A LITTLE MORE ABOUT THE BALTIC

Alan Logan

(Alan's review of The Baltic Sea appears on page 000. When I first received it from him I found he'd included some very useful comments on the area which, while not really part of the book review, were far too useful to omit. I also had three excellent photographs of Katy II and her crew which had arrived too late to illustrate Exploring the Eastern Baltic in the last issue of Flying Fish. Ergo - combine the two. Not often is the Editor's job made so simple!)

The following observations based upon our extensive cruise to the Baltic in the summer of 1992 may be useful to members using The Baltic Sea, though they could already be out of date.

Cruising vessels can now enter all the `prohibited areas' shown on the pilot book's plans of the Baltic states, Poland and the former GDR -- except for residual Russian naval bases. In addition we did encounter an unmarked gunnery range extending sixteen miles offshore from west of Ustka on the north Polish coast which, while not formally closed, should obviously be avoided if firing is taking place. In 1992, foreign vessels with visas entered the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad via a deep canal from the Baltiisk naval base. Unfortunately, Russian reluctance to open the lovely and empty island of Gogland and other convenient stops on the passage to St Petersburg (such as Moshchnyi and Kronstadt) will continue to discourage the growth of yacht tourism to that country.

Visa requirements are constantly changing. In 1993 visitors from most countries -- but not the UK -- to Estonia and probably the other two Baltic states need a valid visa. Visa cannot be arranged on arrival and are no longer valid for transit through the other Baltic states. Visas and permission for cruising vessels to enter Russia are still issued only on the basis of an invitation from an authorised entity, usually a yacht club.