scubaman
Well-Known Member
I've been whatching the pictures from your favorite cruising grounds with much interest and I must say they look absolutely fantastic. I had the pleasure of visiting some of your marinas when we were searching for our current boat and when we drove her home.
However, as the cruising scene here, on the edge of europe, is somewhat different, I decided to do a post on boating in the most eastern waters of europe. I'll try to keep it short.
We do most of our boating in the Lake Saimaa in the eastern parts of Finland. Coastal areas offer plenty of nice places for boating as well, but due to being brought up around Saimaa, we've mostly stayed here here . (for some reason the link points too much east, scroll west, please /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif).
First some statistics: Lake Saimaa has over 3000 km's of charted, navigable routes. It has some 33 000 islands and over 50 000 km's of shore line. Deepest point is 92 meters.
The boating season starts in early may when the lakes become free of ice and it continues well into october. Although die-hard boaters use the whole season, boating is mainly concentrated around june, july and mid-august.
Can be a bit chilly in May:
Midsummer festival
As the figures suggest it's a very diverse area for cruising. There are vast open waters as well as narrow channels with high cliffs. If you are seeking for a private anchorage, you are guaranteed to find it, though outside peak months the trouble may be finding other boaters.
Access to the sea is via Saimaa Canal, which is a bit of an adventure in itself as it passes through the russian side and enters the Gulf of Finland at Vyborg. Although formalities normally run smoothly with the russian authorities, things seem a bit less organized, as we found out on the final leg of our delivery trip. It was late friday night, fhe customs official was fishing and smelled heavily of vodka.
Very friendly chap, though.
Marinas are smallish but most have good facilities with electrics, water, pump-out -stations, saunas, etc. Nice feature in Saimaa are the free-for-all marinas on the islands, which are maintained by a non-profit organization called 'Keep the Archipelago Tidy'. They supply these marinas with wood, collect carbage, etc. Most of these places are on islands and have good pontoons, fireplaces, some have also saunas for public use.
Biggest cities around Saimaa are Lappeenranta, Mikkeli, Savonlinna and Kuopio. There are also lots of smaller villages. Savonlinna is our favorite with a medieval castle, which also hosts an opera festival in July. City is surrounded by water and thanks to the Opera Festival, the ambience is almost
cosmopolitan and certainly very nice.
Savonlinna:
Lappeenranta:
And we get the occational big boat visit, Turmoil visited Savonlinna this summer.
As the pic suggests, there is also a fair amount of commercial traffic.
Finns have plenty of summer cottages around Saimaa, so there is a lot of commuting from them to cities/villages by smaller, open type motor boats. Sailing is also very popular (and we seem to have the same uneasy relationship with them as you have...).
Waters are clean. In some parts even good enough to drink (or so they tell me, I haven't tried myself).
In a nutshell:
Pros:
+ diverse scenery and lot's of places to go and see
+ plenty of privacy
+ probably somewhat exotic for a foreigner
Cons:
- a bit quiet at times
- limited socializing (see above)
MBY did an article about these very waters years ago. I must try to persuade Hugo to do a follow-up.
In the mean time I'd like to extend an open invitation to all forumites to come over and see what the boating is like in these remote waters. It's only a couple of days (and nights) boat ride from the UK, If you go non-stop), or if you'd like to take it easier, spend a bit longer or even leave your boat here for the winter.
If a do come across any of you here, drinks are on me!
And some misc pics:
Steam boat festival in Mikkeli
Puruvesi, close to the Russian border:
Olavinlinna in Savonlinna:
Nice historical place at Partakoski:
Sunset at our place in the Saimaa:
However, as the cruising scene here, on the edge of europe, is somewhat different, I decided to do a post on boating in the most eastern waters of europe. I'll try to keep it short.
We do most of our boating in the Lake Saimaa in the eastern parts of Finland. Coastal areas offer plenty of nice places for boating as well, but due to being brought up around Saimaa, we've mostly stayed here here . (for some reason the link points too much east, scroll west, please /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif).
First some statistics: Lake Saimaa has over 3000 km's of charted, navigable routes. It has some 33 000 islands and over 50 000 km's of shore line. Deepest point is 92 meters.
The boating season starts in early may when the lakes become free of ice and it continues well into october. Although die-hard boaters use the whole season, boating is mainly concentrated around june, july and mid-august.
Can be a bit chilly in May:
Midsummer festival
As the figures suggest it's a very diverse area for cruising. There are vast open waters as well as narrow channels with high cliffs. If you are seeking for a private anchorage, you are guaranteed to find it, though outside peak months the trouble may be finding other boaters.
Access to the sea is via Saimaa Canal, which is a bit of an adventure in itself as it passes through the russian side and enters the Gulf of Finland at Vyborg. Although formalities normally run smoothly with the russian authorities, things seem a bit less organized, as we found out on the final leg of our delivery trip. It was late friday night, fhe customs official was fishing and smelled heavily of vodka.
Very friendly chap, though.
Marinas are smallish but most have good facilities with electrics, water, pump-out -stations, saunas, etc. Nice feature in Saimaa are the free-for-all marinas on the islands, which are maintained by a non-profit organization called 'Keep the Archipelago Tidy'. They supply these marinas with wood, collect carbage, etc. Most of these places are on islands and have good pontoons, fireplaces, some have also saunas for public use.
Biggest cities around Saimaa are Lappeenranta, Mikkeli, Savonlinna and Kuopio. There are also lots of smaller villages. Savonlinna is our favorite with a medieval castle, which also hosts an opera festival in July. City is surrounded by water and thanks to the Opera Festival, the ambience is almost
cosmopolitan and certainly very nice.
Savonlinna:
Lappeenranta:
And we get the occational big boat visit, Turmoil visited Savonlinna this summer.
As the pic suggests, there is also a fair amount of commercial traffic.
Finns have plenty of summer cottages around Saimaa, so there is a lot of commuting from them to cities/villages by smaller, open type motor boats. Sailing is also very popular (and we seem to have the same uneasy relationship with them as you have...).
Waters are clean. In some parts even good enough to drink (or so they tell me, I haven't tried myself).
In a nutshell:
Pros:
+ diverse scenery and lot's of places to go and see
+ plenty of privacy
+ probably somewhat exotic for a foreigner
Cons:
- a bit quiet at times
- limited socializing (see above)
MBY did an article about these very waters years ago. I must try to persuade Hugo to do a follow-up.
In the mean time I'd like to extend an open invitation to all forumites to come over and see what the boating is like in these remote waters. It's only a couple of days (and nights) boat ride from the UK, If you go non-stop), or if you'd like to take it easier, spend a bit longer or even leave your boat here for the winter.
If a do come across any of you here, drinks are on me!
And some misc pics:
Steam boat festival in Mikkeli
Puruvesi, close to the Russian border:
Olavinlinna in Savonlinna:
Nice historical place at Partakoski:
Sunset at our place in the Saimaa:
