Day 15 Passing Vodné Dielo Gabčíkovo

This morning, after breakfast, on our way toward Slovakia, we passed through another massive lock system — Vodné Dielo Gabčíkovo, one of the quiet giants of the Danube. Built between the 1970s and the 1990s, this engineering project transformed a historically unpredictable stretch of the river into a stable, navigable waterway. Before this system existed, the Danube here could be shallow one season, dangerously fast the next. Today it not only prevents flooding, but also generates hydroelectric power and keeps this international shipping route reliably open.

Ships like the Rinda owe a lot to this place.

A few fellow Rinda travelers were already on the top deck when I came up — bundled in jackets, coffees in hand, all of us braving the cold morning air. Inside the huge concrete chamber, the ship began to rise, slowly lifting us above the shoreline like an elevator made of river water.

Two things really stood out to me.

First: the traffic lights.
Something about seeing a bright red light stopping a ship our size always makes me smile. Red means wait — even on the Danube. And so we did. Once the water level inside matched the outside and the massive gates dropped low enough to clear the draft of the Rinda, the light shifted to green, giving us permission to continue.

Second: our captain.
There was Captain Jurij Tolkacev, stationed at the side wheelhouse, eyes constantly moving, scanning bow to stern. These locks are tight — sometimes narrow enough that you could almost touch the walls as we pass. His focus was absolute. With tiny taps of the thrusters, he gently nudged the ship, keeping us perfectly parallel to the concrete edge. Inch by inch, we slipped through without a scrape.

With his steady gaze and the calm concentration on his face, you knew he was fully in control.

And it made me wonder:

What does Captain Jurij do when he’s not at the wheel of the Rinda?

The man must be a pretty good gamer — he’s steering a 443-foot ship with a joystick that looks like it came straight out of an old Xbox. Ship technology has come a long way since the giant wooden wheels of pirate ships… the same ships I’m convinced he once commanded somewhere out on the Eastern Seas.

The gates finally opened, the green light appeared, and we glided out of the chamber — smooth, steady, precise.

With the Danube stretching out ahead of us, we continued along the river toward our next stop: Slovakia.

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