56 21N 19 02E

 

The main activity on board is now "which courtesy flag do we fly". The flags of Baltic countries are not so familiar to us so, almanacs have been scoured for correct propocols of which there are many. Moving from Norway to Sweden was obvious and and keeping north meant we missed Denmark and Poland alltogether but soon will be offshore from Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Finland and Russia. We have visas and documentation for Russia, Estonia and Lithuania, their individual chart and pilotage requirements etc as well as flags but getting it all sorted is an admin nigtmare. However after several frauught hours last night I have got it all arranged in neat plastic folders but am still expecting hassle!

 

Had a few hefty rain / sleet showers yesterday afternoon and temp has dropped, now about 6 deg but wind still SW, occasionally W and about 15k with virtually no swell or current to speak of, so good progress made, very comfortable cruising. The big ship cruising season has obviously started as we have seen several passenger liners, Serenade of the Seas and Norweigan Star are two we got close enough to to see people on deck as we crossed the NE/SW going shipping lanes.