Back to the future (Part 2)

One thing I treasure dearly about living in Finland is the fact that it has so much water. The coastline stretches over thousands of kilometers and there is a reason why it´s called the land of 1000 lakes. 187.888 to be exact as the Finnish Departement of the Environment claims.
Born and raised in Northern Germany I used to live directly at the Baltic Sea. I loved it.

Then I moved to Düsseldorf which had at least the river Rhein to trigger some placebo effects when I wanted to be at the water. Düsseldorf is an important chapter in my life. I made good friends there, played in a few bands and expanded my horizons. But in the long run I started to really miss the sea.
Now I´m living in Helsinki, again at the Baltic Sea. And I love it.

Maybe now you can imagine how thrilled I was when my buddy Riku rang me up and asked me to join him on a boat trip to a very small island. Hell yeah! The plan was to sail there, barbeque, go to the sauna, stay over night and sail back the next day. Sounded like a good plan to me. The whole idea got even more interesting when Riku explained that the island was practically deserted. It belongs to a yacht club and the chance to bump into someone there in the beginning of september (and that was the time) is rather small.

The island in question. Let´s go there...

We agreed to make the trip and took action. Armed with sleeping bags, warm socks, sausages and beer we drove the 150 kilometers to nearby Turku by car. A small harbor maybe 40 kilometers from Turku was our first destination. That is where Riku and his brother have a sailing boat which they share.

Land ahoy!

When we got there we quickly loaded our stuff into the boat and set sail. Soon after we had left the harbor zone behind us we had a marvelous view on nature´s beauty. Tiny islands here and there, the waves, the wind, the sun...the weather was almost too good to be true.
Roundabout one hour later we arrived at the island and made ourselves at home. Nice place, that island!

A few small huts and a clubhouse, a sand beach and the place where we stayed, a cottage with a living room, bunk beds and a sauna. It was a funny feeling to be there somehow because although you could still see the mainland in the far distance we were alone on an island. It was like literally waving goodbye to civilisation. Cool thing!

We fired up the grill at the beach and enjoyed our sausages and beer. Night set in as we went to the sauna and with the usual breaks inbetween we made it to three hours! During one of our breaks we took a look to the sky and what we saw was a-ma-zing! Uncountable stars twinkling over our heads, an amount Riku and me had never seen before. I´m originally from the countryside, so I know the night sky there is always very different to what you would see in the city, but this? Maybe it was the beer...

That was our view from where we had the BBQ

We slept like a log, no miracle after fresh air poisoning, sauna and some brews. Next day we left the island before noon and made it back to Helsinki roundabout four, somehow tired but happy. The trip had been very cool and we knew it. I was grateful for the great experience and I still am. And I would gladly do it again, you hear me, Riku?