So we have finally set off on this year's journey round the Baltic!
I thought I'd try and include a map of our route – I hope it will
be useful or interesting to track our progress.
When we got back from taking the car home to UK, we had another couple of days in the Sune Carlsson boatyard to make engine repairs (new cooling water pipe and exhaust elbow), stock up on provisions,clean the bilges ...
... go for a lovely walk through the nature reserve with Teddy ...
... and have farewell drinks with fellow sailors from two other British boats - Sheila and Edward from 'Adagio' and Fiona and Elvin from 'Snow Leopard' ...
... on a beautiful evening when the sun made the bay look quite like an impressionist painting as it set!
The following day, Sunday 8th June, we finally set off and made our way to Napoleonviken once again where we met up with Steve and Jo who had just taken delivery of their brand new Arcona 410 ...
They tied up alongside us ...
... and we helped them officially launch and christen 'Natsumi San' ...
Monday 9th June
After a walk around the island ...
... we went our separate ways and Astraia headed for Kymmendö, our first stop on our way south ...
We thought a barbecue would be nice on the lovely flat rock we were moored to ...
... but inevitably we had to finish off the sausages on the boat's cooker!
Tuesday 10th June
We had quite a tangle of
ropes to sort out as we set off from Kymmendö – we’d used most of our ropes to
tie up there because the trees were so far from the water …
… but sorted the bundle
out eventually …
This was a longish day
of sailing and motoring south …
The navigation was quite
a challenge, wriggling through narrow channels between a myriad islands and
rocks marked with fairly small red and green ‘stick’ buoys …
The islands here are
more rugged than in the Stockholm archipelago with fewer trees …
… and the settlements
look less like holiday homes …
By night-time we were
back to the gentler landscape closer to the mainland. We moored for the night bows-to a rock at Äspskärsfladen
within a nature reserve with rustic barbecue pits and wood provided – perhaps we
should have had our barbecue here instead …
Wednesday 11th June
Another day of intricate
navigation with the rocks never far away.
There’s no time to relax as you have to keep checking with the chart
that you’ve identified the correct buoys and picked out the right headlands and
islands …
Just to show it’s not
always completely idyllic, here’s the industrial town of Oxelösund looming
behind the islands …
We arrived at the marina
in Arkösund in glorious sunshine …
Minutes later we had a
huge thunderstorm …
… then just as suddenly
the skies started to clear again …
I got a quizzical look
from the harbourmaster when I asked how long it would take to walk into the
town of Arkösund – the ‘town’ turned out to be a single shop!!
Thursday 12th June
Having ‘done’ Arkösund,
we set off to sail south down the first part of the ‘blue coast’ …
… another day of intricate
passage-making through more lovely islands …
… and moored overnight
at Väggö …
Friday 13th June (lucky, we hope!)
We slipped away quietly
early in the morning without waking the other boats in the anchorage. The day started off quite grey, but the sun
came out and we had a glorious sail halfway across the Baltic to the island of
Gotland …
We headed into the harbour …
… and had our first glimpse of the delightful medieval town of Visby …
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