Vaindloo – Estonia’s northernmost home (14 pictures)

Photo: Küllike Rooväli

All year long, the tiny isle of Vaindloo hosts on-duty border guards, keeping an eye on the sea. For them, this speck of land amid Gulf of Finland waters is kind of a second home. With only themselves to rely upon.

Since 1994, duos of Estonian border guards make their abode on Vaindloo, and there do they sit even now, as if held hostage by ice. Boat can’t take you there. In every couple of weeks, a helicopter drops by.

The 6-hectares island is swept by fierce winds, plants are scarce, rocks abound. In the centre of it, a 150 years old lighthouse still stands tall, cuddled by a couple of 19^th century houses, home for the border guards.

«This is my personal point of view, but whatever spot we have on borderlands, the state must be represented,» states Nimrat Kütt, a man with 20 years of history guarding the border on Vaindloo.

From the windy helipad, the man takes us to the shabby lighthouse service station, while the fresh-shift border guard team offloads their foodstuff and back bags.

«In winter, a shift is two weeks; in summer it’s a week,» says Mr Kütt. «Depending on ice conditions and how long the men want to stay. Some don’t agree to two weeks. But I’m used to it.»

We take a seat in the kitchen, surrounded with dilapidated walls and a worn out floor underneath. A shower in a corner, small TV switched on in another room. Mr Kütt is explaining how, for him, this is like home, where one returns – over and over again. The isle has crept deep into his soul.

«It’s no vacation; you only have yourself to rely on. Should you act stupid, own health and bones will pay for it,» he does add, however. While three third of a century ago, food was stored for the entire winter, now two weeks is the limit. They do have a fridge. Electricity comes from a diesel generator.

What does one do at Vaindloo, all two weeks long? «We do maintenance on the diesel generators, we monitor the sea,» replies the border guard. «Doing everything, starting with housework.»

His boss Mare Jõesaar, head of Kunda border guard station, ads that behind Vaindloo, there passes an international shipping lane.

«Shipping traffic is regulated just the way highways are,» explains Ms Jõesaar. «As due to ice, all kinds of things may happen in the winter, the caravans and ships movements are being monitored. These border guards here, they are extra eyes for our station.»

Estonia has border guards on three small islands only: Vaindloo, Ruhnu and Piirissaar. Why do we need border guards on lonely islands, like 70 years ago? According to Mr Kütt, automatic-only won’t work.

«Automatic stuff won’t work without humans, as proven in real life; people are needed here,» he is convinced, but goes on to consider: «Maybe it must not necessarily be border guards, perhaps an island warden would do. But then – it is such an isolated place, better to have a state representative.»