Sandvik on Oland

Astra of Hamble
Jan & Danuta Grieg-Gran
Thu 19 Jul 2012 14:34
57:04.28N  16:51.28E

Wed. Cloudy morning.  Off at 10am after a still night at anchor. No "Morgen Bad" as lots of small jelly fish around. No tentacles, so probably not the stinging type. Still nobody volunteered to find out!  Decided to have hot showers on-board instead. The skipper went first and after luxuriating and washing his hair, we ran out of water!  Luckily we found a tiny guest harbour on Ido, where we filled with water and got ice creams. Lovely sunny afternoon and we crept through some very narrow channels at Upplango looking for the perfect mooring spot.  Managed to bump an uncharted underwater rock, luckily we were going very slowly and pulled back off it straight away. In Sweden they say that if you do not hit the bottom, then you are not a real sailor!  Found a lovely mooring spot and again the stern anchor would not set. No room to swing on the main anchor, so spent ages rigging lines so we could drop the main anchor from the bows and then transfer it to the stern. This worked a treat and was well worth the effort, as it was a superb spot. Lit the barbie on the rocks and had big entrecote steaks, grilled vegetables and Swedish new potatoes. Fantastic!

Thurs. Sunny and hot first thing, but then gloom and rain. Left early for a 24 mile passage to Sandvik on Oland, a 75 mile long  thin island lying parallel to the coast. Plan is to get the Bromptons out and go exploring. Passed a rocky national park island called Bla Jungfrun (Blue Maiden) and saw a huge eagle circling. Arrived in Sandvik guest harbour at midday. Still raining, but free open wifi, so blog and email time. This is the first wifi since Stockholm.


JPEG image

JPEG image

JPEG image

JPEG image