Bulgarian border

(June 2009)
Just after we crossed the border into Bulgaria we were called by the Bulgarian Border Police on the VHF ch 16. They wanted to know where we were going, how many people on board and what ‘flag’ we were. There were two other yachts behind us and we heard them getting called as well. Shortly after that the fast patrol boat came towards us from the Bourgas direction. They called us on the radio, asked us the same questions as the Police at the border did and said they would like to come aboard to check our papers. In addition to the officials there were about a dozen people on the patrol boat all smartly decked out in shiny new wet weather gear. They looked like visitors to the Port Police that had been brought out on a jolly. The officials launched their RIB and three guys came onboard and sat in the cockpit whilst another stayed in the RIB with what also appeared to be a guest. There were a couple of guys wearing wet suits standing on the bow of the patrol boat that we assumed to be officials. The boarding party looked at our documents (scrutinised our passports with an eyeglass) and completed the usual sort of form. They were very polite and were keen for Derek to write something on the form in the space for comments. That was it; they went back to the patrol boat, turned around and headed back towards Bourgas with a friendly wave.