Although most people refer to the entire water surface around Finland as the Baltic, this is not really true. The Baltic or Baltic Sea has a North West arm that is called the Bothnic or the Bothnic Sea. With Sweden to the West and Finland to the East it goes as far up North to a place called Tornio where eventually Sweden and Finland meet. The Bothnic is separated from the Baltic by a small passage called Alands Hav, named after the largest island just to the right of it. Vaasa is located about half way up the Bothnic and just too far away from Helsinki, to sail the distance in one night. Thus we spent a day at sea going slow speed. Not that the guests minded this; after Warnemunde, Tallinn and two days St. Petersburg most of them were ready for a quiet day at sea. We had a nice and sunny day to support the relaxation as today we sailed between two frontal systems. Tomorrow it will be overcast and rainy again.

Both seas are shallow and depths are seldom more than 300 to 400 feet and in most places it is a lot less. Therefore there is an extensive buoy system in place to mark the fairways and the shallow patches. It is a true cornucopia in variations of buoys, varying from the standard steel bell conical buoy to plastic tube buoys and concrete light poles. The last two are very much in fashion because of the ice in the winter time. Plastic buoys (super strong, reinforced plastic that is) are in use in fairways and harbour areas. The tall concrete pillions can be seen at the outer extremities of the port approaches and in the middle of nowhere along the major traffic routes. Some are so big that they have a helicopter platform on the top but most of them have to be approached by boat and then a steel ladder gives access to the light.

The passage of North of Aland Hav (body of water just to the North of the Stockholm pilot area), called Sodra Kvarken, also has such a concrete pole at the edge of the shallow area. We, sailors love them as they reflect extremely well on the radar screen. Towering high above the sea, the top of the poles are constructed of steel with sharp angles and that gives an excellent reflection of the radar beams. As is known rounded edges and soft angles do not reflect radar beams very well, which can be seen when looking at modern navy ships that are more and more designed and constructed with “Stealth” features. The whole superstructure is made up of large rectangular surfaces with soft corners. These poles in contrast have a very angular top on which the light cubicle is standing. Much more preferred than buoys, as these can become “invisible” in heavy swells and can be moved from location by moving ice. The poles do not move and can always be seen, even if the ice is getting piled up during a heavy winter.

The amazing thing with traffic is, that you always get it when you want it the least. After leaving Helsinki, traffic was far and wide in between but coming closer to the passage of Sodra Kvarken, there was more if it. Understandable as all the ships going in and out of the Baltic go through here. What amazed me the most is, that we meet a ship coming our way, going opposite to us, exactly, on the minute in the narrowest spot of the whole passage. Not a little bit earlier, not a little bit later, no, right on the minute. We changed course to starboard to steer into the Bothnic (by going around one of these poles) and the other ship turned to port out of the Bothnic at exactly the same moment, being exactly abeam of us. This particular ship was called the “Ice Queen” which I think is a most appropriate name for a Baltic Sea ship.

In the course of the evening dark clouds started to gather at the horizon and the wind started to increase. Courtesy of a strong weather front coming in from the Atlantic. It is pushing a band of rain ahead of it. First it will be rain with only little wind but then a mixture of strong wind and rain and later strong winds only with clear skies. That wind- only time- should be on Stockholm day.

Tomorrow we will have rain; and I am keeping my fingers crossed that the wind will only start to blow by the time I am docked. I have to swing on arrival in a small harbour and the biggest tugboat available is only 500 HP strong, not much helps if things get critical. It will rain and it will blow. The question is when.