Day 37 Arrived Finland, Haapasaari
We left St Petersburg at 8am on the 31st, the journey is a good 100 miles so even though we sailed most of it (we sail faster than motoring) we didn't arrive until the sun had just set. We could not check out earlier as Russian customs do not open any earlier.
The weather was freezing and for the first time ever we had to put the cockpit tent up and sail. Wow! what a difference, it was like sailing in a greenhouse but we were enclosed on three sides which made the journey bearable.
The rules are that once we re-enter the EU we must check-in with customs for clearance and to do that we have to go to a port of entry and you are not allowed to stop nor anchor until you have checked in. When leaving Russian waters all the charts we have indicate a "border zone" which are clearly marked no entry and it states that mariners are not allowed to enter the border zone without a special permit. So we obeyed the rules and went around adding 3 miles to our journey. We could have done without this diversion as it meant that the sun set in the meantime.
Arrival was really nerve racking as the place is tiny littered with rocks and the channels are narrow. Worse, once we had cleared in we to told to anchor in a specific place where access was even more difficult in the dark. We did it and eventually had dinner at half past midnight.
The weather was freezing and for the first time ever we had to put the cockpit tent up and sail. Wow! what a difference, it was like sailing in a greenhouse but we were enclosed on three sides which made the journey bearable.
The rules are that once we re-enter the EU we must check-in with customs for clearance and to do that we have to go to a port of entry and you are not allowed to stop nor anchor until you have checked in. When leaving Russian waters all the charts we have indicate a "border zone" which are clearly marked no entry and it states that mariners are not allowed to enter the border zone without a special permit. So we obeyed the rules and went around adding 3 miles to our journey. We could have done without this diversion as it meant that the sun set in the meantime.
Arrival was really nerve racking as the place is tiny littered with rocks and the channels are narrow. Worse, once we had cleared in we to told to anchor in a specific place where access was even more difficult in the dark. We did it and eventually had dinner at half past midnight.
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Sailing with the tent up!