Monday, October 29, 2012

Winter coat

If the first mate arrives from her daily hunting and gathering routine fifteen minutes late with a bag I know she has been shopping clothes. Then in the evening she will try on the new clothes and ask the captain to comment. The comments have certain requirement, their being too short and not descriptive enough the first mate requests the captain improve the commenting. I feel sorry for the captain to have such duty after long day of hunting and gathering so I help him by checking the purchases and giving my seal of approval, or rejection, by leaving few of my luxurious hair on the goods.



Talking about my luxe fur. I am lucky to have more sophisticated system for changing to winter warderobe, it just happens gradually and I really don't have need to shop. I believe that the captain wished that the first mate, and himself, would be like that too. I shed slowly the summer coat and there it is - three layers of functional warmness perfectly suitable for near-arctic winters of latitudes beyond 64 degrees. In the pics I show off my gorgeous muffler.




Saturday, October 27, 2012

Venetian night in Tankar

The second stop on our Oulu-Kokkola transfer was our beloved Tankar. The old wise lighthouse welcomed us as we glided into Tankar harbor pool in afternoon sunshine, on glittering sea.  In the sunset the lighthouse surounded us with its softly sweeping light and the Moon appeared from the southern side of the island to wish us joyful Venetian evening, the traditional summer ending 
celebration in Kokkola and Pietarsaari archipelago. 

As the blanket of night slowly covered us we could see Kokkola harbor lights, including the lights of our winter boat yard, and the fireworks that lasted for hours. We participated the celebration by setting the colorful mini-hurricans in our cockpit.  The first mate was very happy that the venetian happened exactly this weekend, she had been talking about wanting to join 
the celebration in its originating neighborhood. 

Well, the evening ended a bit unpleasantly for me - there were some fireworks on the island too. I did not like the loudness and I stayed with the first mate under the saloon table as long the fireworks lasted. 

PS If you wonder what the heck can be Venetian in Bothnian Bay its the fireworks. According to our source fireworks have been called "venetian" as they first arrived at Europe in Venice.








Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Morning in Maakalla











We enjoyed the morning in Maakalla after the sailing from Oulu to Kalajoki, on our way to Kokkola.

 As we managed most of the distance on Friday we could cruise leisurely 
to Tankar, with no hurry. 



Friday, October 19, 2012

The longest leg of the season

I had a mission. The vessel had to be moved from our home marina to the winterization site. This was a challenge. This was in towards the end of the August. The approaching fall means frequent and heavy winds. Finding a suitable slot is not easy. I checked weather forecast from all the available sources, frequently. To get all the facts. With all the available data I made decision: This is the weekend. I ordered my crew to skip their daily hunting and gathering routine on Friday. They did. We woke up before sunrise. Execute! The travel commenced - the first and the longest leg of our Oulu-Kokkola journey started.  

The night before we spent in Varjakka. This is 5.30 am.

We headed towards west. The sun rose and started to catch us from east.

Hailuoto ferry bathed in the morning sun.

This beacon serves seagoing on Hailuoto coast route.

We leave Marjaniemi behind us - we are at sea!

After 12 hours our destination is visible in the horizon.

Approaching Maakalla.

Moored. Time to wake up for me!

I love new islands.

I am full of energy after all the sleep. 

Night falls on Maakalla.

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Enjoying my Anniversary Flowers

The bouquets of flowers are not only about beauty for eyes and lovely fragrances for nose but they are also and mainly enjoyed for their taste.

I really appreciate my florist adding the long and narrow leaves, they are almost as tasty as the real summer hay. 



Monday, October 15, 2012

My 1st Anniversary

Today is my first anniversary living with my crew, exactly year ago I moved to my lair on land from my parents'.

Congratulations, First mate and Captain! You have passed the first year in my service!

See how fluffy I was at 12 weeks age.
And how tiny little my feet were...

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Blogging plans after Summer vacation 2012 finale


Sammakkalahti was the finale issue in my summer vacation production and its time for new plans, for upcoming summer and the blogging before it.

So I would like to share my posting plans with you.

To prepare for the new season its important to exercise both body and mind, for me and the crew. What would be the better way the motivate the crew than showing example! I exercise a lot in my lair on land, now I just have to train my crew to take pics on athletic action so that I can share those with you. Also mental training is important, meditation and some philosophical thinking - you can expect to see some feline philosophy during the winter.

In November and December the First mate arranges a lot of Xmas fuss in my lair on land. She probably will pursue me to publish some Xmas themed photos. To keep her happy I will but I look after that the attributes "cat" and/or "sea" can be connected to them. The attribute "cat" I can easily arrange ;-)

When the Spring starts to get closer it will be time for dreams of the new season's adventures. And the preparation - there is plenty of maintenance on the vessel to make it ready to venture.

And, of course, memories from the Season 2012 will be on agenda - as the days get shorter and shorter here near Arctic Circle the sunny summer day memories at sea are treasured.






Thursday, October 11, 2012

Summer vacation 2012 - Sammakkalahti

We left Huvön very early in the morning as anchor alarm woke us up - the wind had woken up and blew in exactly from the bay opening causing small but effective waves running into us.  Captain decided that we will not re-acnhor but we move to an other bay very close to Huvön, to sleep few hours and then continue to Sammakkalahti. I have never run to the cockpit as fast as then - I thought that finally the crew realized that four am is a excellent time to make day's first bird observations. But no, they just started the engine and very fast collected the anchor and motored out from the bay. Getskär-Renskär is very close to Huvön and its bay is protected by mostly underwater reef that settles the waves. We decided to check if SXK buyou would be available and it was. We settled down quickly, continued our sleep for few hours and woke up to notice that the wind was totally calmed down. We had long drive ahead of us, with engine - how unpleasant.

We arrived in Sammakalahti late afternoon and it was very warm and sunny, perfect day for enjoying a beach.The mini peninsula was full of sun bathers and swimmers - my crew told me they have never before parked the boat like this. There was also entertainment for the beach folks as the captain wanted to test how the dinghy works in anchoring business, practicing the double anchor technique. This resulted that the anchor was relocated three times. "Jobbig"(hard) was a statement from our audience on the sand.

One of the lighthouses on our way through Kalix coast.





It is possible
to have such moments in your life
that
the Sun
shines from your mast.



Sammakkalahti is located between the Seskarö's  westmost "fingers" pointing to north, here is the map.

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Summer Vacation 2012 - The Finale approaches

The next post in this series is the last one, Sammakkalahti in Seskarö.

In this picture we have sunrise, yes sunrise, at 4:00 as we left our anchor position in the lovely bay of Huvön.


Sunday, October 7, 2012

One more time - Closing the season

I have now spent the first weekend in my lair on land and I have to say that I still need to contemplate before I can comment about my first season ending. Staying on land the whole weekend, this is different.

Before publishing my season end analysis I still want to return to the last weekend of season in the vessel, and the last morning after the night I spent in Tankar with my crew.

The morning was exquisite. My crew woke up at 7.20, this is very close to the my preferred schedule to go out, inhale fresh and invigorating sea air and observe birds. As we knew this is the last morning of the season we wanted to enjoy as much we could so I had my crew to have their morning coffee on the deck while I did my meditation. As the days get shorter and sunrise later we could admire the big yellow sun raising from the sea. Then sky turned bright blue just before big thick fog enveloped us and the island.

After few hours of lovely morning in the cockpit and having slow breakfast I felt ready for the nap. To get my crew to exercise I sent to them to a walk around island - they went once more to meet the old wise lighthouse, say goodbye and agree happy rendez-vous in the upcoming spring.




No photography while I meditate!