Snowmobiling on Lake Onega

As spring approaches, I was rushing for time to do some cool stuff ,while Lake Onega (Онежское озеро ) is still frozen. Lake Onega is the 2nd largest fresh water lake in Europe , after Ladoga ( Also in Russia).And in summer , russian rock stars come here to rest!
So I went for a snowmobile excursion. Irina, the attractive manager of Театральное tour agency (http://www.teatralnoe-rk.ru/) called a few companies to find the cheapest option for me, the poor student and eventually settled with УЯ.

At УЯ, I had a snow mobile excursion across Lake Onega to one of the small islands on Lake Onega  .Alexandre , Irina’s husband was my driver for the trip. Yes, he speaks English. Phew! Cool dude who studied history at PSU in his younger days. He now plays bass guitar for 3 jazz bands in Petrozavodsk and is having a jazz gig at FM club on the 30th of March!

Unfortunately, during the half an hour ride to УЯ, Alexandre got a fine by the traffic police for forgetting to switch on the headlights. It was 3pm.The sky was bright and yet Russian drivers have to switch on their headlights.
It was only when I sat in the front seat of a Russian Lada car that I really felt how terrible the Russian road conditions are. One big bump on the road can cause the CD player to switch tracks. According to Alexandre , the government only wants people to buy cars , but don’t want to pay money to maintain the roads.

Itinery
1.40 minutes across the lake to the island
2.20 minutes picnic on остров ивановския ( Island Ivanovskiya )
3.40 minutes back to the island
Includes plenty of picture-taking stops along the way and you will get to steer the snowmobile for about 15 minutes.

Can you spot остров ивановския on the map ? :)

Map from : http://www.clubneva.ru/lib/maps/kr11325.jpg

I did not have the warm clothing required for such an excursion but the people at УЯ convinced me that I had to wear warm clothes and they provided me with them. Well, now that I know the phone number of the company, trips can be arranged directly with the company without going through the tour agency.

Some Hiccups
1. The snowmobile engine got overheated and snow had to be scattered onto the engine on the way back
2. The people at УЯ spoke only Russian, so there were some problems enquiring about excursions directly with them, instead of through the agency. Because of some payment problems and miscommunication, the tour agency eventually found out about my direct enquiries with УЯ. I don’t think they were happy about that.

But anyway, a super cool experience it was.