June 24th 2013

On Lake Onega


On the 20th of June, we departed from Valaam late in the afternoon and
motored through the night to the entry of the River Svir. We motored along
the river till we came to the Lodeynopolsky bridge. There we anchored and
waited for a few hours for the bridge to be opened for us. After the
bridge, we motored till midnight when we finally arrived at the first lock
of the passage.

For each boat, there was only one hook on the wall to which to attach the
boat but due to lack of information, this was something we did not know in
advance. During the hassle when all the boats were inside the lock trying
to attach themselves the best they knew how, we failed to attach our boat
properly and when the water level started to rise, our dinghy was rubbing
against the lock wall. We tried to push the boat away from the wall but
the force of the water pouring into the lock was overpowering.
Luckily, both we and the dinghy survived the ordeal.



The next day, we entered the second lock in broad daylight which always
makes things easier. This time, we also knew what to do, and everything
went smoothly as planned.




Late in the evening on the 23rd, we anchored near Cape BesovNos on Lake
Onega. We collected drift wood on the beach, built a huge bonfire and had
a BBQ that lasted till the wee hours of the morning. After just a few
hours of sleep, it was time to wake up again and, dead beat, we continued
our passage to Petrozavodsk on the opposite side of the lake.