Estonia

So it was, with trepidation, that we made our way into Estonian waters, expecting at any moment to be boarded by officialdom, and marched off to the county court to pay our Ensign fine.

The contrast could not be more extreme.

Our first call was Kuressaare, where the harbour master had hoisted a huge Irish flag on his flagpoles to welcome us.

He took our lines, and made sure we knew where all the facilities and attractions in this pretty town were to be found. He had spotted us on Marine Traffic AIS system, and knew we were coming.

Kuressaare is lovely, with a wonderful medieval castle to explore, and some interesting sculpture. This is Suur Toll and his wife Piret, friendly giants, who guard the lives of the Saaremaa islanders.

After two lovely days cycling and touring in the sunshine we moved on to the new harbour at Kõiguste, where the lovely harbour master, Kuli, had also hoisted an Irish flag – fresh out of the package, she said.

She sold us fish her friends had caught and smoked that morning, and chatted about her Finnish husband who was away competing in an International Dragon championships, and how they hoped to develop the harbour.

The sailing breezes held up and we had an exhilarating run to our next stop at the ferry port of Kiuvastu, again greeted by Toomas, the charming harbour master who said we were the first Irish boat to visit, and apologised for NOT having a flag.

He gave us a ‘welcome discount’ of €5 which he said to spend on ice cream, while he insisted on heating up the sauna for us, and put up a reserved sign, so that we coy foreigners would not be disturbed. He told us of the tradition for bunching branches of birch leaves and beating your back to enjoy the sauna experience all the more, but we skipped that treat.

In the morning when we said goodbye, Karen got a big hug, then we waved goodbye.

Estonia so far has been fantastic – great sailing winds, sleepy harbours with super facilities (all helped by EU development funding) and such a welcome.