Hyvää Joulua! Merry Xmas!

Snow coverage is good

The xmas preparations continue well at my cabin. The crew has attended my outings adequately. This winter seems to be a good snow winter. There is already enough snow for forming deep pathways, deep enough to hide and prowl. Oh, there is action calore at the bird feeding station. I could continue for hours...

Xmas preparations have started

I like preparing for Xmas. There is a lot of entertaining activity to participate, a lot of new scents and the crew stays awake later than usual in the evenings. These nice minimalistic heart shaped xmas tree decors have still lovely foresty birch bark scent left to them. Me likes 😉

Happy 100th Birthday to you Finland!

If I fits I sits

November starts

Window washing

The snow has arrived at my cabin. The crew is  a bit late in the process of window cleaning but with my help and temperature being just above zero we managed it.

Season over

Aurora season has started

The day of the autumnal equinox turned into an exiting evening. Our arrival at Röyttä happened almost in darkness and the Auroras activated. Then I had a long walk on the island even I had to interrupt the exploration as the first mate got too sleepy. The captain however entertained himself with the camera.

Good morning

After rainy and stormy weekend the Monday morning looked like this.

Sunset 😀

I have started second part of my summer vacation. It started with lovely evening cruise, motoring not sailing however, amazing sunset and starbright sky with full moon.

Is it a troll?

Last leg of the sailing in Sunrise

Day before yesterday the vessel returned to the home marina. Mine and the crew's non-nautical routines are slowly resuming. I have rested for the two days, and looked after one of the crew members having flu. Last week we had some quite long legs and early wake ups.

Once settled I will return with further posts on rest of the tour which went like this: 

Oulu-Marjaniemi-Kalajoki-Mustakari-Tankar-Öja-Jeppis-Mässkär-Kummelskär-Vaasa-Granskär-(Sommarö fort)-(Larsbjörkaskär)-Grötfjärd-Djupkastet-Kummelskär-Jeppis-Mässkär-Tankar-Kalajoki-Marjaniemi-Oulu. (The ones in parenthesis we checked but not visited yet.)

Sunset

We on our way back to N. As a big fan of sunsets the first mate requests to publish the first pic of one in this sailing tour. So here we go. An eternal moment from Mikkelinsaaret archipelago where we stayed for last two nights to avoid yesterday's too strong N wind and waves at the northern shores Vasa archipelago.

Bakery in Vaasa

The crew is excited about a bakery called Aroma in Vaasa. A kind of place you would expect to find in Stockholm or in Copenhagen. Both bread, levain and local style of rye bread were tested,  and the sweet things, mazarines, were excellent.

Granskär Saloon

We have been excited about the new routes available in the recently published new F chart and the new destinations for us in aurinkoreitti.fi. One of the new routes takes to Jannes Saloon which is a restaurant on island Granskär. There is a pontoon for the guests and we asked for to stay overnight. A lovely spot indeed with high sunset factor :-) ! The restaurant closes at 8 pm but the lady was very kind and allowed me attended by the first mate roam on the restaurant's outdoor grounds even later. I was very pleased as I do enjoy studying new places. PS The crew reported that the salmon soup lunch at the saloon was delicious. Simple and enjoyable food!

Good going today

Finally the N wind tames and we got some fair weather sailing.

Cumulus

Rather rare cloud type during this vacation cruise is worth of reporting.

Have lovely weekend wherever you are and whatever is state of the weather!

Refreshing 10 m/s N

Finally the sun is shining and we left the rainy days spent in Vaasa behind. It is still enough wind to refresh my coat and the bed ware 😀

Trekking at Kummelskär - Ticking experience

Back to Kummelskär... We had to leave prematurely due to the weather forecast but I still managed to do a small exploration on a nice trail. The first mate got very nostalgic as we discovered a field of   Pyrolas, the same ones that grew in a forest in which the first mate used to play with her sister and brother. 

After returning to the vessel three ticks were located on my facial hair on their way to my ears. This is worth mentioning as after all this years studying islands this was the first time to see ticks. Once before I have visited my doctor to have one removed from my ear lobe. 

However, this location is highly recommendable to visit. It is one of the Unesco world heritage locations, belonging to the larger Kvarken area.

Elegant school and sailing supplies

We stopped in Pietarsaari to replenish our supplies. Or actually the crew did the actions as I enjoyed a well deserved day time sleep. Once in a while one needs such thing. This elegant old school building and the surrounding garden impressed the crew, again.

Raippaluoto bridge

From Pietarsaari pitstop we continued early into morning to Kummelskär in Mikkelinsaaret, an outer archipelago island. The upcoming strong W and N winds made us to leave next morning and we missed the planned island day. 8-10 m/s wind blew us under the bridge with 7 knots speed.

Birthday Boy

The crew concratulates the chief of the vessel on his 6th birthday!

Enjoying sunset after busy island day

The wind strength and direction have not been in alignment with our plans. However it has been a good reason to explore the island and enjoy a lovely synny day.

Morning check

How to manage a stormy harbour day

In this picture I demonstrate one of the best ways to use a harbour day when the weather is not the most favorable. Zzzzzz....

Spending rainy day in Mässkär

Öja pics

Some more pics from lovely Öja. It is a really picturesque village center with old jugend(?) style elementary school surrounded by newer buildings nicely complementing it and old log buildings either as museum or transformed to a nice cafe. Really worth of a visit. The mooring area is not very deep. Before you go check excellent information on the route and mooring from aurinkoreitti.fi.

Thinking in Tankar

New lovely spot in Öja

The vacation has started. Part 2.

The pic included too.

The vacation has started

We thought yesterday that it will be a leisurely sunset cruise from the fastland to Tankar but we ended up tacking in gusty 7-9 m/s weather. What a swift ride! However, the point I want to make is that Tankar is one of my favourite harbors and the crew loves it too. The vacation can be declared to have started!

Time to get to the sea

I spent this weekend at the cabin. The blackflies have arrived. The mosquitos cannot scramble my well developed furcoat but the blackflies can. And afterwards their bites hurt. I skipped my evening outings completely and this morning I only very quickly went outdoors. I decided that it is time for the sailing.

Festival

Friday evening the first leg of the transport sailing took us to Marjaniemi. It happened to be a modern literature and music festival. The marina was full of boats and we had opportunity to hear three artists. Kube made me retreat to down below but Tuomas Kyrö book readings with nice music inserts and Reino Nordin music brouhgt me back to cockpit to enjoy the harbour life with many dogs and active seagulls.

Weekend mission completed

This weekend we sailed our vessel to the summer vacation waters. The definition for that is below 64 degrees latitude. I have not yet solved the reasoning for the definition the first mate has done...

Resting after Midsummer

I was very active during long Midsummer weekend and I rested the beginning of this week. Now I am full of energy to start new adventures.

Hyvää Juhannusta! Have a lovely Midsummer Day!

I started my Midsummer day at 6.20 am with nice outing to the river close to my cabin.

Catch and Release

The captain has decided to become a great fisherman. Today he caught these tree nice fishes. I got to inspect the catch before release.

Tip for higher temperatures

When it gets too warm I like to use a moist towel as a cooling device. I believe the same trick would work on sailors with less developed furcoat too. However, upcoming weekend's Midsummer celebrations will happen in temperatures more suitable for my coat.

Busy preparing the vessel

The season has started

Today I took the crew and the vessel to the sea first time this year. The summer let wait itself this year. It was cold and late Spring and preparing the vessel was cool business indeed.

Enchanted forest

Sunny snow holiday

The Sun is back