Icy pleasures

Another try, another location on the Ruissalo island. This time it was ‘only’ about -13°C (9°F) and rather calm, which was bearable except that we arrived too late. The sun had already disappeared behind the wall of clouds in the distance that was not supposed to be there.

The frosty ten days or so had done their trick. The sea views had turned arctic and were for the most part ice covered. A hole in the ice by the pier was being kept open with a water pump. Inviting, eh? There were no crazy ice swimmers around that time of the day. The most insane daredevils prefer to dip themselves into the hole in the ice before sunrise just like that even without any warming up in a sauna. And they have the nerve to call it a pleasure.

While I was walking on the frozen beach quivering, hubby who had marched on to another bay phoned me encouraging me to carry on to a sight I wouldn’t want to miss.

There were swans gliding on an open patch in the ice off the Kolkka cape. Some of them were resting with their long neck curled against their body, looking like rocks sticking out of the water. This is not the kind of a place you would expect to be suitable for anyone’s afternoon nap. As long as there is some open sea these poor things will manage, though.

The last sea views below make me chilled to the bone. At the same time I feel the memory of freezing fingers being transformed into something faintly pleasant as my appetite for winter photos is growing. With a little bit of luck, we might actually get the timing right one of these days.