To Finland – Aland Islands

A good time was had in Stockholm. We saw what we wanted to see – the Wasa museum (where the 16^th century ship that sank in Stockholm harbour is preserved), the old dry docks at Beckholmen and the old town of Stockholm known as Gamla Stan. Anne and Alan Ramsden however spent three full days tramping around and saw much more.

Gamla Stan main square

A quiet pathway in Gamla Stan

Spot the Troll!

Enough of the city life. The Ramsdens left us, and on 1st July, Wandering Star and Jomora went to search out natural harbours. We sailed to Vaxholm but bypassed the town and marina and anchored between the islands of Kullo and Edholma.

On the next day we searched out another nice spot on the NW side of the island of Yxlan which may or may not be called Sillviken.

Doing boy's stuff at Silvikken

Both these places are not marked on the chart or the Swedish pilot as natural harbours, but there are so many little inlets in the Stockholm archipelago that it is always possible to search out  a sheltered spot of your own.

On July 3^rd it was decided that WIFI was needed so that Wandering Star could contact their insurance company to get clearance to sail to Finland so we sailed a few miles to a marina at Graddo. A mistake – a poor marina, with no WIFI anywhere in the village that we could find. Added to that the prices were the same as the marina in the centre of Stockholm!

We were glad to leave that place and moved all of 4NM to another natural harbour on the island of Ido which was prettier and cost nothing.  Ido is a nature reserve so we walked around part of the island and saw hosts of wild orchids for which the island is famous. We stopped and talked to a middle aged lady who lived in a wooden 18^th century cottage from May to October. Her summer house has no electricity or running water and she has to use her dinghy to go shopping 4 miles away .

On July 5^th we woke up to a misty morning but undaunted we sailed (or rather motor sailed in very light winds) to the Aland Island’s capital, Mariehamn. The Aland Islands are a bit like the Channel Islands in that although they are nominally part of Finland they are semi-autonomous and have separate government and flag. They do not like to be reminded that they are part of Finland. So for this trip we had to get an Aland courtesy ensign as well as a Finnish one.  For what it is worth, we can now claim to have visited eight countries on this cruise.

The passage was interesting because the fog came and went as did the monster ferries that ply the route from Stockholm to Mariehamn and on to Turku in Finland. Once again thank goodness for radar and AIS.

Up to the marina with the Pommern and another tall ship

 

On the way to the marina, the barque Pommern

Mariehamn pedestrian precinct

There's an awful lot of ferries go to Mariehamn!