DAY 117 - BANDAR ABBAS TO SHARJAH, UAE

CRAZYJOURNEY SETS SAIL FOR THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES!

Chuck waits for our Ferry to be unloaded at the Port in Bandar Abbas

This morning, Dave was up early again to go to the shipping agent's office where he was given the good news that the ship was leaving today. After buying the tickets, we all got packed up and headed to the port.

At the customs offices, we met two other overlander groups, one Dutch couple and another German couple, who had just disembarked from the same ferry we were about to get on to. With not much time to spare until customs closed, we all rushed to the office to try and get the Carnets and passports stamped and obtain the exit permits for the car. Unfortunately we didn’t make it on time for the exit permits and were potentially in a bit of trouble to get the car on the ship.

Entering the port, with every checkpoint an ordeal, we eventually ofund our ship, and had to wait for the tide to rise to an appropriate height for its cars to be unloaded and for us to then board. This ship was packed with brand new cars en route to Iran and Russia from UAE, so it was a 6 hour wait until we could even board the ferry. During this entire time we were still unsure if we could board since we didn’t have the correct exit permits. Dave left with some customs officials to visit numerous offices of port head honchos and after several hours or arguing and a $50 bribe, everything seemed to work itself out.

Finally at 2am, the ship finally set sail for Sharjah with us being the only passengers onboard along with some cargo. Next stop Dubai and Oman!

DAY 117 ROUTEMAP

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