9 – 17 July: Going East

We left Helsinki in a flat calm – the faint breeze was in exactly the opposite direction to where we were going anyway – so we had a pleasant motor through lovely wooded islands of the Eastern Finnish archipelago on a nice warm sunny afternoon …

… past a traditional private sauna at the bottom of someone’s garden – you just jump into the Baltic to cool off afterwards!

Our destination was the island of Risholmen (or Risukko in Finnish), which is owned or leased by the HSK Yacht Club for use of members – as Cruising Association members we are allowed to use it too.  There are facilities on the island, provided and maintained by the club members, which are all in keeping with the natural beauty of the place – picnic tables, composting loos, a woodburning sauna, rainwater collected in water butts, barbecue pits and a little wooden summer house. A jetty has been built with a dozen or so stern buoys for members, but we were the only ones there at first.

Here you can see a bit more clearly how mooring to a stern buoy works – I pick the buoy up with a hook on the end of a long line as Charles drives towards the jetty, then hand the rope to him and rush to the bow to jump ashore with two bow lines to tie to the jetty.  On this boat we have a bow ladder as it’s a very long way down!

This is the first place I’ve had a swim! In May the water was too cold, and in June the weather wasn’t nice enough and I had my leg injury. I love swimming in the natural harbours out in the islands, but I’m a bit concerned about what this seagull is going to do with or on my towel!!

Later another boat came in with some HSK club members on board and their two cats – one enormous (as big as a medium-sized dog) and the other tiny!  It’s amazing how ‘at home’ cats and dogs are on boats, but these two wouldn’t pose for the camera!

They had brought supplies of barbecue coals and compost for the loos – it’s all done on a self-help basis by HSK club members. Around the archipelago, compost seems to be the biggest-seller – there are high piles of bagged compost outside each little island shop, even if they’ve run out of milk! But on Risukku there’s no shop so supplies of everything have to be brought out by HSK members.

Suddenly the sky changed dramatically …

There was quite an impressive storm and the wind strength increased so much that we were ‘forced’ to stay another day at Risukko. The wind whipped up quite a sea in the normally very sheltered bay, but it was still warm and sunny and no hardship to spend a day here …

We walked across the lovely island on a footpath which HSK members have marked with reflectors hanging from the trees – not that you need them at this time of year as it hardly gets dark at all! Charles has that look of ‘not another photo!’

We enjoyed a real Finnish sauna – the people from the other boat had lit the wood stove and heated it up …

There were buckets of rainwater to cool yourself off afterwards …

… and a fabulous view from the verandah …

After the sauna, we barbecued for dinner and felt like we’d spent the day in a properly Finnish way – though we did cheat a bit by using the gas barbecue …

The next day was calm again and we moved on through fabulous scenery in perfect sunny weather …

… to the island fortress of Svartholm, near Loviisa, which was a lovely spot and another interesting Swedish fortification, later used by the Russians as a prison …

The following morning this wonderful contraption arrived with a gardener and lawnmower on board and people to service the loos, which were beautifully kept, with flowers and magazines, and even a visitors’ book to sign! It hardly looks as though it would float, but they arrived and left safely enough …

We moved on again eastwards to the lovely island of Kaunissauri …

… where people are already getting in their wood stocks ready for the winter, though there are only about 10 year-round residents here …

This is the well-protected harbour …

We enjoyed an excellent meal of the ‘legendary’ Archipelago Fish Soup at the restaurant on the island ...

… where they had a special Rock ‘n Roll night with the ‘One and Only Joe Doakes Band’! It was really good music and we even managed a dance!

Onwards and eastwards to Kotka – not quite so attractive as we approached past the port …

The town was more attractive with this church in the centre of Isopuisto Park, an English-style landscape park …

… and the Sapokka Water Garden which was created in 1990 in a run-down area of the harbour – the rocky hill on the right-hand side of the picture used to be part of the ski-jump and is now a waterfall …

Other parts of the town, including the market square, still have more of a Soviet feel to the architecture – we are very close to the border here …

The next day we left for Haapasaari, where the Finnish border control is situated, but it is also an attractive holiday island in its own right. The entrance to the small harbour looks tiny, and is not very deep either, but we went very slowly and got into the harbour without incident …

… and managed to squeeze onto the tiny jetty, which was already quite full, using our stern anchor this time and again tying the bow to the jetty ...

Haapassari is a delightful little spot, but definitely a holiday island with only a handful of permanent residents …

There are no cars and the main ‘road’ is across a smooth rock face. This small tractor and trailer is going to pick up the luggage of holidaymakers who are just arriving on the ferry from the mainland …

It’s an incredibly rocky island, but a few hardy wildflowers are managing to thrive …

People have to mow the lawn round the rocks sticking up through it!

And get their water using a modern version of the traditional water pump …

Here’s Charles doing some passage-planning for the 78 nautical mile journey to Kronstadt in Russia, the border check-in point …

The next day we’re off again, back out through the narrow entrance – somehow it looks even narrower this way, as if we’ll hit the sides – but we don’t!

… and we ‘clear out’ of Finland at the border control. The border guards do 2 weeks on/ 2 weeks off all through the year. It’s pretty boring in the winter! The officer dealing with us came on board and searched the boat – looking for stowaways or illegal goods? No, he admitted he just likes the opportunity to look inside different boats!

We set off after dinner for Russia. It’s the only part of the trip where we’ve had to sail overnight, but it’s wise to arrive in Russia first thing in the morning to allow for several hours to clear the border controls. You’re not allowed to stop anywhere between the Finnish and Russian borders, and it’s a 10-12 hour trip, so a night passage means you arrive conveniently in the morning.

It was flat calm with a very light wind behind us, so we had to motor-sail but at least it was a pleasant motion. This is our last glimpse of Finland …

You have to follow a designated route to St Petersburg and must radio the border post before you cross the border – they are observing you from a watchtower!

However, we proceeded without incident and took turns at keeping watches and having a snooze throughout the night.  We saw lots of big container ships, oil tankers and cruise ships, and at one point there’s a sort of maritime roundabout where everything has to go anti-clockwise!

After only a couple of hours of darkness, but with light still in the sky, the sun came up again …

… and dawn was as spectacular as sunset …

This was our first, rather industrial, glimpse of Russia …

This is heading towards the border post at Fort Konstantin at Kronstadt, which is also a flood barrier – huge gates are closed across this gap when the level of the Baltic threatens to flood St Petersburg. The wind has got up a bit and it’s clouded over, so this picture makes our entry into Russia look quite ominous …

After nearly three hours at the Russian border post (I didn’t dare take any photos!) and a thorough search of every nook and cranny in the boat, we were allowed in! But the border control and customs staff were actually quite friendly – it just took a long time, and required a lot of documentation in triplicate!

During these three hours the sun had come out, and the flood barrier and border checkpoint looks much more benign from the other side!

The view was quite industrial, with occasional incongruous glimpses of a gilded dome here and there – a taste of things to come …

It took another three hours to motor across the lagoon to St Petersburg itself past some dramatic new building …

… to our home for the next week or so – Krestovsky Marina …

We were met by a beaming Vladimir, the Cruising Association local representative in St Petersburg and our agent, who has facilitated everything to enable us to get here in our own boat. Here’s Charles celebrating our arrival with Vladimir …