A rest day, by Emily Heeren
(7/3)We sit here on an island only fifteen miles from Helsinki, and we have decided to take a rest day. It’s the opposite of the barn door effect, in which the minute they’re opened the animals rush forth with no other thought. Instead, despite how excited we all are to be so close to our final destination, we can’t help but drag our feet slightly to make it last a little longer. You’d be suprised how quickly 30 days go by. While we’ve had other rest days, this one has undoubtedly been the most restful. Last night we took advantage of the old wood burning sauna (we’re actually staying at the island owned by the Helsinki Paddling Club who’ve been extremely supportive and helpful in organizing our Finland-side logistics), and spent the evening running up and down the little pathway between the hot steam and the cold Baltic water. With no town, there is no sense of obligation today to explore, take pictures, visit museums: no responsibility to talk to people, go food shopping or check email. Though I enjoy all of those things, I am thankful for the opportunity to sit by myself on a rock in the sun with my crazy creek chair and my feet in the water. It’s a quiet day – just us and the island. People are on sort of a sleep, read, eat, repeat schedule, doing our best to finish both our books as well as what’s left of our food supply. There’s time to air out our boats, catch up in journals, and try to wrap our heads around the fact that in two days we’re all just going to go back to sleeping in beds, having to figure out what to wear in the morning, and everything that comes with that.A little later we’ll look at the charts in preparation for our last day on the water.
Tomorrow, Helsinki.
Baltic Crossing 
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