How does this keep happening, guys? The moment we come ashore—boom. We drop out of reporting mode and lose ourselves in life on land.
A Gateway to Another Life
For the last twenty-four hours before Vladivostok, we had to motor, then catch the wind, hurriedly shut down the engine and sail. Then start it up again and... go back to round-the-clock watches at the helm. Though those helming watches had been there all along: as a parting shot, the windvane self-steering lost an important bolt, and that was that. And a storm was forecast for the night. We had every reason to hurry.
You should have seen the welcome Vladivostok gave us!
Our mixed, painful feelings about arriving back in our homeland, where we had not been for just over five years (and which had changed enormously), were submerged beneath the hospitality of the people of the Russian Far East. Neither a two-hour wait nor the chilly weather deterred them. We circled off the sea terminal for more than an hour waiting for a berth, then welcomed the border guards and customs officers aboard. We had been ready for bureaucracy and all the other things used to frighten yachtsmen entering our waters. But customs gave us the all-clear, the border guards had no objections, and the paperwork was completed quickly.
Camera crews from two television channels and a couple of dozen followers stoically got soaked in the rain, moving from one spot to another, taking our lines and treating us to delicious food. Well, we feasted until nightfall. And then we feasted again. All told, thanks to the efforts of our numerous guests, we have been on a sweets-dumplings-seafood diet for more than a week now. Farewell, figure: the end is nigh, and everything we lost through backbreaking labour at sea will soon return to where it started. Unless we stop. Because #needtoeatless
A years-long journey is a land of contrasts. Two months of information detox and social isolation vanished in a single day. The Russian Far East set about welcoming us.
Meetings at the Edge of the World
And we set about arranging meetings, some official and some less so.
Let me count how many we held over those 10 days... Nine! Plus two appearances on morning radio shows and one on a TV programme.
Amid a packed, nonstop schedule, we still managed to do some work on the boat, attend a ballet at the Mariinsky Theatre, and take an immersive tour of the city centre by the Voice Within project. The very one with the street sweeper from the time machine. We even managed to pop into hospitable Georgia through the delicious cuisine of showman-restaurant Supra Meore. ...Chekhov has a story about food called “The Stupid Frenchman”...
Ah, it is no coincidence that Lada has just slipped it to me.
We managed to squeeze a big laundry day into the schedule, a barbecue at the wonderful Yulia’s, and even a beauty salon: at the home of the fairy Irisha, professional makeup artist Katya transformed us girls into princesses, while the captain was treated to two steaming sessions in the admiral’s banya.
Why am I telling you all this? Well, when are we supposed to write posts amid such mayhem? Our group chat with the shore team for this leg is even called “Mayhem in Vladivostok 😄” Olesya and Nadya—you are mega-organisers.
Meetings with followers and other interested people took place at the Far Eastern Branch of the Russian Geographical Society, Sasisfeelings café, and the Igra Slov bookshop. Just before that meeting, our junior crew member fell ill (and still has not recovered).
Open Day and Rations
On 30 April, Lady Mary opened her hatches to everyone who wanted to come aboard. Vladivostok formed an orderly queue on the “platform.” Halfway through, the heavens opened, leaving the hardiest souls on the pier—and soaking them. Guys, you were amazing❤️.
We began taking people aboard in groups of 8, and the waiting room spilled into the wheelhouse. By evening, our young sailor had dosed herself with ibuprofen and even emerged from the cabin, while the last guests did not leave until nightfall. Ever since, whenever we are not racing around the city, we have been eating. Our stores are being replenished with seafood delicacies by the brilliant ship’s cook from the research vessel Akademik Oparin—the very ship whose commemorative inscription on a plinth we read on Suvorov Atoll. Have you seen the film on our Travely-Family YouTube channel? That was how old sea dog Vladimir Volnykh found us online. Later, he learned about our arrival in Vladivostok. And now the splendid ship’s cook of the Akademik Oparin has put the entire crew of Lady Mary on rations, and the yacht is never without marinated flounder, seaweed salads, linden honey and pollock roe, Kamchatka crabs and scallops... Well, how can anyone resist?
To be continued tomorrow.
For now, thank you and warm hugs to everyone who treats us to delicious things and shares their warmth with us. And special thanks to the wonderful supporters who help the expedition through
YooMoney
! We would love to give you a big hug.
Thank you to everyone who is with us! We wish you peaceful skies, good health, and dreams come true.