Being on a Saga Sapphire cruise ship, the ship docked in the usual port for cruise ships where we could see the masks of al least 100 tall ships which were anchored along the river Aura in Turku. This was the fifth time that the tall ships race had come to Turku,and we had the opportunity to examine the ships close up, with some offering accessible to visit on board. The cabins and surrounding area was alive with music with a nice party atmosphere evenly a firework display on our first night in Turku. Luckily we had been given some lectures about the different types of ships, like the Brig sail, Brigantine, Barque, Schooner etc which helped to identify the different vessels. The next day in glorious sun we set sail some distance out to sea, this occurred at the same time one of the ships was leaving the River Aura, the place was awash with boats of all types and sizes and the surrounding coast line thousands of people. How the captain got thought the thousands of boats was a miracle, and then we dropped anchor and a party atmosphere occurred on board with the crew dressed for the occasion, and ourselves drinks and union jacks to great passing ships. A number of ships came very close to us, being in full sail and some with there crew up in the crows nests or on top of the rigging. One GB ship with a female captain and a young crew, stood to attention and then acted YMCA, with cheers from Saga Sapphire. We watched many ships go past until early evening when we had to depart to continue our cruise to Ventspils in Latvia. On route we continued to see a few tall ships before arriving back in Dover.
