Husö

An island where the time ceased to exist.

Our sailing club has numerous (c. 30) islands and harbours along the Southern coast of Finland — typically having a safe harbour, a sauna or two, BBQ facilities, electricity, etc. With the exception of one, I have visited all of them. Somehow the island of Husö has always avoided me — or maybe it has been vice versa — for the simple reason that there is no sauna and one is always in a hurry to sail west in the beginning of the season.

But better late than never, as they say. I first visited the island in the early summer of 2024 – and I was totally blown away by the feeling of it.

I had just acquired a new camera (Fuji X100vi) and I was eager to learn all the there was to learn in this amazing piece of machinery. Reminded me of my time with the M‑series Leicas several decades ago. One of the interesting features with X100vi is the possibility to choose profiles prior to shooting. So my first images on the island were done with a B&W‑profile incorporating a red filter.

Somehow, it felt appropriate.

During the sixties and the seventies Husö was a popular vacation destination. People came for the whole summer and a village of small cottages was built to accommodate them. Our president for many years, Urho Kekkonen, came here to visit one summer – he was an avid fisherman – and to honor that they built a concrete paved road to the village.

But time waits for nobody. First the fish disappeared and then the patrons started having other priorities, starting first to rent the cottages not for the summer but on a weekly basis… and eventually the flow of people to the island totally died.

The cottage village has been abandoned now for over thirty years but it is still there. Somehow when you walk through it you try to tread slowly and quietly – as you don’t want to spoil the eerie feeling there is.