ARC Baltic - The big museum of St-Petersburg

by World Cruising on 16 Aug 2017 As the half point of the ARC Baltic after already three weeks sailing from Rostock, to Bornholm to Visby and to Tallinn the fleet was underway to St-Petersburg, Russia. The fleet made of 23 boats was divided into three groups of boats in order to arrive at different time to the famous Kronschtadt Island, compulsory stop for any boats coming to St-Petersburg to clear IN with Customs and Immigration officers.

Boats were all boarded by Immigration officer and inspected by dog and Customs officer, under the co-ordination of our agent Vladimir to make sure all the boats got through the process. After complying with all the requirement and paper works, boats were finally on their way for the last 18NM to the Yacht Club of St-Petersburg. After a busy day of arrivals on Wednesday, all the boats were finally IN by the evening, enjoying a free day the following day before a busy time coming up the next few days.

On Friday participants met on the marina carpark in the morning ready to depart with the bus to the City Centre for the visit of the famous Hermitage. However in preparation of the Maritime Day on Sunday all the bridges were open in order to repeat the military parade of sail. Therefore the bus drove to the closest metro station located on the other side of the river and participants enjoyed an unplanned but successful underground trip to the Hermitage instead, the only way to get to the other side.

Arriving on time at the Hermitage museum without losing anyone, participants received a Private welcome and introduction in the Hermitage Theatre given by the Head of the Friend’s Department, Miss Svetlana Philippova. Following this introduction, participants were divided in different groups to follow a guide tour of the museum for 2h. Coming back to the Yacht Club participants then got ready for the Folk Show and traditional Ballet they booked.

The following morning participants took another bus to drive them about 60Km further down West to the Peterhof museum and garden. The fleet was again split into different groups, following their guide around the palace and the garden, with a crew lunch in the middle of the visit. After another busy day participants just got back on time to get ready for the Opera “Eugene Onegin” on the same evening.

Finally on Sunday morning skippers were all invited to a skipper meeting in order to discuss the departure procedure out of Russia as well as the arrival procedure back into the EU in Finland their next destination.

On early Monday morning the fleet departed the Yacht Club for the next Leg taking them to the NJK Yacht Club of Helsinki