Just a heads up guys - they have discontinued the ferry from Kerch to Poti that's both carriers. This leaves me in Crimea with no way of getting to Georgia without heading all the way back to Odessa. Was thinking of going through Russia but getting a visa might be a pain.

This is a long shot but are there any secret ferries that I don't know about from say Yalta or Sevastopol to Georgia?

Any help would be awesome.
K

We were also debating whether to take the Kerch - Poti ferry two weeks ago. The website implied that it was going to start again in September, but when we phoned there was stil no ferry (early September). We did a load of research and phoning around, and in the end there were only 2 choices that we found out about: drive back to Odessa to get the ferry from there, or go via Russia. We called UKR Ferries and eventually got the info I have pasted in below.
If you can decifer what he means - it seems to imply that the Odessa ferry is cancelled for repairs in September too. I would suggest you give them a call.
Luckily we had already got Russian visas, but they were not valid for another 4 days, so we hung about in the Crimea for that time and drove to Georgia.
I have loaded info on the border crossings on this site too:

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...-georgia-66241

On Sep 7, 2012, at 16:13, VLADLEN TARASENKO <vyt-ukrferry-tour@mail.ru> wrote:

DEAR MR.David Wernery,

LAST VOYAGE M/V "GREIFSWALD" BEFORE THE REPAIR 12.09.2012.

FOR CARS AND PASSENGERS - M/V "GREIFSWALD" ILICHEVSK - BATUMI.

FOR INFO: FROM VOYAGE 04.06.2010 M/V "GREIFSWALD" COME FROM ILICHEVSK TO
BATUMI,NOT POTI.

AT THIS MOMENT DEPARTURE M/V "GREIFSWALD" FROM THE BERTH ILICHEVSK TO
BATUMI - EVERY THURSDAY.

APPROXIMATELY FROM 17 SEPTEMBER TILL 01 OCTOBER 2012 IS PLANNING THE REPAIR M/V "GREIFSWALD".

AT THIS PERIOD -* NOT PASSENGERS TRASPORTATION BY FERRY.

OTHER OUR FERRY AND ROUTE KERCH - POTI OR KERCH - BATUMI ("GEROI SHIPKI" AND
"GEROI PLEVNY") AND BULGARIAN FERRY ("GEROI ODESSY" AND "GEROI SEVASTOPOLYA")
- ONLY CARGO-RAIL FERRY FOR TRANSPORTATION RAIL-WAGONS AND TIR-s
AND IN JULY - AUGUST 2012 - NOT WORK ON LINE KERCH - POTI OR KERCH - BATUMI.

THE PROCEDURE OF RESERVATION THE PLACES FOR PASSENGERS OR FOR PASSENGERS AND
CAR / MOTO:
1/.YOU SHOULD BE SEND BY MY E-MAIL: vyt-ukrferry-tour@mail.ru THE APPLICATION
FORM IN ATTACHMENT THIS LETTER.
THEN I WILL BE SEND TO YOU THE CALCULATION YOUR TRIP AND CONFIRMATION THE DATE
OF VOYAGE.

1/.DEPARTURE FROM ILICHEVSK TO BATUMI,M/V"GREIFSWALD" - 1 VOYAGE AT WEEK.

THE SCHEDULE M/V "GREIFSWALD" AT THIS MOMENT:

DEPARTURE FROM THE BERTH ILICHEVSK ,M/V "GREIFSWALD" - EVERY THURSDAY.

YOU SHOULD BE GO IN MY OFICE IN ODESSA AT WEDNESDAY 10:00 AM,PAY FOR THE
TICKET.

THAN YOU WILL COME TO FERRY TERMINAL ILICHEVSK ON BOARDING.

APPROXIMATELY (IN TIME) PROCEDURE BY FERRY TERMINAL:

PASSENGERS BOARDING IN ILICHEVSK - WEDNESDAY 04:00 P.M.

THAN CUSTOMS, CARGO OPERATIONS: RAILWAGON ,TIR-s.

ABOUT 06:00 P.M. - YOU IN YOUR CABINE,INCLUDID MEEL EVENING IN RESTRANT AND 3
MEELS INCLUDID EVERY DAY ON VOYAGE.

DEPARTURE FROM THE BERTH ILICHEVSK -THURSDAY / MORNING.

ARRIVAL IN BATUMI - SATURDAY / EVENING.

DEPARTURE FROM BATUMI TO ILICHEVSK - SUNDAY / EVENING.

ARRIVAL IN ILICHEVSK - WEDNESDAY / MORNING.

2/.TARIFFS:

1 PLACE IN CABIN CATEGORY "E" (FOR 4 PERSONS) - 1350 hrivnas / per 1 person;

1 PLACE IN CABIN CATEGORY "C"(FOR 2 PERSONS) - 1625 hrivnas / per 1 person;

3 PLACE IN CABIN CATEGORY "B" (SEMI-LUX 3 PERSONS) (2 BEDS AND 1 SOFA) =
5250 hrivnas / PER 3 person.

CABIN CATEGORY "D" - NOT FOR PASSENGERS,ONLY FOR THE TIR-s DRIVERS.

1 CAR = 3480 hrivnas;
1 JEEP OR MINIBUS OR MINIVEN OR UNIVERSAL = 3960 hrivnas;
1 MOTO = 1760 hrivnas;

AT THIS MOMENT 1 USD = 8.00 hrivnas.

PAYMENT BY TICKETS AND RESERVATION ONLY IN HRIVNAS,CASH.

ABOUT THE PRICES AT THIS MOMENT SEE PLS OUR WEB-SITE:
Tariffs for passengers transportation on the lines: Ilyichevsk - Batumi, Batumi - Ilyichevsk

3/.ABOUT FOTO OF CABINS SEE PLS:

RO-RO/RAIL/PASSENGER ferry GREIFSWALD by shiping company UKRFERRY

SEE PLS "PASSENGER COMPLEX".
FOR PASSENGERS ARE CATEGORY OF CABINS: SEMILUX "B+B+B3"; "C"; "E".
FOR THE TRANSLATE (RUSSIAN - ENGLISH) - PRESS "Choose language".
___________________________________
Comments:
Our exact address: SUBSIDIARY COMPANY "UKRFERRY TOUR"; Ukraine,
Odessa,18,Elizavetinskaya street (old name Schepkina street), office 1, the
second floor.
For information: on a ground floor bank "PIVDENNYI" is located.
For Your facility: The office is located at the crossroads of
Elizavetinskaya and Preobrazhenskiy streets.
Our office is a 10 minute walk from from Deribasovskaja street or 20 minutes
of driving by car from railway station.
Please ask for Mr. Tarasenko Vladlen.

BRGDS,
VLADLEN TARASENKO
HEAD OF THE PASSENGER DEPARTMENT
OF "UKRFERRY TOUR" COMPANY
UKRAINE,ODESSA

-----Original Message-----
From: David Wernery
Sent: Friday, September 07, 2012 3:26 PM
To: Chartering Info
Subject: Illichivsk - Batumi ferry

Dear UKRFERRY team,

I just called you on your office phone.

We hope to take the ferry to Batumi on the 9th of September. We wanted to know the following:

- time of departure
- price for 2 pax and one car
- availability
- where we have to be at what time.

Many kinds regards, David