Cruise vessels, Dutch shipyard and maturation of a mayfly were attractions.
Yesterday we were camping next to a town called Stanca. Sztoji found an excellent place for the night again, between the poplars. The stalk of the cut trees on the bank of the Danube used to be a natural pier to help the entry and exit from the boats.
After departure during the first stage essentially nothing interesting happened. The water was calm again it seemed like standing. After 25 kilometers, we ended up at Gropeni. Here asphalt road leads down to the beach (which is not so evident around here), and this seems to contribute to many people come out to go fishing and to have a picnic. Calia island starts here, we paddled on to the left side, while the shipping route is on the right. In the "side branch" the kilometers till merge with the main branches is marked by black latters on white background, which it was nine in this case.
Before Brăila, an irrigation canal flows into the Danube at Chiscani. The building that could be seen above is next to the canal, which I think it could be a pump house. It was so spectacular that in the right turn we drifted outside to curve.
A little later at the Arapu island, we stayed on the left agan, and we could see the Romanian river fleet arsenal at Vărsătura town’s military port. Here, it seemed better, not to take pictures.
Brăila came next. The weather was good, moreover, now is the Orthodox Pentecost, and people took the advantage of the day off. They were bathing, sunbathing, racing with motorboats on the Danube. We had to be more careful because of them, and also because of the increased boat traffic. We are addled quickly to the calmer right side. But before that, we passed the shipyard in Braila, where our sea kayak saw closely related maritime ships for the first time.
The city on the opposite shore, appeared to be nice and well settled. Locals are coming to this beach for swimming. It's cool that everyone can find their expectations, even if you want sandy beach or grassy beach.
Those who are coming from the north-west to the Danube Delta could cross at Brăila by using the ferry between Brăila and Smârdan (the other is the ferry at Galați). The traffic is quite, two smaller and two larger ferries working constantly. We had to wait a little till we could securly paddle between the ferries. At Galati it was pretty tight, we had to sprint a two or three hundred meters, because an arriving ferry was coming to the pier. Here, we planned the next rest around Smârdan.
At Galați first we saw the blockhouses on the hill in the distance. As we approached the city the 37 cranes of the port appeared. The clouds arrived, when we reached Galati it started to rain. It was not heavy, and it did not last long, it was only an hour break the sunshine that lasted for days now.
Down after Galați new marine vessels appeared. Here could be found Damen Shipyard operated by a Dutch company, which, looking at the website has a strong track record. In the factory a huge ship is now being built, while next to it the Mamola Defender could be found that was also made here. This ship supplies the owner Promar offshore oil bath.
We have chosen the coast under Grindu for the night. On the way to our site for the night I experienced a very interesting encounter. Since Gaspar is sitting in the front did not see anything. A mayfly landed on my spitz dock.
I got my phone quickly to take a picture. While I was taking a few photos of the mayfly he began to look worse and worse. He pulled his wings, and were writhing. Beyond that, I have already heard about the “Tisza flowering”, did not really know the mayflies. However, now I became witness to how to become sexually mature, to find his mate and then to die. Because, as it turned out, the mayfly molted, left us his cast-off clothes, and then as he arrived, he swiftly vanished.
Comment to the monitor Danube 2860 on the main page: So far we gave the distance based on the RKM-boards. We still do not know which side is calculated (after already Galati in nautical miles) till the sea. Moreover, tomorrow at Gorgova we will go into the Delta. We will arrive to Letea through the Sontea Canal - Mila 23 - Trei Iezere lake - Lake Bogdaproste - old Sulina Branch. The day after tomorrow till Sulina and out to sea, in the remaining three days we have reported our distance to be traveled in the data. This is 177 kilometers from Grindu.
Route details on the Endomondo:
Day 37: http://app.endomondo.com/workouts/533242693/188839
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