Ohtakari is an island in Kokkola. It is connected to the mainland by a causeway. The island sits just outside the tip of a 10 km long sandy cape called Vattajanniemi. Ohtakari is not very large. Its total area is 30 hectares. The 10 km long beach on the western side of Vattajaniemi is an army training ground closed to the public. Despite the natural beauty and the extraordinary beaches that extend far outside the military zone, the cape and the island are not very developed from a touristic point of view. It is maybe for the best because venturing into the closed zone is potentially dangerous as there could be unexploded ordnance there.
Approaching Ohtakari from Vattajanniemi
The boat harbor of the island. I remember visiting this place a couple of times as child by boat from the summer cabin members of my extended family own on another island in the area.
There are many cabins like this in the camping area.
Campers are gregarious and don't mind strangers walking past their cabins.
These buildings are part of the fishing museum on the island.
The cabin at which I used to spend nearly all of my Midsummer weekends until my twenties is somewhere on across the bay. It is only accessible by boat except during cold winters using an ice road. It takes about half an hour to reach the island from the harbor by the boat of our relatives. It felt very strange to get there in just ten minutes by car.
Some cabin owner's mini garden
