Our final destination for today is the final destination for this holiday. It started raining and the weather report indicated that it will not stop before we leave. So we decided just to head back to the small jetty of the boat. We tanked on Ingmarsö and had some fun with the wind.

Our first idea was to tank on Lådna. Not a bad idea, but the otherwise gentleman-ish Swedes were like hawks there. A lot of motor-boat-people took our spot in the 'queue' and when we finally tacked to the fuel jetty another one just moored there without even looking at use (but he had seen us). Grrrrr. So we just went away while eating our frustration away with some pieces of kanellängd.

On a more negative note, we found a small and very sharp bolt on the front of the mast. The jib did as well... So there is now a not-very-large cut on the edge of the fabric :( Nothing too serious, but we had to put some tape on it in between tacks so it would not become any larger. Tomorrow we will see what the owner thinks of it.

For now it is time to make tea and cuddle up inside and 'enjoy' the sound of rain hitting the boat. Tomorrow some final cleaning and taking a very large boat back to Stockholm.

Today is Friday and our holiday is racing towards its end. We stayed on Möja yesterday and made a fairly long walk (~11km) over the island. At the other end of the island we bought some ice cream and water to make it back home; the sun was scorching and the sky extremely blue.

The rest of the day we enjoyed the sun and a good book, skyped home and tried to follow the Dutch radio 1 for the tour the France, but my battery died with 2km to go :o. After we charged it later that evening, we quickly looked up the end result.

Today we sailed to Norrgårdsön, with a slight detour because the wind was due north. It was an enjoyable trip, but on the chilly side; the temperature has dropped to 16 degrees. The water is 18.5...

Our current location is 59.420643 18.741056. Most of the island is a nature reserve with a small composting toilet. The bay is lovely and we have a view of the holiday home of a very lucky person. Tomorrow we set sail for Ingmarsö to do some final shopping and get some gas for the engine. Sunday we have to hand over the boat again :o

We sailed by the other side of this, for this region, fairly large island. Our current position is 59.406006 18.883299, on the south side of the northern island in a small inlet with a small harbour. There are no real large harbours here in this area, at least, not at the size of the ones we are used to in the Netherlands. Most harbour at most about 10-30 boats. Most of them even do not have showers on the premises, most Swedes tend to take a refreshing dive in the water (and I do not blame them).

Möja is not completely built shut with holiday houses, there is more space for agriculture and other businesses here. As usual, it is pretty; we walked toward the west side of the island with a stunning view over the western fjärden. The water reaches around 135 meters depth in the middle. Mindboggling if you are used to the waters in the Netherlands :-P

The trip was one facing the wind. It took us a while to get here from Paradiset, but with a heavy 5 bft wind it was fun. We originally wanted to just stop here for a walk and groceries, but we ended up just reading a book and making a long walk. There is a small power outlet here, so I hooked up the laptop to charge, the batteries went dead last time.

No clue what to do today... the wind has picked up a little again.

The Paradise, that is what they call our current location (which is 59.476215 18.802629). It is a fairly large bay between Ingmarsö and the largest island of Finnhamn. It is secluded from the rest of the sea and feels like a small inland lake. There is protection from every wind angle and there is no space for wind to really build.

We left our lovely spot in the natural harbour next to Träsko Storö in the morning. After some creative thinking how to sail away with a drag anchor and all the boats on our lower side, we cheated by looking at another boat leaving. They just cut all their front lines, push off and collect their anchor while floating over it. After that they start their engine and go away.

We were not so keen on using our engine, both because we like to sail and because we do not really trust the engine. But it went fine and we set sail for Finnhamn. Not directly, no, but with a nice out-lap to get some mileage. The wind was fantastic and we got to know the boat a bit better. We had a terrific morning sailing by Möja, our target for tomorrow, and back to Finnhamn. At first the bay looked perfect, then there were some doubts about bugs and then it just was nice to relax.

The water is pretty cold, especially this morning when I jumped when I woke up. The heater was not on yet and I had to swim quite vigourously to get comfy. It was a hell of a way to wake up though. Most of the Swedes to the same thing, jump in at the end of the afternoon to cool down and refresh before dinner and wake up with a small dive. But they are not immune to the 19 degrees: "Fan vad kalt! Men skitbra." is heard quite often.

No problems with bugs this evening, we slept like babies.

So, not quite Finnhamn, but close. We had quite the night, finding out that the sound of Vuvulezas actually is based on the sound of the skärgård at night when you left the hatch open for a minute too long. The mosquitos Sweden is famous for had found us and they caught us off-guard. So we spent most of the night cuddled up together with our books, a light to read and a fly squatter. Only a few bumps, but the humming, oh the humming.

We currently are at 59.444573 18.787329, near Träskö Storö, guarded from the wind by a rock island together with quite some other boats. We arrived early, because we today found out what sailing means in the skärgård: hopping and relaxing. Basically the whole thing is a large swimming pool in which you need a boat to move around. Then you endulge yourself in reading, swimming and sun bathing.

Doing tours is just too intensive; you are constantly looking out for rocks and other things, both visually and checking with the map. If you are familiar with the surroundings, it is awesome to just hop around. The sights are beautiful; the bay in which we have anchored has high rocky formations and is lovely to swim in.

Sailing under a Swedish flag is fun, but we still have to switch to English a lot.

On another note, the coverage of the 3G network is quite impressive; our little notebook that could connects without much problems.

And where is here? Here is 59.465247 18.757551. Ingmarsö. We left Stockholm today to go on holiday. We rented a boat a while ago and today we finally went to Svartsö to start our journey through Stockholms skärgård.

After a short introduction by a friend of the owner - the owner himself was not able to make it today - we set sail for, well, this place. The first afternoon of sailing in over a year for the both of us, so we were eager to feel the breeze through our hair.

What we think of it? Well it is beautiful with all the small islands, but it is also a bit frightening; the lack of depth meter is one indication: it is a rocky neighborhood. Most of them you can see, but a map is no luxury here. The wind shifting around the rocks is something to get used to.

That map is also our lifeline, we are not familiar with this place or this boat, so the shore lines and little islands are checked regularly to check whether we are on the right track. Tomorrow we know where we want to end - the natural harbour in Finnhamn - but no real plan to get there. It is quite close, so we can make a nice trip. We found out some simple rules about where you can spend the night, but chose to spend the night in a small harbour for the first night.

But first we need to buy groceries and visit the bakery here before we leave tomorrow. Oh, and sleep. For now it is cake, tea and reading a book.

PS. Pictures can be found here.

PS2. The weather is blue skies, a scorching sun, 25 degrees with winds of 4bft; it is mindblowingly nice here.