Lysekil to Hållö, 15 July 2020

After picking a friend couple in Lysekil, our first stop is for Hållö, a nature reserve close by and highly recommended by our friends.  

Mid-July is the peak season and the natural harbour is packed with motor boats. All along the coast, in the marinas and natural harbours, we will be told that there are only very few boats compared to past years because of the closure of the border with Norway. More than half of the boats in any spot along the coast is Norwegian otherwise! 

Hållö is a flat island with small cliffs, typical of an eroded glacier bed. It is famous for its bathing cliffs and for its lighthouse.

We managed to find a spot for anchoring "à la suédoise" as the Glénans sailing manual describe the mooring bow to the rock with a stern anchor. Impressive manoeuvre at first, but straight forward with some experience. 

Hållö Korset bay

Belisama on the rocks!

The picture below is taken from the boat, in the morning of 16 July.We are surrounded by hundreds of fishes (probably thousands with those that we can see deeper under water) and dozens of jelly fishes. Not very inviting for a bath. In any case, the water temperature is only 17°C, and our friend Jophan is telling us that when the temperature of the water goes up, the jelly fishes are deeper in the sea and do not interfere with bathers.

We are told that the orange jelly fish are not causing any problem, but the filament of the blueish jelly fishes are urticant.

Hållö lighthouse

Hållö lighthouse was built in 1842 as a round white stone tower. In 1868, a steel extension (painted red) was added to increase visibility in the West. The lighthouse is 20 metre high, standing 39.2 m above the sea level. The lighthouse is famous for Swede as it has been the theme of a song by Evert Taube, called "The Ballad of the Blue Bird Brig". The songs written in 1929 describe the sinking in 1872 of the Blue Bird Brig and how the Old Stranne who had his son on-board manages to save all but one, his son, of the crew members in the Christmas night.

The packed mooring area