We have been dreaming of a sailboat cruisers life for some time, we follow cruisers channels and we consider taking the necessary exams to be able to one day make that move. Of course, that because neither of us actually owns a boat or even tried solo sailing we don’t even know if we would enjoy sailing. But we will jump at a chance to try sailing, so of course, when we learned of sailing close to where we were staying we had to go.
Kauno Marios
Is the largest Lithuanian artificial lake with 63.5 square kilometres, covering a distance of about 25 kilometres. It was created in 1959 by damming the Nemunas river and it forced the relocation of 721 farms and villages, like the entire town of Rumšiškės, now an open-air ethnographic museum, a place that we strongly recommend if you’re in this region.
Regional Park
Set up to preserve the unique landscape, natural ecosystem and cultural heritage, the park’s trails are well maintained and a perfect way to get to know the nature around the lake. You can take the higher wooden trail like we did to get a sense of just how big this artificial lake is and enjoy the landscape, it’s not very long but it’s certainly worth the drive, plus we found it to be peaceful and not crowded with tourists which is great.
It’s certainly possible to enjoy many activities from hiking the mounds to stunning views, cycling or horse riding to more extreme sports like 4 wheel driving, windsurfing, motorboating, kite-surfing or wakeboarding. For the nature lovers out there are lots of information about the different species here and you can choose one of the many trails to see them for yourself including the many mushrooms and berries found here. Fishermans will also find the lake to be a dream in both summer and winter.
Sailing
Famous for its regatta the lake has perfect conditions to enjoy any wind sport, and sailing is the reason we decided to spend the day here. We arrived at the yacht club and quickly met our captain waiting for us already, after a quick chat we had to decide who stayed at the shore as the boat was not big enough to fit all the family comfortably, mother decided to stay and we climbed aboard to set sail.
The captain quickly started to assign tasks and we found ourselves sailing the boat and taking out the mainsail without even thinking or having doubts. The minute you set foot in the boat you’re a sailor type of experience.
We loved it and it left us with an even stronger desire to take a sailing course and learn more. Our son liked it even more and stay super angry and upset after the captain took the tiller away and ended his dream of being the sailboat master Lukas.
Where is it?