Sappi (61° 29¢ N 21° 21¢ E)

Sappi is a 1,5 sqkm island standing eight meters from The Bothnian Sea. It started to rise from the sea year 900 and has hosted a lighthouse for centuries. There has been also permanent population - lighthouse guard and pilot with their families. Winters used to be harsh and there are sad stories in the past. In the beginning of the 20th century a lighthouse keeper´s daughter was returning from school on mainland (six kilometers away). She got lost in the fog on ice and was frozen some hundred meters away from the island. There is also a ghost of a 19th century lighthouse guard on the island. The lighthouse is automatized with solar power. Nowadays the island is popular summer visiting place.

Because of nutritious soil and poor forestry Sappi has evolved mystic nature - plants, fungi and animals. Many orchid species like the soil as do the chanterel (Cantharellus cibarius). Sappi is a finnish dispersal centre for shelduck (Tadorna tadorna), there is a large arctic tern (Sterna paradisaea) colony and in the 1940´s the hunters brought there a wild herd of muflon sheep (Ovis ammon). For migrating birds Sappi is an important resting point. The surrounding clean waters are preferred by seaweed, fish, fishermen and divers. Lighthouse guard´s home houses now birders: it is a bird ringing station.