White Sea 2017
Three years after our first sea trip, we returned to the White Sea — now to the Kandalaksha Gulf, starting from the Karelian town of Chupa. It came out as a 210-kilometer loop "folded in half": out and back along the reserve's islands, with belugas, cod and mosquitoes. And when we stepped ashore, we handed back our train tickets and, instead of a sleeper compartment, treated ourselves to a road tour across the Kola Peninsula: the Tersky Coast, the Khibiny mountains, and Teriberka with its view of the Barents Sea.
(This note was reconstructed from posts in our VK group)
Aug 12Chupa, Aurelia base
Arrived in Chupa; packing up and resting at the Aurelia base.
Aug 13Wetting the paddles
"We're starting to wet the paddles." Set up a Spot page so we could be tracked from the mainland.
Aug 14Islands and a rainbow
Aug 15A rusty hull
Aug 16Kandalaksha Nature Reserve
Day 4. Today we covered 40 kilometers — the whole Kandalaksha Nature Reserve. Didn't land once, seven hours in the kayak. Caught cod, saw lots of belugas and seals. Beautiful, in a word.
Aug 1727.5 km among the islands
Day 5. Woke up early to catch the dying tailwind. It carried us for an hour and a half, then we had to work against a headwind, so we didn't pull off the full plan. Covered 27.5 km and camped on an island again.
Aug 18Beacons and crossings
Aug 19Cape Maksimova, rain
Day 7. Yesterday we crossed the gulf near Cape Maksimova — there are trashy boozy fishermen's camps there, so we pressed on. The shore was awful; we spent two hours looking for a campsite. Found a pretty mediocre one, but next to a stream. This morning rain is hammering down and clouds of mosquitoes are flying about. A so-so rest day, but what can you do.
Aug 21Heat and dead calm
The sun blazes all day long. The wind has stopped, and it's unbearably hot on the water.
Aug 22Toward the finish
Aug 23Finish · 210 kilometers
We handed back our return train tickets, bought plane tickets out of Murmansk, and gave ourselves a little tour of the Kola Peninsula instead of a day and a half in a sleeper compartment. It came to 210 kilometers in all — and folded in half at that.
Aug 24Khibiny
Arrived in the Khibiny, but it's pouring rain here and cold besides. Wandering through museums.
Aug 25Kirovsk
Stayed in Kirovsk for the second time, at the Powder Hotel by the town slope — we liked it so much the first time, back in May, that we came back again.
Aug 26Teriberka, the Barents Sea
Finally made a run out to Teriberka. Very beautiful, stunning views of the Barents Sea and crowds of tourists. The road is still gravel. The tourist infrastructure is still in a bad way: a café posing as a restaurant, a few hotels, and, of course, a chapel.
