We enjoyed Norway for a few more days waiting out the weather in Grimstad and then in the little anchorage at Hesnesoeya, which provided very easy access to open water for our trip to Sweden.
Our last Norwegian anchorage – picturesque!
We left Norway on August 24th early (4:30am) and had a good sail to Sweden – mostly with fair winds from behind and a lovely sunny day – quite a contrast from last week’s effort. We did have to motor a little in order to keep our speed up as we were trying to avoid a nighttime landfall, but were able to sail again towards the Swedish coast. About 5 miles out we managed to snag a fishing pot which stopped us dead. Removing it proved to be problematic, but eventually freed ourselves by turning on the engine and letting the rope cutter in front of the propeller do it’s magic. Fortunately, the pot remained serviceable, so the fisherman won’t have lost all his tackle. We eventually arrived at our chosen anchorage by Apelvik in the Gothenburg archipelago at 9:15pm.
Swimming in Sweden to clear the prop of fishing pot remnants.
Prop cleared!
The following morning we headed south to one of the southern islands where our good friends Ian and Linda aboard Ocean Hobo were awaiting us. It was a flat calm sea and sunny day so we were motoring through the channels and not paying attention nearly closely enough such that I nearly T-Boned a small sailboat that was crossing our path. Quite a wake-up call.
Ian and Linda had found a marvelous little anchorage with complete protection from the weather (and a little beach!) – though quite crowded with weekend revelers. It was fantastic to have some friends around us – we’ve been largely on our own since leaving Islay back in June! Booze flowed!
Ian and Linda found an anchorage with a beach!
The anchorage…
We stayed in Sweden only a few days and then sailed with Ocean Hobo over to the Danish island of Laesoe where Linda and Ian stayed just one night, heading south to meet friends in the Limfjord Canal. We were heading in a slightly different direction, towards the next island, Anholt and would leave the following day, with plans to then continue south for the next couple of weeks towards the Keil Canal. Best laid plans… In the end, we changed our minds and decided instead to head to the Limfjord too and hope we’d find a weather window from there south to Amsterdam.
Free dock in Aarlborg – but only one night…
Pretty street in Aarlborg
We are once again again cruising in company with Ian and Linda and currently sitting in a totally enclosed anchorage waiting out yet more windy conditions!
September is here – it’s windy and it’s wet!