Off we go. I sail out of the harbour of Miiduranna carefully – take another deep breath. I am ready, yes I want to, and my ArgoFram, this splendid example of a floating experimental laboratory, carries me to the next exploration trip.
On the other, Finnish side of the Baltic Sea, I sail past Hanko directly to the small island of Helsingholmen, where I washed up last year (thanks to a recommendation) rather by chance. – True, I am not one to seek repetition. But that inspiring feeling at the beginning of last year’s trip, my maiden voyage, is so memorable that I now want to pay my respects to this place and its inhabitants!
And I am not disappointed. – I’m the only one arriving here; the summer holidays start soon, and then it’s a hive of activity, (sailing) boat after boat. The place has become so popular that the grandfather (together with his girlfriend), the son (who now runs the island) and the grandchild (who still goes to school but helps out in the summer) focus all their activities on this short summer period of about three months.
Over the winter, a new sauna house was built, the common room got a new big screen (for broadcasting sporting events). But: the local waters have been fished out and fishing has been definitively abandoned (the grandfather still goes out daily, but only to take his grandchild to school on the mainland, and at the same time he buys the fish in the next harbour to smoke it in a special way on the island). The sale of their products, apart from the harbour fees, covers their entire annual budget, and enables them to live a largely independent life!
Four people live on this island, and in summer 30 to 40 boats come every day with up to eight crew members. That also flushes money into the kiosk cash register; ice cream and especially beer sell brilliantly… But it’s not that far yet. I’m alone here, wandering around the island, bathing in the sea (well, it should be: refreshing myself in the sea…) and ‘meditating’, enjoying the peace and quiet and doing some soul-searching, because from here I’m heading west tomorrow, through the island world of the Finnish archipelago towards Aaland.
It’s cool, a light wind is coming up, but the sun is shining gloriously; the sunset is magnificent, and with my drone I have like an extra eye at my disposal. Standing on the ground, I can expand my perceptual dimension, literally elevate it, take an eagle’s eye view. Fascinating. I experience the island world in a completely different way.