Chillika Lake in coastal Odisha state is the largest brackish lake in Asia. The most direct route between Gopalpur and Puri involves a ferry crossing over part of the lake since there's no bridge between the peninsulas separating the lake from the Bay of Bengal. We set off early from Gopalpur for a nice morning drive through the marshlands to make it to the ferry by a set time. Having time to spare before the ferry crossing, Pulak took us on a walk through one of the villages near the lake and onwards to the ferry port. It was another opportunity to see village life in India.

Boarding the ferry did not go smoothly for Sura, though . Because of very low water, to get over the ferry door involved a big climb. Most vehicles got over it with the aid of wooden planks and rocks piled up, but this wasn't sufficient for Sura. Tim and Rob decided to try to use the truck's metal sand mats to help her over, but they merely bent and one of them punctured one of her diesel tanks. For the people around it was as is Santa Claus had just arrived as they all ran over with anything they could to capture some of the spilling fuel. While this accident initially appeared catastrophic, being in India there's a makeshift fix for everything. The talk was patched within three hours by mechanics used to fixing punctures in boats, and we were ready to trey again on the next ferry across the lake.
 
The ferry crossing was what you might imagine of transport in rural India with as many humans and cars and bicycles and motorcycles as could possibly be crowded aboard. I was certain the truck would never make it on but somehow it managed. I wanted to make sure I'd have an easy escape in case the ferry sank, something you hear so often about for overcrowded ferries in Asia. Once on the other side we camped in a sandy area and had a beach barbecue of meat, fish, and seafood and had a very pleasant evening.