Exodus of the Finns… and migration of the Sea Bears.

5^th of July – 7^th of July

Amazingly (to me at least…) the Finnish customs officers (3) turned up at exactly 06:30, just in time for us to set off to cross Russia on our way back to Santio (border crossing point) and further on to Marinjinlahti (60º29,45N; 27º35.6E) to get out of the way of the Sea Bears, which we did not expect in Santio at our return to Finland… Getting out of Russia seems to be easier than getting in (surprise?) and we were dealt with very friendly and speedily, of course not without having handed over our passports for inspection and provided stamped crew-lists in quadruplicate, a copy of our Certificate of Registration and customs declaration together with all the announcements described in earlier blogs. The weather was scorching hot and we were happy to reach Santio Island after 12 hours and 62 miles. But… what was that? Santio, where we cleared customs in company of 3 boats just two weeks earlier was absolutely overflowing with partying and grilling Sea Bears, the other big sailing club in Finland, apart from the NJK. The first flotilla of 18 boats was ready to go to Lake Saimaa – followed by another 18 strong contingent expected the next day! We were absolutely delighted to reach our near-by empty anchorage where we took a great plunge into the clear waters @22ºC after a long and tiring day.

Exodus of the Finns: it seems that now basically every Finn with a boat, or whatever floats, has left home and populates the waters. A harbour, which we entered only 2 weeks ago with only three berths taken, where we still needed thermal clothing including socks to be comfortable at night, was now populated by over 40 boats with the temperature reaching about 31ºC!

Of course not everyone who navigates is fit to do so. This morning, before we left Kaunissari, we heard a loud ‘bang’ and there was a frontal crash between a sailing boat and a motor boat and a general commotion in the harbour. It turned out that the skipper of the motorboat was completely drunk and legless and everybody was probably thinking “what shall we do with the drunken sailor early in the morning…?”. The coastguard was called and knew what to do. The boat was impounded and the drunken sailor was taken away by three officers and was unable to help with the enquiries.

However, searching for peace and quiet, you are still able to find the most gorgeous unspoilt anchorages where you, the seagulls and fish are the only visible inhabitants.