Alongside in Tallinn, Estonia, the voyage crew were invited onto the quayside for the voyage photo. Once this was completed, the captain gave shore leave to explore the area. Some took advantage of the free bus excursion around Tallinn, taking in the turrets and gothic style of the old town including the Toompea castle, Freedom square and Kadriorg Palace, to the very contrasting Stalinist style blocks of apartments.
That night we held a reception on board for our neighbouring tall ships and their crew with a wonderful tureen of punch made by our lovely engineers to welcome them. Thankfully we chose this night for the reception as the following night the heavens opened and many of the crew having taken advantage of a night in town, got soaked to the skin! Next morning we set about getting the ship ready to go back out to sea.
This time we sailed and motored over night and through the archipelago to a beautiful anchorage off Finland. Making the most of this amazing weather, we had a ‘cocktail’ party on board complete with costumes and cocktails chez engineers. There was a good array of costumes as everyone was invited to dress as a cocktail: Tequila sunrise with screwdriver chasers; black Russian; kamikasi and so on. Well done everyone, there was a good effort all round.
Next morning we weighed anchor and made our approach into Turku where we were amazed by some of the Finnish summer houses (one complete with a sea plane) at the water’s edge.
Coming into Turku the river narrowed to 80m, making it a tight manoeuvre to come alongside, which of course was accomplished without a hitch.
Once again our liaison officers have come into their own. Maria and Krista were waiting on the quayside for our arrival, armed with maps and information about the area and of course a timetable of events – sports competitions, bus excursions, crew parade and of course the crew party. To our amusement Captain Clare announced ‘I expect it’s written in Turkish! Oops – that’ll be Finnish!’ Well, we are in Turku and it was a tight manoeuvre!!
Rachel
MP LN