Bolshaya Muksalma is a low, quiet island in the White Sea, part of the Solovetsky archipelago, and it is not a place you reach by motorway. The islands lie in the cold, shallow water of Onega Bay, and getting there takes a boat or a small plane in the short summer season, so anyone thinking about this point as a motorcycle stop should first work out the logistics of crossing the water with a vehicle. The island itself is flat, with grassy meadows, small pine woods and a rocky shore, and a long stone causeway built by the monks connects it to the main island, Great Solovetsky.
The history of the archipelago is dramatic. In the fifteenth century two monks, Savvaty and German, followed by Zosima, settled on the main island and founded what became the great Solovetsky Monastery, which grew into one of the wealthiest and most powerful religious houses in Russia, with a massive fortress wall of boulders. The monks were farmers and engineers, and they dug canals, built mills and managed farms and pastures across the islands, and Muksalma was part of that system. In the twentieth century the monastery was turned into one of the first camps of the Soviet prison system, and thousands of prisoners died there. UNESCO listed the cultural and historic ensemble of the islands in 1992.
The nature is remarkable too. The White Sea is home to beluga whales, which come to the shallows near the islands in summer, and seals haul out on the rocks. Birds are abundant, with eiders, terns and gulls nesting on the shores, and the forest has mushrooms and berries in late summer. Nearby, on Big Zayatsky Island, are mysterious spiral stone labyrinths laid out thousands of years ago, whose purpose is unknown. Summer nights are pale and light, since the islands lie just below the Arctic Circle, and the air smells of wet moss, pine and salt.
Weather can change quickly, with fog and cold winds, and the sea can be rough. Bring layers, waterproofs and insect repellent, since mosquitoes can be fierce in July. This is a place for quiet and slow exploration, not for speed, and it asks for patience in return.