57:46.54N  23:16.12E

 

An early bish, bash, bosh passage from Liepaja around yet another military exercise area turned into such a lovely downwind sail, that when we saw our intended destination, Ventspils, very industrialised and with a smelly fish processing plant, we decided to carry on sailing through the night into the Gulf of Riga to RUHNU, a tiny Estonian Island.  What a pearl it turned out to be!  We arrived at 4am in full daylight into a tiny empty guest harbour. When we surfaced at 9am, the harbour master had raised the Union flag in our honour.

 

Ruhnu has a Swedish cultural history, but all the Swedes left in one day in August 1944 to escape Stalin’s invasion. The younger locals are very friendly and mostly speak English. We spent the day cycling up to the small central village and then walking back around the shoreline. Totally deserted and unspoilt with lots of birdlife.

 

Final passage to Riga early tomorrow morning.