Yahoo I just bought 641l of white Diesel

Fantastic, I wonder if the chandlery prices are also good?
Any other particular upsides or downsides? Did you use Maxine's book, is there much of a language problem dealing with boatyards etc, what does the crime threat (if any..) seem like? Much official paperwork or red tape?
I had a Russian guy crew on my yacht for a week, top bloke (bit of a language barrier though) and he is from St P originally he said I must be insane to contemplate visiting the place :)
I know a fast-track tourist visa waiver system's allegedly in the pipeline, too late for you I presume but maybe it doesn't apply to yachts.
I'm thinking of sticking my bowsprit in there, as must be obvious..any tips or dits please?
 
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So far I am really disappointed with St Petersburg. Customs was a doddle, but getting a Russian visa was not. You need to use the services of Vladamir whose contact details are in the RCC book. We are told to moor at the Central River Yacht Club, which is the nosiest place I have ever been. The "club" it self is a wedding venue so loud music starts at about 2pm and goes on until 5am. Then there is the river which is totally unregulated, there are jet skis and power boats doing up to 40knts just feet away from us on the hammer head and little children in Oppi's and on the other shore swimmers (Yuk) you should se the water which is septic chocolate coloured!

The journey into Russia is a pain as you have to stick to the shipping lanes and as the wind was on the nose we had to motor over 100 miles from the boarder. It would not have been so bad if we could have sailed and we tried with every wind shift but even if you can sail you still have a problem as you are allocated a 3-hour customs checking in slot. Lurid stories are abound and if you have any medicines found by dogs not declared they will strip your boat apart. You are also told to call in at various points, but on both occasions no replies were received so we were a bit anxious that we would be in trouble for not reporting in! In the event nothing was said, possibly our AIS allowed them to monitor us without communication.

Once through the customs port at Kronstadt you have three hours of internal waters to motor through sticking to very narrow channels which you share with Russian war ships and subs, we decided not to take any photographs.

Having arrived we set off you the Hermitage museum. It is an amazing place but it is packed with people and really hot inside. When I say packed, it is like a tube train in places it is utter madness, they need to restrict the numbers entering. Then we went to the modern art museum, which is like a sanctuary but on entry all drinks have to be disposed of and everything is x-rayed. Then as soon as you pass through security there is a cafe selling drinks, however you are not yet in the museum. you ten have to pass through the entry. Now you can see the art works but once through the entry there are no cafe's or restaurants you have to pass out to get a drink or food and your ticket is for single entry. If you go to the fourth floor you will see the largest collection of impressionist art in one place. This happened because at the turn of the century there were two Russian entrepreneurs who both liked it when all other galleries decided that impressionism wasn't art so they had an arms race and but bought it. Both fairies had all their art confiscated by the state after the revolution, even the Rodin collection was stolen from another family. In short this is an exhibition of the biggest stolen art collection ever assembled. Unbelievably, the Russians tried to offer the families £5000 so they they would not take legal action to recover some of the art when it went on tour in the UK. Not surprisingly they refused but I do not know if they attempted to recover the art if so I think that they were unsuccessful.

Lastly we were told to use UBER, but Uber has been banned and we have to use the state approved version called Yandex. It was easy to use... or so I thought. It geolocates your position and then asks you where you want to go and you have the option to pay cash or register a card. I called a TAXI to go 3.5miles, but a TAXI in Moscow, took the fare and before we knew it the charge was £200 and the driver used the app to say we were onboard. Fortunately we used the support email and they cancelled it and sad the driver broke their rules etc and they money was not collected but we could not use the app and went to a hotel to get a trusted taxi. We have been warned not to take taxi's from the street for some reason.

In Russia you have to carry photo ID and we have been told to carry copies of passports not originals. The British consulate in St Petersburg is closed following the Salisbury poisonings and if your passport is stolen you have to go to Moscow and then are fined for not having a visa on your tempory travel document on exit and I believe that the temporary document only covers you to your next destination...
 
Seven Spades said:
So far I am really disappointed with St Petersburg. Customs was a doddle, but getting a Russian visa was not. You need to use the services of Vladamir whose contact details are in the RCC book. We are told to moor at the Central River Yacht Club, which is the nosiest place I have ever been. The "club" it self is a wedding venue so loud music starts at about 2pm and goes on until 5am. Then there is the river which is totally unregulated, there are jet skis and power boats doing up to 40knts just feet away from us on the hammer head and little children in Oppi's and on the other shore swimmers (Yuk) you should se the water which is septic chocolate coloured!

The journey into Russia is a pain as you have to stick to the shipping lanes and as the wind was on the nose we had to motor over 100 miles from the boarder. It would not have been so bad if we could have sailed and we tried with every wind shift but even if you can sail you still have a problem as you are allocated a 3-hour customs checking in slot. Lurid stories are abound and if you have any medicines found by dogs not declared they will strip your boat apart. You are also told to call in at various points, but on both occasions no replies were received so we were a bit anxious that we would be in trouble for not reporting in! In the event nothing was said, possibly our AIS allowed them to monitor us without communication.

Once through the customs port at Kronstadt you have three hours of internal waters to motor through sticking to very narrow channels which you share with Russian war ships and subs, we decided not to take any photographs.

Having arrived we set off you the Hermitage museum. It is an amazing place but it is packed with people and really hot inside. When I say packed, it is like a tube train in places it is utter madness, they need to restrict the numbers entering. Then we went to the modern art museum, which is like a sanctuary but on entry all drinks have to be disposed of and everything is x-rayed. Then as soon as you pass through security there is a cafe selling drinks, however you are not yet in the museum. you ten have to pass through the entry. Now you can see the art works but once through the entry there are no cafe's or restaurants you have to pass out to get a drink or food and your ticket is for single entry. If you go to the fourth floor you will see the largest collection of impressionist art in one place. This happened because at the turn of the century there were two Russian entrepreneurs who both liked it when all other galleries decided that impressionism wasn't art so they had an arms race and but bought it. Both fairies had all their art confiscated by the state after the revolution, even the Rodin collection was stolen from another family. In short this is an exhibition of the biggest stolen art collection ever assembled. Unbelievably, the Russians tried to offer the families £5000 so they they would not take legal action to recover some of the art when it went on tour in the UK. Not surprisingly they refused but I do not know if they attempted to recover the art if so I think that they were unsuccessful.

Lastly we were told to use UBER, but Uber has been banned and we have to use the state approved version called Yandex. It was easy to use... or so I thought. It geolocates your position and then asks you where you want to go and you have the option to pay cash or register a card. I called a TAXI to go 3.5miles, but a TAXI in Moscow, took the fare and before we knew it the charge was £200 and the driver used the app to say we were onboard. Fortunately we used the support email and they cancelled it and sad the driver broke their rules etc and they money was not collected but we could not use the app and went to a hotel to get a trusted taxi. We have been warned not to take taxi's from the street for some reason.

In Russia you have to carry photo ID and we have been told to carry copies of passports not originals. The British consulate in St Petersburg is closed following the Salisbury poisonings and if your passport is stolen you have to go to Moscow and then are fined for not having a visa on your tempory travel document on exit and I believe that the temporary document only covers you to your next destination...
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Interesting account of the circs today. Seems some things have not changed and in some have got worse. I visited in 1999 when Russia was in the immediate post USSR era. The Good was the architecture and the palaces/museums, lack of other tourists and the enthusiastic welcome from those locals glad to smell the freedom of the West. The Bad was the crumbling infrastructure. The Ugly was the ever present threat of street level gangsterism if off the main thoroughfare of the Nevsky Prospect.
Worth a visit though but safest if part of an organised tour. I had two yachts and 12 souls in tow and in retrospect was glad we all survived the exerience. CharlesT
 
Interesting. I have heard a few folks well experienced in this area now recommend less hassle to stop in Finland and take an organised trip from there to St Petersburg rather than go through the extra hassle of taking own boat (including insurance issues as well as bureaucracy ones)
 
Well, it has probably improved since I was first there, in 1970, when it was called Leningrad! A school trip, arranged through InTourist. That was decidedly scary; things like obvious monitoring of the telephone in our rooms. The nice side was that, being a party of older teenage boys, Intourist allocated attractive female guides! There was a constant feeling of being overlooked, and photography of ANY transport facility was strictly fobidden.

I revisited St Petersburg in about 2010, and the change in the city was dramatic - there were shops with interesting window displays! But I can relate to the notes about visas - we were warned NOT to try going on a tourist visa (I worked as agovernemnt scientist, and was on business) as the Russians woudl almost certainly give us grief (at best) or imprisonment (at worst) if we went to a scientific conference except on a business visa. Most places are quite happy with a toruist short stay visa for such things, but not the Russians - admittedly, it was at a point where there was friction between us and them.
 
AntarcticPilot said:
Well, it has probably improved since I was first there, in 1970, when it was called Leningrad! A school trip, arranged through InTourist. That was decidedly scary; things like obvious monitoring of the telephone in our rooms. The nice side was that, being a party of older teenage boys, Intourist allocated attractive female guides! There was a constant feeling of being overlooked, and photography of ANY transport facility was strictly fobidden.

I revisited St Petersburg in about 2010, and the change in the city was dramatic - there were shops with interesting window displays! But I can relate to the notes about visas - we were warned NOT to try going on a tourist visa (I worked as agovernemnt scientist, and was on business) as the Russians woudl almost certainly give us grief (at best) or imprisonment (at worst) if we went to a scientific conference except on a business visa. Most places are quite happy with a toruist short stay visa for such things, but not the Russians - admittedly, it was at a point where there was friction between us and them.
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Very topical: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/20...t-fined-giving-feminism-talk-russia-sinister/. Not that the Telegraph is peddling an agenda or anything.
 
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