Pics from our summer cruise 2013

[scubaman]

Here are some pics from the many places we visited during our six-week summer cruise on the Lake Saimaa.

We started off our holiday on the midsummer day which is when most people switch off the work mode and tune into enjoying the best that a Finnish summer has to offer. And it has to be said that weather wise this summer wasn't bad at all.

Super moon rising on the lightest night of the year.

The first week saw the temps rise to +31 C and we got to enjoy many quiet and balmy evenings sitting in the cockpit.

There was an interesting place we stopped by at Astuvansalmi, and weren't the first boaters to do so. Some brave (fool?) souls that had followed the receding ice 5000 years ago had taken a liking to the site and painted their tags on the rocks. Interestingly, at that time the water levels were 8-9 meters higher than they are today. Around this time, the giant pool of melted water that was/became the Lake Saimaa punched a new hole into the sandy ridges containing the water masses, right about here -> http://goo.gl/maps/rZbYZ
As a result, the water level dropped by two meters in a very short time. It has since dropped more gradually to the current levels. Anyway, that's why the paintings are high above the water level on a vertical rock face.

We also visited our boat club's very quiet base on island Ristisaari and enjoyed two very warm days.

We then continued to my friends cottage for a further couple of days of taking it easy and letting the kids wear themselves out (four kids aged 2, 3, 4 and 6…).

Had a spot of rain too

The sauna

Also visited Lappeenranta on the very southernmost tip of Lake Saimaa. Nice place in the summer…

 

[scubaman]

An hour's boat drive to Rauha, a new and quite large holiday development, aimed mostly to visitors coming from the east. There is a nice marina with all the facilities one needs.

Apart for the parasailing my wife had gotten me, the most interesting thing to see was this sorry sight. It was re-fitted to high standard in 2001 and was fully booked for US tourists for the following season only to see everything cancelled after the 9/11. The ship since fell into the hands of a local IT-millionaire who hasn't really worked out what to do with it. So, for the past couple of years it has just sat in various places around Lake Saimaa and rotted away. A sad sight. Ships like to be used.

We were then blessed with more glorious weather. Some may recognize the scenery from the video I posted earlier.

We also met up with my other friends and their families. We deemed that eight adults and ten kids would be a crowd on our boat so decided to look for a suitable cabin to rent for a few days. By change we found this place which had six cabins aimed solely to the rental market and were just completed, but for some reason not yet listed on the national rental websites. So we got it for a few nights for a very reasonable price.

Our trip also took us to Puruvesi, the very eastern parts of Saimaa and one of our favorite places. This is where I took the dinghy to a rock in the middle of the lake to get some running shots of the boat (I posted a vid of this back then). SWMBO was at the helm and did a great job with the boat, btw. A genuine 'doh!' -moment when I looked at the pics/vid later… We had to pass a shallow bridge to get to the place…

It was a scorching day (+26 C, no sneering by the members of the med gang, please…) and we had to rig a shade to make eating in the cockpit possible. Stayed the night on anchor.

We also visited Kerimäki (http://goo.gl/maps/9xPK5) and it's world's larges wooden church. It really was rather big.

Our earlier anchorage is somewhere between the islands in the distance.

 

[scubaman]

Towards the end of our six-week holiday the nights started to grow darker again and by the end of july it looked like this on the St. Olafs day in Savonlinna (sorry, not a very good fireworks pic, taken from my boat…).

While the warmest nights are often in August, the atmosphere changes along with the descending darkness. Birds are no longer singing through the night and people are slowly getting to the grips with the idea that they have to go back to work. 'Glass half empty' -people reckon it's autumn looming…

We were very lucky to have been able to enjoy the summer to the full and are very very much looking forward to the summer of 2014, as us all are no doubt.

Thanks!

 

[Prhperio]

Thanks for posting. Great to see such super pics when looking out the window here it makes you wonder if we'll all need our boats to live on when the whole country's under water! I'm sure everyone here appreciates the effort you took in posting all this

Cheers!

Paul

 

[powerskipper]

Thank you that was great, I love seeing where other boat, THANKS

 

[longjohnsilver]

Thanks, great pics. It's really interesting to see and read of foreign cruising grounds. Truly spectacular.

 

[BartW]

wonderfull pics of a wonderfull boating area, as we are used to get from you,
well done scubaman, and thanks for the effort.

 

[rbcoomer]

Wow! What can I add? Awesome location and pictures - thanks for posting!

 

[Robg71]

Great stuff Scubaman
Im looking forward to cruising in Norway one day....... One day

 

[chaldon3]

great pics,great boat, amazing countryside. thanks for posting,

 

[Pinnacle]

wonderfull pics of a wonderfull boating area, as we are used to get from you,
well done scubaman, and thanks for the effort.

+1

FAB pics, as usual K.

 

[FirstMate II]

Fantastic photos .. thanks for posting

 

[andy59]

Fantastic , I would love to take a boat there one day . Thanks for posting Scubaman

 

[alt]

Wow!

Fdc 2014? :d :d

 

[Portofino]

You have set the bar high with photo quality + education as well -Thankyou

 

[Ian h]

Great pictures and write up. Thanks for posting.
Beats the crowed Solent

 

[rafiki_]

Can't add anything to the above only to add my own thanks.

 

[LionsDen]

Would love to have a long summer cruise in Sweden and Finland - Awesome scenery and thanks for sharing - Happy New Year to all fellow boaters btw

 

[scubaman]

Thank you everyone for the kind words.

Alt: sadly diving is not the reason to come here, not unless you like murky waters OR ok vis, but nothing much to see

Rob: why stop at Norway

Terry, Andy and others: if you ever feel adventurous, chuck the boat onto a ship in Harwich on a Monday and you'll have it in Turku by Friday afternoon.

 

[Robg71]

Norway was just the start