Baltic pearls - the most beautiful places on our sea

Wlodek · Post by **Wlodek** » Tue Nov 15, 2011 11:20 am

Hello everybody,
We are a married couple from Poland. For more than 10 seasons we have been sailing at the Baltic Sea. We have visited about 200 harbors and anchorages and lately we got an idea to share our knowledge with other sailors. A few months ago we started to write a Sailing Photoblog. We write about the most beautiful places we have visited. Spots that can be easily missed when cruising from one well known destination to another. The blog is written in Polish but there are many photos as well. Besides, in the upper right corner of the site there is a Google Translator window, where you can choose your language. The translations are a bit funny sometimes, but if someone is interested in a certain place, it is worth trying.
You are welcome to visit our blog: http://www.photovoyage.pl/index.php?lan ... ailingblog
and if you would be interested in getting some more info about any place mentioned on the photoblog or generally about sailing on Baltic, please send us an e-mail.
We put news almost once a week and always announce that on our Facebook, so if you like, join us there as well.

Best wishes from Poland
Agnieszka & Wlodek Bilinscy
s/y Safran

Artsi · Post by **Artsi** » Wed Nov 16, 2011 23:12 pm

Beatiful pics! Welcome back to Finish arcpileago and to Turku. We have many similar beautiful and exiting places as UTÖ, where You have been all ready visited

Wlodek · Post by **Wlodek** » Thu Nov 17, 2011 11:08 am

Thank you Artsi,
We plan to sail around Gulf of Bothnia next season, so we will probably pass through Alands and Turku archipelago again

AWB

Joakim · Post by **Joakim** » Thu Nov 17, 2011 23:29 pm

Nice blog! One comment about Björkö. You said that it is limited to boats up to 1.5 m draft. I have been there with 2.0 m draft and the lowest value I saw in the echo was 2.3 m.

I haven't been further north on Gulf of Bothia than Uusikaupunki, which is a nice place to visit. Rauma is also a nice town with old wooden houses, but I haven't been there with a boat. Pori has very nice beaches.

Wlodek · Post by **Wlodek** » Fri Nov 18, 2011 00:23 am

Hello Joakim.
Well, this is strange. You are obviously right about Björkö, but we did not write this without some knowledge. On Finnish chart we have seen (we believe) 1.7m on the entrace and our friend on a boat with 2m finally decided to moor outside. We thought it is better to write 1.5 in case someone would like to enter the bay when the weather is not good and there are some waves.
And thanks for Gulf of Bothnia info.
Agnieszka and Wlodek

Joakim · Post by **Joakim** » Fri Nov 18, 2011 09:57 am

The fairway into the bay is marked as 1.8 m, thus it is absolutely safe for 1.8 m draft and there is safety margin for different water levels and waves. So you can always go there with 1.8 m draft and at least 2 m draft is OK for normal water level and no big waves.

Wlodek · Post by **Wlodek** » Fri Nov 18, 2011 10:22 am

Hello again,
thank you for explanation. We will mention it on our blog. Each centimeter is important when approaching shallow places

Agnieszka and Wlodek

Eetu · Post by **Eetu** » Fri Nov 18, 2011 19:00 pm

Wlodek · Post by **Wlodek** » Fri Nov 18, 2011 19:47 pm

Eetu, it seems that you have been sailing for a long time now. We were on Björkö in 2001 when we bought our first boat and 2009 with the second.
First time was interesting because it was blowing 8B for 3 days and nobody, even big yachts with strong engines, could leave the bay. The waves at the narrow entrance were so big and steep that yachts which wanted to go out had to come back, anchor again and wait.
Yours
Agnieszka and Wlodek

Eetu · Post by **Eetu** » Fri Nov 18, 2011 20:49 pm

harald · Post by **harald** » Sat Nov 19, 2011 01:26 am

Wlodek wrote:Eetu, it seems that you have been sailing for a long time now. We were on Björkö in 2001 when we bought our first boat and 2009 with the second.
First time was interesting because it was blowing 8B for 3 days and nobody, even big yachts with strong engines, could leave the bay. The waves at the narrow entrance were so big and steep that yachts which wanted to go out had to come back, anchor again and wait.
Yours
Agnieszka and Wlodek

I, and my family where on the neighbouring island Jurmo during that storm. My brother-in-law went missing for a brief while trying to sail a J-80 to Åland, using a chart copied on greaseproof paper (the smoked fish sold on Jurmo was packaged in it). He said that they where totally unable to sail the boat, every time it rightened itself it got slammed down again. Ok, they where just two onboard and a J-80 needs five.

He can probably tell that story himself to many on our independance day at the reception, he got invited

The waves at Jurmo wheren't that bad, but I can just imagine how they could've been at the Björkö mouth. We actually moved to Björkö after that storm, so we missed you by a day or so.

Wlodek · Post by **Wlodek** » Sat Nov 19, 2011 09:59 am

Eetu wrote: After that we continued to Kökar in the Aland archipelago, were we participated in the rising of the famous and huge Midsummer pole.
Eetu

We hope we will find a place in Finland where we can take part in this celabration next year. We would like to leave Gdansk in the begening of June so by that time we should be on Alands or Finnish Archipelgo.

And for Harald - Hello, as we could see on your page, you are a real racer

We were on Jurmo in 2009 but the weather was nice. The island is also very beautiful.
Agnieszka and Wlodek

Eetu · Post by **Eetu** » Sat Nov 19, 2011 20:07 pm

Wlodek · Post by **Wlodek** » Sat Nov 19, 2011 21:52 pm

Eetu,
we printed the list and hope to get to one of the mentioned places. Thank you once again.
Agnieszka and Wlodek

Wlodek · Post by **Wlodek** » Sat Feb 09, 2013 15:26 pm

Hello again,
our sailor's photo blog is 2 years old now and has got more than 60 posts about beautiful places on Balic Sea and west coast of Europe. This is a good moment to improve our service a little. The blog has a new look now, new tools as well: you can search articles by countries or key words, comment, ask questions, subscribe by e-mail or RSS ad see the map of places described. And most imprtant, blog i written in English and Polish now. Welcome and enjoy!
Our new address:
http://www.photovoyage.pl/sailingblog/
Agnieszka and Włodek Bilińscy
s/y Safran

Ps. You are also invited to visit other our blogs - of which Boating - about our voyages along European rivers and canals is most connected with water

There is one about Nature photography and the last is about Poland. All links are to be found on the right side of Sailing blog
AWB