A sunny warm summer day with a light NW breeze made it poosible for us to leisurely move south in the Curonian Sea as it is called in English. mizzen and gennaker gave a boat speed of 3-4,5 knots. A superb pace for disc�vering a new coutry and cruising ground. The Curonian Sea is considered an inner sea although the water is fresh. The average depth is merely 3,7 meters !!!! which makes the navigation kind of....interesting. The sea is around 45 miles long and gets wider the further south one comes. The southern 2/3rds are Russian waters though, and we have neither wishes nor intentions to explore that part. Lithuania will do for now. A trio to Russia demands a request for visa at least three weeks in advance, and as we all know, anticipating your time of arrival when on a saing vessel isn't that easy.

The ten year old russian chart we had (we found out later upon comparing with a newer Lithuaninan one that it was pretty accurate) showed three channels crossing the Sea with a guarantteed depth of 2,5 meters. We were strongly recommended to not attempt any wandering about outside theese channels.. Since they are very well marked with lit bouys on either side and even a lighthoswe or two the selfsufficient skipper bravely turned the computer off after memorizing the route to follow. This turned out to be a not so smart move. Conserving power is good but navigating correct is better.

My indolence made us clean the bottom of R�de Orm's full keel against mud/sand at the point where the routes divided. It turned out that we happened to come a few meters to the wrong side and was immediately punished by King Neptune or whoever might be in charge of our destiny at sea.

No major worries though, after hastily bringing the sails down (we were going downwind) we managed to get out of the danger zone after 2-3 attempts with the iron genny.

After this little incident we approached the mouth of the river Atmata which according to the charts and the little info we were able to gather, was navigable some 12-15 miles to a town called Brusn� right at the Russian border.

We moored for the night a few miles into the river at an old lighthouse with an office for the staff att this Regional Nature Park included in UNESCO's world heritages as stated on one of the few signs that provided info in any other language than Lithuanian. BTW, we didn,t meet a single foreign vessel during our stay at hte Curonian Sea. except one Polish 38-footer we were to meet tomorrow. This Park consists of a large river delta, and has many botanically and zoologically interestting spots that one could explore.