Baltic Princess Ferry in the Skerries of Turku

When I boarded the ferry at the port of Turku, I made my way through the endless corridors to my cabin, where I dropped my backpack and hurried to the upper deck. Seeing the place for walking, I immediately thought that here you can arrange races and not at all for short distances - the length of the ship is 212 meters, and the walking deck is not much shorter. Baltic Princess was built in 2006 and is the second ferry of the Galaxy series.

Meanwhile, the docks of Turku have long been left astern, although I did not even feel the departure of the ferry. Our ferry was already making its way through the wooded banks, dotted here and there with neat houses.

At the exit of the narrow Bocksundet Strait leading to the port of Turku, there is a small island of Pikku-Pukki, located on the island of Iso-Pukki. There is an opinion that these names come from Joulupukki (Finnish for Santa Claus) and there are many legends around this. However, these names have nothing to do with the fabulous New Year's grandfather and everything is much more banal. Both of these islands have long been used by farmers to graze goats, and pukki means "goat" in Finnish. The Swedish name for the islands is Stor and Lilla Bockholmen (big and small goat Island). There are several 19th-century wooden villas on Iso-Pukki, only one building on Pukko-Pukki, an Airisto Segelsällskap Yacht Club restaurant opened in 1889, and a summer picnic pavilion built in 1851. You can get to the island on the rare steamer Lily, which operates regular flights around the islands.

To the right of the ship is the island of Ruissalo, which is one of the districts of Turku. There are no residential areas on the island, and its territory is declared a nature reserve. Here is a relict oak grove and the botanical garden of the University of Turku. Several wooden mansions-dachas of the 18th and 19th centuries are also protected by the state. The modern city is represented here only by the berths of the yacht club.

A dredger works opposite the island, widening the fairway.

The word "Skerries" comes from the Old Norse "sker" and means a rock in the sea. It is a coastal archipelago consisting of small rocky islands separated by narrow straits. Skerries were created as a result of the movement of a glacier that cut through canyons in the continental rocks, which were then flooded by the sea, as a result of which small islands or individual rocks protrude from the water.

Viittakari Island.

From the port side, we can see the small rocky island of Loistokari. For a long time, the island had no national identity, but it was located at the intersection of trade routes and has long been used by merchants for duty-free trade. In 1879, the island was included in the register of state lands, then a lighthouse and a caretaker's house were built here. After Finland gained independence, a ban on the sale of alcohol was introduced in 1919, which lasted until 1932. During this period, the island was used by smugglers. Cans of alcoholic beverages were delivered by fishermen, taking them through customs under their catch, on the island the prohibited goods were transferred to illegal traders. In the sixties, the lighthouse keeper was replaced by automation and the island was deserted. In the seventies, the island was rented by a retired sailor Emil Aymonenu, and arranged a picnic area for participants of evening cruises on the steamer Ukkopeka. There is a pier, a smokehouse, and the lighthouse keeper's house has a small museum that tells about the history of the island. The house is listed by the National Council of Antiquities.

Despite the difficulties of navigation, ferries run along the fairway, the width of which in some places does not exceed one hundred meters, at speeds of up to 20 knots (37 km/h). At night, we will have to make our way through the maze of islands called Aland, most of the way, only on the approaches to the Swedish capital we will go to the open sea.

This ended the second day of the trip. After sitting on the deck for a while, I went to the cabin - I didn't feel like going to the evening show today. Especially since the arrival of the ferry at Stockholm was early.