The Black Sea. I’m in now. I sailed for 230 nautical miles, more or less 420 km. I was rather worried, this sea seems even blackest than I thought: Waves, sudden thunderstorms, traffic.

I’m in Sozopol, a wooden and rocky castle built over a bay that provides a safe port for sailors from centuries. The safest harbour of the Pontus Eusinus. But why is this sea called Black?

The Turkish gave it this name, in contrast to the “White Sea” aka the Mediterranean. As a matter of fact, the Aegean Sea is often white because of foam and rollers. But why Black? I can’t find an acceptable explanation yet. Its colour is blue.*

The water, from Constanta to here, is transparent. In Sozopol you can see deep under water for four metres. Going south even deepest.

So why? I believe “black” is in the mind of men who love to fright their siblings. As many sailors very well know, the most dangerous sea is that where you are at the moment. And the locals tell that, despite you have sailed across the Northern Forland (Great Britain’s hell, 7000 wrecks in a few miles) and the English Channel with its current, it’s nothing compared to the danger of this coast… (more…)