We were now in the Gulf of Finland and the fog that we seen in the late evening yesterday had stayed with Aurora all night. The ship’s fog was sounded at regular intervals through the night to remind everyone she was there.
Our Baltic cruise on P&O Aurora would take us to Poland, Lithuania, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Germany, Denmark and Norway.
On Thursday 18th May we were sailing North through the Gulf of Finland on our way to St Petersburg.
Late morning in the Gulf of Finland
After a late breakfast in the Horizon Restaurant we watched as the fog began to clear. At 11.30 am we could see beyond the ship.
The sea was calm and the ripples from the wake made interesting patterns.
The fog returned at about 1.45 pm. Out on deck I could again hear the fog horns of other ships away to our port side.
There were little birds flying around the ship and landing on Deck 13.
They rested for a few minutes then resumed their journey.
Later I watched a flock of birds flying so close together that at first they resembled a large black object skimming across the surface of the sea.
During the afternoon there were banks of fog away to starboard and the land as we made our way to St Petersburg.
We were following a channel through the Gulf of Finland. Here’s a buoy away to starboard as we passed another ship.
there were even lighthouses and what I made out to be a naval patrol ship too.
The fog returned again at 6pm and then we passed out of it again later at 6.30pm!
Instructions for leaving the ship in St Petersburg
We had a longer than usual broadcast over the ship’s tannoy system. This was from the Hotel Manager re-iterating the instructions for our port call in St Petersburg.
In Horizon there was a reminder that the ship would not accept any US Dollar bills that were ripped or dirty. This was the same as we had been told by TJ Travel when we first booked our excursions in St Petersburg.
Passengers leaving the ship had ro have their tour tickets in their passports at the photo page. The Immigration officers would then stamp the passport and put a Migration card in the passport.
Upon returning on the first evening the passport would receive another stamp and the Migration card removed. On the second day the officer would simply check for stamps in the passport and check the excursion ticket.
Passengers on ship’s excursions were advised to take both their morning and afternoon tickets as returning trips may overrun making it impossible to go back on-board for lunch.
Early evening
The weather cleared and here is our view at 7.30 pm from our balcony.
Second formal evening
This was our second black tie evening. We were a bit subdued as we would have a very early start in the morning once the ship reached St Petersburg. I had salmon gravalax, Chicken Maryland followed by a Sticky Toffee Sundae (new on the ship’s menu).
By 10 pm we were back in our cabin getting everything ready for the next day including charging phones and spare camera batteries.
It was quite light at 10.30 pm and here’s a ship we passed (taken on the iPhone).
