The closest we were able to bring Gyatso to Russia was 30 miles offshore. Photo by Lisa Borre.
Watching the Olympics this year, I envy the athletes, but not just for their incredible athletic achievements at the world’s premier international sporting event. My added envy is because they’ve done something else I haven’t. They’re in Sochi, a place my husband David and I were not allowed to visit just a few years ago.
We cancelled plans to visit Russia today after learning that a European-flagged yacht was denied entry to three separate Black Sea ports in Russia in early July, despite having all paperwork in order and a fluent Russian speaker onboard. We had hoped that things would change when Sochi, Russia won the bid for the Winter Olympic Games in 2014 earlier this year, but apparently this is not the case.
While planning a circumnavigation of the Black Sea, we wanted to visit all six countries bordering the sea. Having visited Russia and other former Soviet Republics several times in our work with international organizations, we are perhaps more familiar than most about entrance formalities. Although we could obtain the necessary advance tourist visa to visit Russia, we could get no assurances from officials that an American-flagged yacht would be allowed entry into Russian territorial waters. Continue reading Russia: Gyatso crew cancels plans to visit Russian Black Sea coast after learning that foreign yachts are still not welcome→
