was supposed to be back on the boat.  We ended up getting there about ten minutes late, but luckily they were still loading on cars so no one seemed to mind.  They clearly had much more important things to worry about.

Originally, we were supposed to go to Koper, Slovenia, after the stops in Turkey, but the schedule was changed so that both Italian ports came before Slovenia.  As we were heading back down through Greece toward Italy, we once again encountered choppy seas and as a result I spent several more days holed up sick in my room.  I had befriended one of the second mates and we would play foosball or watch movies when he had finished his evening shift so I felt a bit bad that I kind of disappeared for a few days in a row. 

Things finally calmed down again after a day or two and I was able to emerge from my cabin and back into civilization.  All the same, I started to think about getting off the ship early in Ravenna, Italy, instead of in Monfalcone as originally planned, since the trip was pretty behind schedule.  Not only had the strong head winds slowed down our progress, but one of the ship’s two engines was completely out of commission.  What was supposed to be a nine-day voyage was stretching into eleven.  I had really wanted to go to Slovenia, but since that was no longer an option, I finally decided Ravenna was the best place to disembark.

On the morning of Friday, March 2nd, we docked in Ravenna and I got ready to leave the ship.  The captain had initially told me I would be able to get off at about noon, but I guess things progressed faster than expected because by 9:30am I was told I should go down to the bottom deck with all my things in ten minutes.  I had mostly finished packing, but I still had some things to get together so I was rushing around trying to get everything wrapped up before they came to get me.  Then, once I got down to the lower deck I ended up having to wait about 20 minutes for a taxi to arrive anyway.  Thus, my great voyage across the Mediterranean and Adriatic Seas came to an end.

Overall, in spite my seasickness, I had a good experience.  I enjoyed meeting David and Margaret and hearing David talk about all the things his wife had overcome since her difficult childhood and early adulthood.  I liked getting to know the Italian officers (despite the language barrier) and being able to check out how things worked in the control bridge.  I also was glad to have a chance to relax and not have to worry about how I was getting from Point A to Point B.  I wish we could have visited more ports as I had expected and that the embarkation and disembarkation dates would have more on schedule, but I guess that is the risk one assumes when doing this sort of undertaking.  One of my goals for this trip has been to experience different things and unique situations as I travel around the world so this was definitely one of those experiences that will stick out in my mind for years to come.