Today was a busy one. We had to load up the boat with provisions for the trip, bring down the birds and acclimatise them to the conditions and go into Stockholm for John’s birthday party (John is Lars-Göran's 23 year old son). As it was cool and the birds are used to a warm apartment, we decided to take the boat around to the boat club where we could plug the heating into the land power in order to make the boat warm and cosy – both for us when we got back and the birdies while we were away. They look quite content here:



John’s party went really well. He was happy with the gifts we gave him and it was a good chance for the whole family to get together before we all went off for various summer activities. Madde (Lars-Göran’s 20 year old daughter) was coming straight from the party to our boat, so we collected her baggage and made our way to Söder Station to meet her friend Christin and get the train to Nynäshamn. Christin wasn’t there! As she is always a bit vague, I worried that she had changed her mind, but Madde said we should go on to Nynäshamn and that Christin may be on the next train. This turned out to be the case, so I was quite relieved that she was coming, for Madde's sake. She explained that she went to the Bankomat (ATM) and withdrew 500SEK ($A100) and then the driver of the bus refused to take such a large note and would not let her on the bus! Poor girl. But it turned out well in the end. We ate a late meal, prepared the boat and set off from Nynäshamn at just after midnight for the 90 nautical mile crossing to Visby.



Gotland is the largest island in the Baltic at 125km long and 55km wide. It lies about 90kms off the Swedish coast. It has a large number of important ancient monuments, including the famous town walls of Visby and 92 churches (with none of them being built after 1350). For many centuries, it was an important centre of Baltic trade and as a result, it frequently came under foreign rule. Today, tourism is one of its principal sources of income. And it is certainly a tourist paradise!