These events happened on Monday the 5th of August. We paddled from Tulcea to Murighiol in the Danube Delta. On the way, we said hi and bye to the Sulina Branch of the Danube and took a right to stay in the Sfântu Gheorge Branch.

Departing Tulcea for Murighiol

The alarm woke me but I fell asleep right away. Jonas came to wake me up at 6:00. I don’t think I’ve ever been this narcoleptic on a kayak day. I simply could not wake up.

After sharing a banana, Jonas and got dressed and packed up. Then we walked to the slipway, which is not where we landed in Tulcea one week earlier. The marina cats were present and we dropped some dreamies for them. Last time we were here, the entrance to the slipway was wide open, but now the boom gate was closed. We slipped past it and began setting up, with three little kitties watching and waiting to receive more snacks from us.

We were a little apprehensive of the closed beam gate, so we wanted to make this quick. But then there were these cats, so in the end, setting up Zucchini took a normal amount of time. I used the old broken manometer that’s now taped over with electric tape to measure the pressure. To my surprise, it… kinda worked? I wouldn’t consider it fixed, but it gave me a realistic pressure reading. We adjusted further by squish measurement.

Once readied, we gave the marina cats some more dreamies, snuck in some pets, and then put Zucchini in the water. We paddled away from Tulcea to Murighiol at 7:37.

Paddling Out of Tulcea

Immediately, we were amongst the morning river traffic. The speed boats going to Sulina and Sfântu Gheorghe dominated the river, but there was also the small ferry crossing to Tudor Vladimirescu, a pilot boat, and an 83-meter ship called Inandi, flying the flag of Panama. This will be one of the last ocean-going vessels we’ll see on the Danube, because once we pass the bifurcation where the Danube splits up into the Sulina and Sfântu Gheorghe branches, these ships will have to go to Sulina.

The speedboats caused a lot of wake, which sometimes caused a splash to land in the boat. It’s very annoying.

We passed a place where I thought the car ferry to Tudor Vladimirescu departs, but it didn’t look too active or promising. There were loads of jetties in this area, many of them private ones that transfer guests directly to their accommodations in the ‘hotel alley’ of Crișan.

The moored ships became larger and larger. We paddles past the ship nowadays named Siret, which was also a ship owned by Romanian dictator Ceaușescu. But the Siret was only for the river, making trips up to the Iron Gates and down to the Danube Delta where we find ourselves today. In 1984, Ceaușescu made the inaugural trip on the Danube–Black Sea Canal, which, unsurprisingly, was achieved through forced labor.

Next, we paddled past Tulcea’s navy fleet, which consisted of a bunch of moored patrol ships. The ship VD 142 Lt. Alexandru Cristodorescu was preparing to set sail. There were a bunch of men aboard, either standing around or making the ship ready to go. Minutes after, we saw it depart its berth in an upstream direction. A bit later, we paddled past another potential ferry crossing at Tulcea’s east industrial zone.

After this, Tulcea slowly ended, but the speedboats did not. We had to be alert to traffic coming from the front or back constantly. Some of them were kind and slowed down when close to us, but most just kept their fast speed and let us deal with their wake. I was quite afraid one of the captains wouldn’t see us and run us over. Become another headline “Speedboat kills two kayakers”. The fact remains, people helming speedboats have terrible visibility, might be distracted by their passengers, and their speed makes it happen in the blink of an eye.

Damn, if we don’t make it to the Black Sea because of these guys, I’m gonna be really furious. And dead. Dead and died mad about it.

On top of that, the speedboats were simply very disruptive to our paddling rhythm. We constantly had to turn our boat into the waves and then turn it downstream again. I think we were quite slow.

The river kept bending right. When we passed under some electricity lines, a pilot boat passed us on its way to Tulcea. It later sounded its horn. To the left, Canal Mila 35 split off. It’s possible to use that one if you change your mind and would rather paddle in the Kiliya Branch. We said hi and bye to the Kiliya Branch on the day we paddled from Isaccea to Tulcea.

Sulina Branch + Sfântu Gheorghe Branch Distributary

At 8:37, one hour into the day, an ocean-going cargo ship called AMR1, flying the flag of Cameroon, overtook us in a downstream direction. It was passing right in front of the hotel complex Mila 35. The hotel looked abandoned from across the river and the internet confirmed it.

The headland called Ceatal Sfântu Gheorghe where the Sulina and Sfântu Gheorghe branches say goodbye was now visible, although not clearly with the low-hanging sun. Lots of little speedboats were entering or leaving the Sulina Branch. For fun, I turned on my OnCourse app to track our day a bit, but besides giving me a collision warning with the AMR1, it didn’t do a good job tracking us. Not sure what the problem was.

As the AMR1 was headed into the Sulina channel, I realized that this ship is the last ocean-going vessel we’ll travel along with, and possibly the last merchant marine ship we’ll see at all. Though I think normal river barges and Danube cruise ships can still sail the Sfântu Gheorghe Branch, there’s not really any destinations for cargo or people to be unloaded. Not regularly, at least.

The AMR1 turned left and disappeared in the direction of Sulina and the Black Sea. The following day, I checked her position on MarineTraffic. She’s already waiting in the Bosphorus North anchorage, waiting to pass through the strait and past Istanbul, to continue her journey to Beirut in Lebanon.

We continued paddling and dealt with a few more speedboats not understanding appropriate distance. Jonas remarked that most of them came or went to the Sulina Branch, so that gave us hope that in the Sfântu Gheorghe Branch, there will be fewer.

We took some photos and videos of the bifurcation and its radio beacon, and then paddled into our final branch a little after 9:00. I could still hear the roaring of engines behind us, but none of them came after us anymore.

Peace at last.

Shadow Paddling to Nufăru

We like it here. The final form of the Sfântu Gheorghe Branch is quiet, green, and the current is quite good. Though we’d paddled under two hours, we were both quite hungry already. Somehow, we pushed through and waited with eating our protein bars till we were two hours in. There was a risk of falling asleep as well.

We slowly crossed to the left side of the river and into the shadow of the trees. Once we were two hours in and completed roughly 12 kilometers of the day, we cracked open our protein bars. They really hit the spot. It was super nice to be paddling in the shadow here.

To our right, there was a small river island. Extremely small and unmapped (here on satellite). It looked as if there was also a shipwreck behind it.

A catamaran ferry showed up, which revealed itself to be the Delta Express 2. She was very fast, but quite far away from us. The wake was large and lasted quite some minutes before the shadowy riparian zone returned to its peaceful state.

The appearance of anglers based on the left shore announced the villages of Nufăru and Ilganii de Jos. There’s a ferry between the two and it was just crossing to the left bank. Around the corner, we left the shadow and paddled in the sun while two guys in a fishing motorboat overtook us at quite some speed, waved at us, and almost took an empty crate to the face that blew away. I would have waved back if they didn’t overtake us within 3 meters, which was completely unnecessary.

The car ferry between the two villages was just crossing and we went behind it. Excellent timing. We crossed more to the right of the Danube in this area and closer to the cliffs of Nufăru, where the ruins of possibly Pereyaslavets Fortress lie. There was a sign on top of the cliff that read 104. I didn’t understand this… it’s about 84 kilometers from Tulcea to the Black Sea, i.e. two paddle days with a stop in Murighiol. We’ve already paddled more than 14 kilometers of that 80, so in what universe is it 104 kilometers?

Edited to add: the meanders of the Danube in the Sfântu Gheorghe Branch have sometimes been cut through. My measurement of the distance is if you take every shortcut. If you take the old meandering riverbed of the Danube (which you can!) my measurement says it’s 105 kilometers between Nufăru and the Black Sea at Sfântu Gheorghe. Mystery solved.

After Nufăru and its secondary goods ferry location, the first eco tourism boats showed up as well. The boats are green to blend in with the environment, but everyone wears a PFD that’s bright orange and shall defeat the purpose. These motorboats are small and don’t cause big wake, and have no sun roof, so everyone wears a hat.

The outskirts of town had more hotels, including a hotel called Stânca Dunarii, which had about a dozen people fishing from a very high pier. The hotel rooms with balcony looked very chill, though. After this trip, I’d like to have a place to rest and just enjoy the views of the Danube Delta.

Touching Buoys + Making the Distance

We paddled close to a river island that was very wild and wooded. After that, we approached a green buoy. I felt the sudden urge to touch it. I coordinated with Jonas so he could take a video and paddled us towards it, gave it some good slaps, and then continued downstream. Unfortunately, Jonas wasn’t paying attention to the filming because he urgently had to remove his paddle, lest he’d lose it.

We made some good distance and speed on this section, at least for my feeling. It was after 10:30 and quite hot already. There were very round hills in a chain in the distance, some with antennas on top. They’re near Beștepe, which is Turkish for ‘five hills’, so there you go. It’s part of the Tulcea Hills and separates the Danube from Lake Razim.

To our left, the Litcov Canal began, which connects to Crișan via numerous lakes. There’s always a fisherman ducking into a channel when we’re around. We slowly crossed over to the left again to make the following turn. We paddled past the town of Băltenii de Sus and were now barely over halfway to Murighiol. That means we can eat our sandwiches if we like.

I tried to slap another green buoy, but the angle of approach was all wrong so I only managed a little whack with my paddle. After that, we crossed back to the right and began searching for a spot to land for a short break. But every spot was occupied by camping fishing families. Sometimes with tents, sometimes with caravans.

It took a long time for us to find something, but close to Băltenii de Jos, we landed on the right bank at 11:48. It was kind of a weird muddy spot. Not soft, but hard and with a sharp edge where one would drop into the water. Not too slippery, just manageable. We did our business and took some nice photos in this beautiful spot. I’m going to miss this trip. Landing in wild places like this is just a very cool thing to do.

We continued at noon, paddled past the ferry jetty of Băltenii de Jos and continued onward. After a slight turn, Mahmudia in the distance appeared.

Mahmudia

There was the choice of pizza or sandwiches. The latter are more boat-friendly. We both ate at the same time while sometimes paddling. The town of Mahmudia became clearer to us. As expected, the number of speedboats increased, though they kept their distance. A small tour boat with two people and two dogs overtook us going downstream. Nice. The big antenna on a hill I’ve been seeing for a long time is just outside of town.

Originally, it looked like we’d stay in Mahmudia instead of Murighiol on this day. But that would be the worse split for kayaking, as if we stay in Murighiol it’s almost 50/50. Mahmudia is only 10 kilometers from Murighiol, thanks to the shortcut. There was perhaps the opportunity to eat lunch here at a restaurant, but then we’d have to leave our boat unattended and probably out of sight, so we didn’t. The TID mapper of 2018/2019 had lunch at Casa Teo.

The Canal Carasuhat on the left river was popular with fishermen, which used to be a big agricultural estate, but is undergoing restoration since 2016.

At 12:57, we paddled past the big ferry dock of Mahmudia. It looks like some nice tourist infrastructure—though looks can be deceiving in Romania. I hope we can still benefit from that on our journey upstream.

After the river station, the three cranes of Mahmudia loomed over the Danube. The port of Mahmudia had heaps of sand. Across the river, a small pontoon carrying chopped wood with a humble pusher boat alongside it traveled upstream. It carried a tractor, too. This is the first time I see anything other than a tourist boat on the Danube. A bit further downstream, I also spotted something that can only be a shipwreck on the opposite side. But it’s too perfectly circular to be a shipwreck, I think? Anyway, if you want to investigate, it’s here (45.085472, 29.103111).

The Shortcut

Next, we had to pay attention to not miss the shortcut. If we take it, we paddle 5.2 kilometers in it. If we (somehow) miss it, we paddle 21.3 kilometers through the old, natural meander of the Sfântu Gheorghe Branch. That’s more than 16 unnecessary kilometers. There’s also this interesting canal to the right that looks like it is a connection between the Danube and Murighiol Lake, but barely isn’t. At least, not without one very short portage.

There was a kilometer sign on the right bank that read 85. I still didn’t get it at this point. We are going to have to redo our measurements when we arrive in Murighiol.

On my OSM map, the long route looked like the wider one, so I expected to get sucked in that channel. But once we arrived at the split at 13:39, it was… rather pathetic. Very little water, lots of sand in front of it that people now used as a beach, and no temptation to mess up. It was an easy choice. Some motorboats still went in there, to my surprise. I’m sure the nature in that branch will be lovely, but that can be done on a day trip. Right now, all I want to do is arrive in Murighiol and take a dip in the swimming pool.

The skies had become overcast and the temperature was pleasant. The shortcut channel was also really nice to paddle in. There were no speedboats overtaking us and we paddled right down the middle, away from the fishing lines. Because there were a lot of stationary fishing boats with people in them. Those on the left, who don’t take sun protection seriously, and those on the right who are wise and aware of the risks of skin cancer.

A bee landed on my red dry bag, which hasn’t happened in a long time. It hitchhiked Zucchini almost to the end of the canal, when it flew off. That was nice.

Power lines crossed the shortcut in the distance, which was a good landmark to measure our progress. The left bank – which is now an island due to the shortcut – was more cultivated than I expected. It’s an area where tractors still pick up hay and maybe even cows graze. It’s weird to do this in a biosphere reserve—and possibly Romania’s proudest natural area.

Arriving in Murighiol

It was 14:23 when we paddled under the power lines and the shortcut ended. The long route rejoined us and was full of speed boats and tour boats. Absolutely insane how many people there were. There was also a bird colony on the sandy-looking beach. Probably egrets, but we were too far away.

If it feels like I haven’t written much about the bird life in the Danube Delta since entering the general vicinity, it’s just that we haven’t seen any new species. We’ve seen lots of beautiful birds, but the ones we’re really after – since we’re both in our 30s and suddenly feel the urge to birdwatch – are pelicans. Pelicans and non-bird Danube Delta horses. We’ve seen pelicans before, but they were always far away. I’d hoped they’d chill on the main branches of the Danube Delta, but so far, no luck.

Our hotel in Murighiol is inside a canal that’s almost 800 meters long. We had the choice to stay on a floating hotel at the river that has poor ratings, or paddle a bit extra and have a hotel with a pool with good ratings.

Now the challenge was to find that canal into Murighiol. Thankfully, the busy boat traffic delivered an answer really quickly. Before all the floating restaurants and hotels, the canal begins. So we followed the same route and entered it at 14:35. We scared a young seagull, which we always call Cliffy.

It didn’t take long for the first speedboat to meet us in the channel. We hoped they’d be slower because it’s narrow and scary and it’s the right thing to do. But it kept a high speed right until meeting us, when it slowed down, had lots of tourists looking at us as if we’re spoiling their fun, and then sped up again right behind us. The wake was manageable, but still, not a lot of fun.

A fishing motorboat came up behind us and the man slowed down well before coming alongside us and said hi. I remember seeing him on the Danube earlier. Not sure where we met him before, but he’s one of the few good ones.

The marina of Murighiol appeared and it was terribly full of speedboats. Another speedboat came from behind and overtook us, then we overtook it as it unloaded its passengers.

There’s a little island in the middle of the channel that forms a loop. We stayed on our straight course to the slipway, but Jonas found a gigantic mussel and per my request, picked it up with his paddle. We have a similar photo from 2019 in Hungary, when mussel season on the Danube was in full swing. These bivalve mollusks are truly disgusting, but I also want to see them up close. This one might be an invasive species.

Another boat appeared as I was taking photos of the creature and we were almost at our landing spot, so I told Jonas he could drop it back where it came from and we maneuvered around the last boats. We landed in Murighiol at 14:49. I’m happy it’s before 15:00.

Two Nights in Murighiol

This is how we spent our short stay in Murighiol:

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