On Thursday around 5pm Sarah, Belinda and Daphne arrived to Helsinki airport where Bettina was to meet them. I met them all at the bus station and carrying the luggage through the city we made it to the hotel!!
On Thursday we wandered around the city a bit and had a lovely dinner in a little Chinese restaurant and then it was time for bed. 11pm and still light outside, the girls could not believe it.
Friday morning we took a stroll around the Kauppatori market where we were amused by the Finnish fur hats and circus woman with cats and a poodle and also bought some little souvenirs. After that headed to the bus station to get our luggage and buy some lunch before it was time for our bus to Kotka!!
When we arrived to sunny Kotka there was someone to meet us at the bus station and we got a lift to the harbour where the magnificent sight of hundreds of mast was waiting. Europe was still open for public for another hour so we left the bags on boards and went to have a look of the world biggest tall ship, the Russian ship Sedov, impressive. 5pm we could board on Europa. After all the signing in there was little bit of time to practise the gumboot dance and chat before the dinner was ready and it was my time to leave back to Helsinki. I wish I would have a place on Europa too, it looked like there was really nice crew and the girls will have an awesome adventure ahead!!
After all the planning and preparation it was great to see the team South Africa on board of Europa in Kotka.I’ve been so glad to be part of all this. All the best for their journey on Baltic ocean!!
Sanna, CWET volunteer 2006
