Anchors Aweigh

At approximately 6.30 PM last we weighed anchor and set sail toward the lake. We had another fantastic meal and a great evening with a great group of people. After dinner we spent some time in the Presidents Bar listening to the live music.  We retired at 10.30 and noted the ship moving a bit more than expected. This was a hint of what was to follow.

The movement of the ship progressively got worse as the Neva river entered Ladoga lake. We were informed the lake can have up to a 5M swell at times. Now that is a pretty serious swell for an inland body of water. Through the night we could hear peoples items falling even after we were advised to place them on the floor. The down side was the movement was so intense it emptied the P Trap on the shower drain and all the sewage smell came up through the drain. Nothing anyone could do would have prevented this but I am sure someone will complain on trip advisor. It was a simple fix, run the shower for a minute to top up the P trap and put a folded wet towel over the drain.

The Svir River

Looking out from our balcony

We woke around 7.30 AM already cruising on the Svir River. This river connects Lake Lagoda and Lake Onega. After a nice hot shower went down for breakfast. Today we spend most of the day cruising with a stop at Mandrogi for lunch and walk around town. But not before we have a few onboard activities.

Our stop at Mandrogi was short  but interesting. There is a vodka museum with over 2500 different brands of vodka. For a 300 ru entry you get to try 100 ml of Russian vodka. Apparently 100 Russian ml is different to the rest of the worlds 100 ml. Four Glasses of vodka later I was ticking along nicely.

A wall of vodka

Lunch was waiting for us and was a Russian BBQ complete with traditional entertainment. After lunch we managed to get a quick walk in to check out the local crafts. There was some amazing work here.

Some blacksmith work

Some amazing fused glass

Time was too short at Mandrogi. We could easily spend a day here but the boat was on a schedule to reach the loch by 7.00pm. Back on the boat apparently we had a Russian history lesson although a few of us were dozing off. We made the loch at 7.00 PM and two boats were taken up the 10m to the next level. 

We spent a bit of time at dinner with Carol and Robyn  as well as Ken and Pauline. It  was an interesting discussion between us talking about our pasts and how we met etc. We were all pretty stuffed after dinner so straight to bed then.