August 1-2 Balyuzek to Nakhodka via Tasovaya Bay

August 1, it was quite sad to leave from Balyuzek as the place is really beautiful, but it was time to move on for more adventures and explorations. We drove a lot again - about 6 hours). Again, a gravel road through the dense forest. This is where we punctured our back right tire - about 30 minutes to change it. The puncture seemed quite unhealthy.

We arrived at the bay at around 6pm. It was empty, just a few cars quite far away from each other. A company of 4 came to have dinner at the seaside. This time, we were both emotionally ready to sleep in the car. I cooked a simple dinner while Pablo prepared the car for the night: rearranging our stuff, making the bed and inflating the mattresses. A couple of fishermen came quite late for night fishing, but left before 11pm, so we were left alone. We enjoyed the night views of the clear sky, the milky way and a couple of shooting stars.

August 2, the night was not easy. The car was slightly inclined, so we had a tendency to roll down a bit, but not much. It was also rather humid. At the end, I was able to sleep, but Pablo could not. From the very beginning, he was saying that we would not be able to sleep in the car, so he prepared himself not to sleep. He left at 5:30 am to watch the sunrise and I continued to sleep until 8am. We then had breakfast, I had another dip in the sea (quite chilly!) and I left Pablo alone to have a rest. I went for a walk along the beach, where I took another dip - the water was so clear and tempting and did not feed cold anymore. When I came back, Pablo was not sleeping, but preparing the car to leave. No way! Together, we went for a swim and then had lunch. I loved every moment of our stay here! As we were packing, people kept arriving, so we were happy to leave.

We had another drive of 3-4 hours to Nakhodka. As Pablo did not sleep, he felt quite tired at some point and I was in charge of driving. Again gravel winding roads - this time with a lot of ups and downs and quite dangerous turnings. There was one especially sharp upward turn, that I misjudged. I ended up almost on the other side of the road. In addition, there three cars were coming down my way and I was on the way of a land cruiser! Thankfully (yet again!) Pablo woke up just a few seconds before and helped me steering. That was a good driving practice for me and I decided to continue for quite some more. We saw an unidentified animal crossing the road in front of us as well as a couple of chipmunks.

The drive was spectacular: more tropical forests and hills with rocks. Nakhodka town was interesting - a long town squeezed between the sea and hills. The seaside is a couple of beaches and a very long port. The town does not have a centre on its own - just a long main street with several smaller roads.