Dave and Brian's Excellent Adventures

Today is a day of freedom: Away from the cramped ship, away from the other shipmates, and away from water. So what do I do? I get on a cramped bus, with 15 other people (My shipmates) and go see historic ports! Since we're in transit, I'll be splitting up the events of the day. First we stopped in Balaklava. Balaklava is another sea port that is very well protected by the way the mountains form around the entrance.

The field in front of this port is where the saying, "Mine is not to question why, mine is to do and die." That's right, the British Light Brigade's final charge on calvary into the middle of a valley, where the Russians had cannons and guns, while the British had sabres and horses. That was the last calvary charge in modern military history. Looking at it now, you look left and see a tall mountain, you look left and see a tall mountain, and you have to wonder: Didn't anybody say, "Hey Steve, maybe we should rethink this"?

Our next stop, which was actually the port, had an old submarine pen during the Cold War. What's interesting is the entire town was coordined off by the military. No one was able to get into the town of Balaklava between 1955 - 1992, unless you were military or working for the military. They will tell you there were 300 people who were contractors at this sub, but they won't tell you how many military personel were on site.

When it was in operation there was a mesh cloth that covered the enterance and exit, and if you walked by you probably thought that it was just the side of the hill. The top picture is of the entrance, the bottom picture is of the exit. There was enough room to keep 9 small sized subs inside the pen. There was a room for a dry-dock, weaponry, warheads, and fuel. There is still a section they consider top secret and won't open it up to the public. They are turning part of the pen into a museum. We weren't allowed to take pictures, unless you paid more. Of course they didn't tell you that until you got into the museum (the beginning) and they said, "Did you pay? No? No pictures!"