Just like the sea breeze, the desire for adventure in some people never subsides. Doni Kaltcheva and Venelina Velichkova prove this with their story of a different summer vacation. Instead of lying on the beach, the two friends decided to see the Black Sea coast from a two-seater kayak. The idea for the trip came unexpectedly and after only two weeks of training Doni and Venelina became the first women who passed the distance from Bulgaria’s Durankulak to Rezovo by kayak. The girls spent a total of 12 days in rowing. Every night they were sleeping in tents. They encountered dolphins, floating bars, fishermen, surfers, tourists and extremely high daytime temperatures that further complicated their mission. The diversity of human characters they saw was also great – from people who chased them away from beaches to some who tried to help them in every way possible. Doni works in the NGO sector and has experience with kayaking and sailing. Venelina also works in the spheres of NGOs and marketing, but loves extreme sports.

“Such a rowing trip has many aspects. It is a good exercise and you enjoy the beautiful scenery, meeting with people and being alone in the sea. For me it was a positive experience that we needed some time to become a team, even though we know each other well. I've always rowed alone and now I saw it takes time to build a team,” Doni says.

Venelina adds she was impressed by the contrasts of the Bulgarian coast. “I expected that some places would look bad because of over construction. We were worried about jets and speedboats that could make us tip over. These places turned out to be even more unpleasant than I expected. It turned out, however, that very close to them, there were still wild places that were incredibly beautiful and much different than the resorts."

To keep in shape the young women relied on healthy eating. They managed to create a chart of the best Black Sea fish soups. They found the most delicious one in Shabla. They told us more about the difficulties in sea:

"The sea is not an obstacle but a place where you exist. When you are in sea it does not matter whether you use a kayak, or yacht, or an air bed, you should do it with respect and knowledge for your own abilities. Then the sea is a friend. If you ignore the signs or become complacent, then it could be a threat. With us there were times, especially around Varna when we thought we had overestimated our abilities. During the first days there was very strong headwind. We became very tired and the distance we covered was small. In the Bay of Varna, where there were high, sharp waves, we felt hesitation as this was the limit of our strength. We stayed for three days in Gradina Camping because the weather conditions were not appropriate and we did not want to risk again,” Doni says.

"I had one of the greatest experiences in kayaking near Irakli. I was swimming in the sea when a huge dolphin jumped some five meters away from me. I was really astonished,” Doni says.

“Interestingly, you need just two days in sea and you manage to forget urban life. We spent two weeks away from civilisation, which is not an awful lot, but the experience was very intense. I recommend it to anyone who can afford it. One does not need to make major sports achievements or have a lot of experience. I had great time but I was with the right people and thanks to them and through right assessing of my capabilities we succeeded. However, in the last days of the trip I felt very tired.”

In the future, the two friends plan more sea adventures. They say everyone should try kayaking as the experience is worth it. Equipment is one of the most important things, as well as checking the weather forecast and monitoring the courses of large vessels that can topple the kayak or fill it with water.

English: Alexander Markov