Day 1:
I am certainly excited as I am heading to Aland Island for a 3-day fishing trip aboard Sweet Hope, and looking forward to catching up with Mika and Katri again. This is my second trip aboard Sweet Hope, so it proves how much I enjoyed the first. The plan this time is to trawl and catch Baltic salmon, as well as introduce a little of the ‘boating life’ to my great friends, Sebastiana and Maria. Reaching Åland could be an adventure in itself, but having flown into ARN, we are taking a small plane to Åland directly, which is much easier than the Finnish route given our timing of plane, taxi, ferry etc. A big thank you to Maria for spotting this! Upon arrival in Åland, we could not help but immediately notice how light it was later in the evening – certainly different to the more central European locations we are used to.
Day 2:
Perhaps this should be Day 1, as we boarded Sweet Hope today. A lovely warm welcome from Mika and Katri made me feel right at home immediately, and my friends feel very welcome. Their first impressions of Sweet Hope are positive – larger than they were expecting and very comfortable, so all good on this front. We cast off and headed south to Enskär which was to be our base for the duration of the trip. Other much smaller fishing boats were also using it as a base. It’s a beautiful spot with a traditional Finnish sauna (of course!) and a nice swimming spot to the north of the island. We had an evening walk there, and I had a (very short!) swim in the 13c water. It was certainly refreshing to say the least! Sweet Hope looked fantastic when we looked back on her moored up to the pier, and we took some great photos of her frames by the vegetation. An evening meal of baked salmon which had been caught that day was a superb start to the trip. Mika was kind enough to arrange for Johan, a local fishing expert to join us for the next 2 days. He came aboard so he could inspect the equipment we wee planning to use and ensure it was all in good condition.
Day 3:
08.00 we set sail to the planned fishing area of Sea of Åland (or ‘Ålands hav’ in Swedish), set out 12 lines with outriggers and started trawling. The sleepiness and inactivity of the fish allowed for me, Maria and Sebastian to have a great day enjoying the sun and champagne, although we were keeping a keen ear open for the tell take whir of a salmon on the line. It was not to be however, so we headed back to Enskär. That evening we went to the traditional wood heated sauna on the island, try to dodge (unsuccessfully in my case) the mosquitos waiting for us as we came out, and had some wonderful chicken wrapped in bacon for dinner which Katri had prepared.
Day 4:
08.00 we set off again, lines out, and the trawling began. Again, we were blessed with good weather. Around lunch time we were still waiting for our first bite, but still no luck. We decided to visit Market, home to an old lighthouse and a lot of history. The water level in the whole of the Baltic Sea is low currently due to high pressure, and this, combined with wind and a bit of chop made landing on the island a bit more challenging, but we managed. We were greeted by a team of 6 volunteers who had just landed on the island for the start on their 6-day volunteering program, whereby the stay on the island and conduct maintenance to retain the history of the lighthouse in good condition. Big kudos for them in doing this – its wonderful when such historic sites and buildings can still be enjoyed by visitors today – its important work that they do and I would encourage anyone visiting Market to support them – the trip is well worth it.
It was getting to around 17.00, and as this was our last day of fishing, we talked about the very real possibility that we may not catch anything, when suddenly, the tell take whirr of a real being fast deployed caught our attention. We sprang up and I was delighted to see that it was my rod and spoon which had a bite! I am certainly no expert fisherman, but I knew I had to be careful to keep the tension on the line and not let the fish get under the boat as I was reeling it in. It was pulling hard and felt big. I think it took about 10 minutes to bring it to the boat, and once we landed it, we could see that it was a keeper! Excellent! Upon weighing it, it was about 7.5 kg, so not as big as many, but we were delighted we had something for some ceviche later before we tucked into our reindeer steaks that night. It had been a business day with a good reward in the shape of a salmon at the end of it.
Day 5:
We set sale for ASS Marina at 09.00. We had some debate about the pronunciation of the marina – apparently my Anglo-Saxon pronunciation is inaccurate… you can imagine… Upon arrival 3 hours later, we enjoyed a fantastic soup made form the salmon caught the previous day – it was a fitting end to a great few days’ aboard Sweet Hope and enjoying the wonderful hospitality that Mika and Katri are so well known for.
A huge thank to them for another fantastic trip – happy sailing and safe seas!
C, S and M.
