63°25′N 21°05′E / 63.417°N 21.083°EValsörarna (in Swedish) or Valassaaret (in Finnish) is a small archipelago in Korsholm, Finland, located in the Kvarken region of the Gulf of Bothnia. The islands are the last you see when going by boat or ferry from Vaasa, Finland to Umeå, Sweden. The archipelago is detached from Korsholm's main Replot-Björkö archipelago. They are uninhabited and there is no road access. However, they are an important bird sanctuary, frequented by birdwatchers and ornithologists. They are included in the UNESCO World Heritage List along with the High Coast of Sweden and the archipelago of Kvarken, for exhibiting the effects of land rise due to post-glacial rebound.
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Valsörarna in the context of Kvarken
Kvarken (Swedish: Kvarken, Norra Kvarken (as opposed to South Kvarken); Finnish: Merenkurkku, lit. 'throat of the sea') is the narrow region of the Gulf of Bothnia separating the Bothnian Bay (the inner part of the gulf) from the Bothnian Sea. The distance from the Swedish mainland to the Finnish mainland is around 80 km (50 mi), while the distance between the outermost islands is only 25 km (16 mi). The water depth in the Kvarken region is only around 25 metres (82 ft). The region also has an unusual rate of land rising at almost 10 mm (0.39 inches) a year.
Several attempts to cross the strait swimming have been made, but cold water and currents have usually been insurmountable obstacles. The first successful crossing was carried out by Lennart Flygare, Pavio Grzelewski and Tore Klingberg, who on 24 July, 2018, swam from Valassaaret (Valsörarna) on the Finnish side to Holmöarna in Sweden. It took them 12 hours 2 minutes to cross the strait.
View the full Wikipedia page for Kvarken