Well. maybe just sailing in the Stockholm Archipelago.....

As you have no doubt surmised, sailing season is well and truly in the swing at the moment, so I expect to be out and about and not really online much at all until late August. I will pop in when I can, but like this time last year it will mostly be only to check emails.

The rest of the time has been taken up with preparing for Madde's studenten tomorrow. But now with the gifts wrapped, bouquet sitting in water and all transport arranged for L-G's mum we can breathe again until our early start tomorrow morning.

We ended up buying her a new mobile phone with a prepaid card (to replace the phone that was stolen in Åre last month). The phone we bought was a tiny, compact Samsung A800. Of course, now L-G wants one. He's such a gadget man! I hope she likes it.

Sailing last week - with lots of pictures!

We stayed mostly near the Nynäshamn area as we needed to go to Stockholm on Sunday for Mother's Day and on Monday we were meeting up with an Australian girl and her boyfriend at Nynäshamn. There is still plenty to see around here and the weather was lovely. And the birdlife is still busy nesting nearby:



Monday was a busy day in Nynäshamn for tourists. As well as the usual ferries we get here from Visby (Gotland), Gdansk (Poland) and Ventspils (Latvia) you can see pictured here:



We also had a visit from two huge passenger liners - the P&O Grand Princess from Hamilton, Canada and the P&O Adonia from London. These liners are not equipped with the sophisticated steering and navigation systems required by Swedish authorities in order to cruise in the Stockholm archipelago, so Nynäshamn is as far north as they are allowed.



Now I thought those ferries I've seen plying the waters of the Baltic for Viking Lines and Silja Lines were big, but they are mere rowboats compared to the collosal size of these monsters.



It was a wonderful sight and a great boost to the region to have so many tourists ferried ashore from the liners. While some took the opportunity to pop into Stockholm for the day, many others relaxed and sunned themselves and browsed around our little town. It was a friendly, vibrant, busy atmosphere and ideal to show my friend Robyn and her guy Andreas just what a wonderful place Nynäshamn is. Robyn and I have been emailing for quite a while and she came down to bring me a thankyou gift for all of the advice and help I gave her when she first arrived in Sweden.



It's always nice to meet up with people that you have only known via email and we had an enjoyable afternoon in the harbour area and on the boat. Lambi was quite taken with her, so she must be nice. One area I helped Robyn with was her visa. The Swedish firm she worked for told her to just arrive without a visa - she didn't need one! How crazy is that? I told her to check with the Swedish Embassy in Australia as I was sure she needed a work permit before coming here. And yes, I was right. Imagine if she arrived without it. When the personnel manager at Siemens apologised for the mix-up, her reasoning was "I just can't believe that Australia is not part of the EU". WTF? How much further away fromthe EU can you get? *grin*

When they left, we set sail that same evening and headed to the group of islands just in front of Nynäshamn. Past the little stugas on the shore



and on to our own little private bay.



As you can see, some of us enjoyed a run ashore:



What a wonderful sight to wake up to!



The water here is pure and crystal clear. You can see to the bottom several feet down:



As you sail past islands you get to peep through the cracks and see the traditional falun-red cottages dotted along the shore:



We then decided to head north to the islands of Rånö, Ålö and Nåttarö. This is a very old, historic area that was once held by the Russians in the 18th century. In fact quite a lot of the settlements in this area were destroyed by invading Russian fleets during the numerous Baltic sea wars. But it is all peaceful and quiet along the sund now.



The narrow passage between Rånö and Ålö has steep cliffs either side and lots of lush vegetation that was so green and fragrant with the air filled with the songs of the forest birds, the funny grunting noises of the eider ducks and the sight of several shy cranes nesting in the long reeds. What a paradise!



We moored in Ryssviken where the islands meet Utö and went ashore walking in the woods and enjoying the late evening. For those of you in Australia, this picture was taken close to midnight! And as you can see, it's barely dusk:



The following day we headed out east to open water and made our way south again to Nåttarö and one of our favourite anchoring bays, Östermarsfladen:



In summer, there are usually 100 or more boats at a time tied up to the pier, cliffs or anchored in this beautiful bay. But as you see, we were there by ourselves and it was great to be able to enjoy the solitude and the views uninterrupted. I never tire of the beauty of this place, no matter how many times I come here. In the distance you can see the mainland area and the islands in between:



Again, the water is clear, blue and breathtaking and Fiona looks happy moored at the small pier. It's rather nice to have this mobile home available all of the time. We can shift when we like and take advantage of the best views, sunshine and go where our mood takes us.



But it's not all hard work. Sometimes, there is a chance to snooze and enjoy the sunshine



And while it's nice to be home for a day or two, some of us are itching to get out there all over again!