On Sunday evening the rain began just as the forecasters promised. We anticipated the first drops and rushed out to erect the cockpit tent. And it was just in time. The heavens opened and it teemed steadily for several hours.

Monday was truly a god awful day weatherwise. The wind was really strong, peaking at around 40 knots and there was a heavy, driving rain. In fact the rain was actually coming in at us horizontally! Needless to say we spent a day inside, alternating between reading and solving the world's problems over a glass of wine. We have not been lucky with the weather either of the times we have stopped in this particular island group. Last time was also grey and dreary and we'd like to come and visit the area at some time in sunshine as there are so many intriguing little bays to investigate.

But we won't be dallying around in this area as we have decided to try and get home in order to vote in the upcoming elections. Voting is not compulsory, but after talking about the election on the phone to Lars-Göran's brother, we realise that we'd like to cast a vote - and for that we need our voting cards, which would have been posted home to us a couple of weeks ago. So that has given us a bit of a push to get us moving towards Nynäshamn.

The sun has struggled out from behind the clouds and while the wind has abated somewhat, it is still quite strong as we set out past the cottage and lighthouse at Jungfrusund and northwards into Gryt's archipelago.




I can see that the strong winds are irritating poor Lars-Göran. We have spent a lot of time this summer fighting gale force winds over on the west coast and frankly we are tired of having to always struggle against it. The constant pressure is quite draining and I can see that he is both exhausted and a little dispirited. I think in view of this that a shorter sail is better today, so I suggest that we stop at Stora Ålö, where SXK has a member's harbour where we could stay. This is about 12 nautical miles from our previous night harbour and means that we ought to be there in around three hours.

This was a good plan and I did a lot of the steering past the long, open stretches of water. This gave my dear man a little time to check the charts and just try and relax a little. Lars-Göran took over when we had two nautical miles left and I was relieved when our night harbour came into view as I could see that even this short trip had tired him out mentally. I got further confirmation of this as I looked on puzzled that we had passed the point where I thought we should turn into the bay's opening. I naturally assumed I had misread the chart as I trust Lars-Göran's navigation skills implicitly. I looked at the chart again and just as I was pointing back and saying "I really think that we have passed Norra Vik" we went crashing into ground with a mighty thump. Fortunately for his ego's sake there were no witnesses to this (except for myself, Lambi, Bruce and Sheila) and we have been sworn to silence, so please forget that you read the last sentence.

We came off the ground very easily, turned towards the correct island and easily moored at one of the vacant SXK buoys. It is very pretty here, with the glittering blue sea, the bright green trees and a lovely fresh pine smell after yesterday’s heavy rain. I saw some red deer on a larger island near our boat as we came in. We were so close to them it felt as though we could reach out and pat them. We also saw some cows come down for an afternoon snack.




The rest seems to have done some good and when we awoke the next day, the sun had returned and we could look forward to some great sailing in this beautiful archipelago. The early morning is spent preparing the boat to set off. We have to take down the tent and pack it away. Then uncover the sails, get out navigation instruments, auto pilot, life jackets and charts. We also have to stow away anything loose inside the boat, as well as the usual morning routines of washing ourselves, the clothes, eating breakfast, cleaning etc. By 11 am we have set off following the marked route through the archipelago. I was stunned to see the unmistakable signs of autumn in the trees already. I'm not ready for this!





We have several places in mind to head towards, but we'll keep our options open. Lars-Göran needs his ice-cream “fix”, so he naturally chooses a route that will take us past some potential kiosks. We'll be sailing today through the Gryt Archipelago. We are aiming for the area around Häradskär, or if the wind holds we may even make Harstena on the St Anna archipelago. The sailing is lovely, with just enough wind to keep us moving along at a reasonable speed without too much effort and warm and sunny conditions. After the burst of rain the day before yesterday, there is a lovely fresh, clean smell in the air.

We pass by several settlements and Lars-Göran scours the landscape for the gaudy “GB” umbrellas and signs indicating ice-cream. Funnily enough there appear to be no ice-cream shops. We spot plenty of places offering smoked fish, though "that's hardly the same thing" as Lars-Göran says. One of the smokeries also sells ice-cream, but Lars-Göran feels silly stopping for a 11kr icecream. As he says, it would look okay if he had kids aboard, but not really for “grown-ups”. *grin*




Lars-Göran thinks that this area looks a lot like the Finnish archipelago around Malax where he grew up. Certainly the cottages and larger buildings dotted around the islands have a less formal appearance than Swedish stugas I am used to seeing in the Stockholm Archipelago. There is something very rustic about them. A glance at the chart shows that we very close to Fyrudden and Lars-Göran suggests that stop there. He tries to convince me that we are only going there because there is a marina where he can buy diesel and battery water.

Hmm... now why don’t I believe him?




You see, we've been here before, using the same excuse about getting sensible marine supplies when in fact the REAL REASON we stopped was for glass (that’s ice-cream to you non-Swedes. See what sort of country this is - not only do you wear a rock, but you also eat glass). There is a little shop on the boardwalk and we had decided to go the whole hog and get the 30kr Fyrudden ubåtar. This was a sundae dish, containing three double scoops of ice-cream (I chose rum & raisin, pistachio and toffee). This was topped with two towers of mjuk glass (soft serve), sprinkled with your choice of topping (I chose crushed nuts), then two finger-shaped wafers were inserted, blue curacao was drizzled over it and they crowned it with two tiny foil windmills. Very kitsch I must say, but of course you just HAVE to do these things when you are on holidays. And best of all, my little windmills were even in the Aussie sporting colours of green and gold! I’ve kept them as souvenirs and they are sitting in the pouch of one of my little mascot kangaroos which sits inside the boat. And you can see the photographic evidence of Lars-Göran and Lambi about to indulge. Can you believe we ate the lot?

After we finished the ice-cream, I could barely move but Lars-Göran managed to eat a whole packet of “Tutti-Fruitti” lollies. Where does he put it?




We sail northwards again, and swiftly pass all of our chosen harbours. We have great winds and as we are following a marked course, I manage to steer and navigate most of this afternoon. The course takes us weaving around many islands and we are enjoying being out on a sunny afternoon all alone surrounded by this beauty. We deviate slightly from the route and drop anchor in a lovely bay next to the island of Lammskär (Lamb Skerry) in the outer islands of St Anna’a archipelago. Though I have no idea why it would be called Lamb Skerry, do you?




I’m sitting in the cockpit typing this surrounded by the sound of forest birds and the gentle splash of tiny fish around us. Lars-Göran is putting out the anchor marker on the fore deck, Bruce and Sheila are happily twittering to their new friends the swallows and Lambi is asleep in her basket (no surprise there). Life seems perfect. Can you imagine living in a beautiful home like this and having such a view every day of the year? I envy these lucky people.




In the morning, we start out early, heading for somewhere close to Oxelösund. We rang our friend Björn last night to see if he was on duty at the pilot station there. While he lives in Nynäshamn, he travels regularly to his job in Oxelösund, only we always forget which week he is on call. We discovered that he begins work on Wednesday, but will be there from tomorrow afternoon. We had initially hesitated about the extra day because we wanted to be home to vote on Sunday. When Björn heard that, he offered to pop up to our apartment (he has a key) and pick up our voting cards and bring them with him to Oxelösund. This way, we can fill in an absentee vote at the local post office and delay our trip home, which is a great solution.




We have a nice, warm day again and the closer we get home, the happier we feel. Today the boat is sailing well, though not really at her best speed. We know that we'll have to haul her out and scrape down the keel once we get her back home. I am really enjoying being back in the islands around Arkösund again and I'm keeping my eyes peeled in case I see more seals in the area. They seem to be scarce today, but I do see a couple of houses that I'd love to live in, situated right on the waterfront.




Just north of Aspöja, we pass our favourite sea marker, Kejsaren (The Emperor). It is an old custom around here to ta en sup (take a nip of spirits) and salute the marker. Today we noticed that several people have left an offering for kejsaren, which was rather cute. Apparently in winter people add a scarf and wooly beanie to the maker as well. Obviously he is a well loved local character.




We crossed over the boring stretch of Bråviken and have hooked on to the SXK buoy at Bergö, about three nautical miles north east of the pilot station at Oxelösund. I’m sitting here again typing this out in the cockpit, enjoying the last of the evening sun. We have the tent up, the cushions out and are enjoying the sounds of the forest birds on the large island to our left (though I can tell you that a rather annoying seagull is definitely living on borrowed time). We have a perfect view of the waterway all the way to the town, the wind has eased and the sun has reappeared. There is no sign of rain, but I know better than to take a chance as the weather around here can change in an instant.




Lambi has had a short run on one of the islands. I have to say that she looked adorable wading chest deep through the daisies. Hmmm... note to self: I must check her for ticks later! The islands are thick with a huge variety of wild flowers. It fascinates me that these beautiful, delicate plants can thrive in such a hostile environment. But thrive they do and the air is filled with their scent and vibrant colours. I have no idea what they all are but I am inspired and intend to get a book about European wild flowers so that I can read about them.