Smådalarö, 8 & 9 September

Smådalarö Gård is an hotel located at the entrance of the fjord heading towards Saltsjöbaden, in a bay protected from all winds with a very shallow entrance.

Smådalarö Gård. Belisama, fourth from the left.

Svenska Högarna, Stora Massa, Bockö, 10-20 August 2018

Nice weather but strong winds up to 14 m/s for this August weekend. As we have friends onboard, we decide to cover a large area, through opens to Svenska Högarna, the northern archipelago in Stora Nassa, and then in Bockö, before heading back to Stockholm. Besides, this is the open lighthouse weekend and we plan to visit the lighthouse in Svenska Högarna.

Panorama from the top of the lighthouse

Nynäshamn - Napoléonviken - Artipelag - Stockholm, 10-12 August 2018

This weekend was the return of Belisama to her homeport of Wasahamnen in Stockholm after more than three months away. Strong winds up to 16 m/s were announced, along with some rain. Friday, with winds ranging 10 to 12 m/s, we made it from Nynäshamn to Napoléonviken, 30 miles in four hours, meaning around 8 knots on average.

Anchored in Napoléonviken, well protected from all winds

But what was Napoléon doing here...?

Mariehamn - Nynäshamn, 29 July 2018

Mariehamn - Nynäshamn was the final segment our summer sailing. En route, we met a viking ship on her way to Täby, Sweden.

Quite a trip back in history...

Moon eclipse and noctilucent cloud summer festival, 25 & 27 July

We arrived in Mariehamn, Åland, on 27 July, just in time to witness the moon eclipse from the marina. Moonrise was at 22:15, but we could not see any moon rising at the time. We would realise after that the moon was so faint that it was not visible along the horizon through the atmosphere. It is only around 23:30 that the moon start appearing when it reach higher elevation over the horizon. By then, it was a remarkable show!

The blood moon in Mariehamn, Åland, 27 July, 23:30 and 23:55

Twenty-five minutes later, the sun started highlighting again the moon. The shape of the highlighted area differed from the normal moon crescent that we are used too, as it is the shadow of the earth on the surface of the moon and not the areas of the moon in the shadow when receiving the light from the sun sideways.

The Kumligne surprise, 26 July 2018

Kumlinge was just the only opportunity for a marina between Brändö and Mariehamn. This was the rationale for going there. And we discovered one of the nicest churches that we have visited so far. In fact, we realised that we should get some real touristic books telling us about what to see in the country, rather than just the coastal pilot telling us where we can safely anchor or moor, but nothing about what we can do or see there... And in English, rather than Swedish or Finnish would be a plus :-)!

Kumlinge marina, 26 July 2018

And the church we found there by chance is quite a church...

Fish farming in Brändö, 24-25 July 2018

While crossing from Turku Archipelago to the Åland Archipelago, we encountered several fish farms nets. Passing by its Belisama, we could witness fishes jumping out of the water, but not escaping though as there are protection nets. 

We wanted to know more about such farms (thanks to Cybèle 17 post on fish farming in Norway in French) and our friends that we were visiting in Brändö organised for us a visit to the farm...