We had a family trip planned with @raili to the east last weekend and luckily, we were blessed with the weather. In a rush to scramble out of the stuffy rooms, I didn't forget to pack my swimming trunks. You know, just in case... most people have to search with a match to find a warm lake to swim in, but not me, I just find a place I like and dive in. Naturally beautiful places with floating bridges have always ticked my box so always eyes open.
While we were driving, @raili brought up Äntu Sinijärv, which rests just 7 kilometers further from our destination.
Äntu Sinijärv
If you manage to visit Lääne-Virumaa county in Estonia, make sure to make a stop there. First - there are absolutely beautiful hiking trails for you backpacker types. But should you not be into hiking very much, make sure to track around the lake and enjoy the scenery.
Then come back to where you started, prop up your tent or start a nice barbeque with your companions, because you have been provided with a nice spot for that, including benches, tables and fireplaces, just for that.
There were some groups already settled at the clearing, enjoying themselves, and since we had no intention on settling here for an extended period of time, we headed a bit further to the lake, to check the place out.
We could see from afar that there was a young couple sitting at the bridge there, having a picnic.
We popped in to say hello, have a chit-chat about the water temperatures and about the location. 10 degrees Celsius! "Brr", they said. But that's perfect for me. The colder, the merrier.
Now what's so special about Äntu Sinijärv?
It's the lake with the clearest water in Estonia. If you've red my posts before, you know we have forest rivers with brown tint, lakes so dark you don't know what kind of monsters live underwater and greenish brown seawater, which gets dark already a meter or two deeper. But not Äntu Sinijärv!
The approximate expected visibility is 15 meters in this lake. But why approximate expected? Because the max depth is only 8 meters here.
But the unusually clear water is due to powerful springs flowing through the lake, which is the reason why the temperatures don't rise above 10-15 degrees Celsius here even in midsummers. I love it!
But why do they call it Sinijärv ( it means Blue Lake in translation)? To me the clear water reflects the greenery around it and looks more like turquise green with a mild bluish tint. Some of my worse and less lit photos showed the blue tint more stronger though.... go figure.
But we had some time to spare, so we left the couple where they were and hiked a bit in the forest at the lake.
I guess it's the truth - the further away from big cities, the more beautiful nature becomes. Less people come here, more wild nature.
The hiking trail tracks the lake on this side. The ground is a bit wet, if you get too close to the lake, it almost feels elastic. I managed to wet one of my shoes completely with lakewater by stepping a bit too close to the water to grab a photograph.
We hiked though the dark patch of forest, which we'll call the witches forest this time, to reach another part of the lake. There were no other people, no hikers, no fishermen, we had the luck to enjoy the beauty of the place in total solitude.
This is a sight you won't see in many places here in Estonia, so being surrounded by everything green was abosulutely breathtaking.
There was a nice fireplace and a bench in the woods there, right by the lake. If we had more time, this would be the perfect place to just blow a few hours into the wind, or in this case, into nature.
There was also this informative plaque, about the species of fish living in the lake. Base, pike, common roach fish are the majors, but there are also reports of other species.
Look, there they are, a school of fish right there, coming from that artistically fallen tree! These are jsut babies though.
There are a few good swimming spots here as well, but I plan to visit that bridge where we started, for some some nice jumps.
There's even a small island a bit further in the lake. One could swim there, the distance is small.
I managed to grab a nice shot of this old sunken bridge. Perhaps I'll use it as a wallpaper.
I wonder, how long has that tree been here in the water?
We had almost reached the far end of the lake, so I grabbed some photos of the plantation around the lake before we had to head back. There were some cool burrows and stumps, but I didn't manage to get any good shots of these.
Look at these awesome tufts in the water there :)
Alright, enough of travelling for now. It was splash time and you know it. We hiked back to bridge near the start of the hiking trail. The young couple was gone so there was no danger of splashing cold water all over them.
One of my friends visited this lake a few weeks ago and he reported the water temperatures around 4 degrees, so I was a bit scared to jump in straight from the bridge.
But when I jumped in, I realized that even the cold waters of this lake could be warmed up. The water near the bridge was approximately 14-15 degrees, I think, but as I swam further, my feel felt the full cold, so it was probably less than 10 degrees Celsius further out there.
But the water was really clear. The depth at the bridge, I think, was like 4 meters, some report it as 5 meters, but by looking at it, it felt like it was 1 meter only, so unusually clear it was.
Photo from the bridge
I can vouch this was one the coolest places to swim this year. I have a few more stories and photos from other locations, but that's for next time.
You bet I splashed!
Cheers!
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pole isegi jääs ju
Raske leida jääd praegu siitkandist 😃 A ujumas ikka keegi ei käi, mere ääres koerad hauguvad kaldal ja ei julge vette minna
peaks ka blogima hakkama, ma ei tea mida ma teen
Ammu oleks aeg. Klõps siit, klõps sealt, paar sõna juurde ja hops, valmis.
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You're welcome @furious-one! It was well deserved! Keep up the good work 👍
liz