...but the weather is slowly deteriorating - at least according to the weather forecast.
We were not able to leave Kokkola until Thursday, because after a thunderstorm the wind picked up for two days accompanied by rain and dense fog.
 |
Rocks are waiting everywhere..
Early on the 6th of June we finally cast off, in good visibility, glorious sunshine and very little wind. Just as well, because sailing in these shallow waters strewn with rocks, you need to identify buoys, transits and, most of all, you mustn’t loose your way! It feels like finding your way through a labyrinth following Ariadne’s red thread. It is lots of fun, provided you don’t lose your concentration.
|
 |
| Alone in Djupkastet |
Our first stop was Djupkastet (63º05’.6N 21º35’.2E), a quiet and remote anchorage in the middle of the Kvarken archipelago, 65 miles south of Kokkola. This unique archipelago was list
as the first Finnish nature UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2006. Apart from a few summer houses and a club house belonging to the Wasa Segelförening (WSF), all still empty this early in the season, we were totally alone there. All you could hear were the many birds in the forest.
 |
| Vaasa town quay and market |
Next morning we sailed the remaining 20 miles to Vaasa. It is one of the major towns in Finland with a Finnish and a Swedish University, small on a British scale. Considering that the whole of Finland has around 5.8 million inhabitants in total living in that huge country, no town or city is really that big.
 |
| Your bike gets you everywhere |
We arrived for the week end and
the atmosphere is really buzzing: it is now the second evening running that we can appreciate a punk rock concert booming at full blast until the early hours of the morning...and our mooring happens to be just across the waters from the beach concert.
 |
| Mini America’s cuppers battling it out sitting down |