Very few Americans make it to the Saimaa Canal, a 26-mile body of water starting near Vyborg, Russia, and ending in Finland’s lake country, with a series of 120 interconnected lakes and canals. Indeed, one local told James and Jennifer Hamilton on Dirona, their Nordhavn 52, that it was the first American boat there in the past 48 years. The Hamiltons, from Seattle, have been cruising since 2012 and already have one circumnavigation on Dirona under their belts. They plan to cruise in the Scandinavian countries this summer. Here is their log of cruising the Saimaa Canal:
The Saimaa Canal, connecting Lake Saimaa to the Baltic Sea, has long been an important commercial transportation route. The canal was completed in 1856 while Finland was a Duchy in the Russian Empire and was wholly within Finland after the country became independent in 1917. As part of the reparations for World War II, Finland was required to cede land to the Soviet Union and the border between the countries moved about 50 miles west in the Baltic Sea area. The southern half of the Saimaa Canal and the sea approaches to it, along with Vyborg, then Finland’s second largest city, became part of Russia. All water traffic between the Saimaa Lakes and the Baltic Sea ceased.
Traffic resumed after Finland obtained a 50-year lease on the Soviet portion of the canal in 1963, an agreement that was renewed starting in 2013. Today commercial and pleasure craft regularly make the journey through Russia and the Saimaa Canal between the Saimaa Lakes and the Baltic Sea. As far as we know, we are the first Nordhavn to make this trip, and certainly one of the very few American-flagged vessels to do so. One local told us he’d not seen a US-registered boat in the lakes in the 48 years he’d been coming to the area.
Below are trip highlights from May 31st, 2019 in the Saimaa Canal, Finland. Click any image for a larger view, or click the position to view the location on a map. And a live map of our current route and most recent log entries always is available at mvdirona.com/maps.
As part of the lease agreement between Finland and Russia to allow voyages through Russia to and from the Saimaa Canal, no photography is allowed in the border zone between the two Finnish borders, and cameras are required to be in their cases and stowed below decks. Now that we’ve exited the Russian border zone, we’re finally able to take some pictures of the scenic run through the Saimaa Canal. Read more:
https://mvdirona.com/2019/06/saimaa-canal/
