I would suggest a Turkmen visa isnt the easiest thing in the world to get.

You may want to consider getting the boat from Baku to Aktau (Shevchenko) instead and then riding through Beyneu, Akjigit and across into Uzbekistan there ... then see the ex Aral sea at Muynaq ... and the fishing boats sitting in the desert. But to the best of my knowledge there is no border crossing between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan in the vicinity of the Aral Sea ... apart from the one near Beyneu.

For your guide, I have been several times to the former shores of the Aral Sea, but have never seen the sea. The current water body is a long way away now from any official roads.

I would suggest the easiest way to see it would be to see the deeper part of the lake where the shoreline is almost unchanged due to the steepness of the edge of the Ustyurt Plateau in Uzbekistan. Turn off the Beyneu - Kungrad road at Jasliq (Zhaslyk), head 50 km east for Komsomolsk na Ustyurte, then north to the edge of the Ustyurt Plateau and the sea. Once you turn off the main road at Jasliq, you will be completely on rarely travelled sandy tracks ... to say that bit would be a interesting challenge on C90s might be an understatement.

Also note, there is no fuel on the Beyneu - Kungrad road after the border, until you get to Kungrad - and even there you may have to hunt around for it. You *should* be able to find some in Muynaq by asking locals to sell you some. Depending on the range you guys have, you may want to go to Muynaq, max out on fuel and then head north east to the edge of the Ustyurt plateau and the sea. Openstreetmap.org (OSM) has a track marked on it (GPS trace) to the edge of the Aral Sea from Muynaq (spelt Moynoq on OSM) - but note that track looks well over 100 km long

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