Åland or bust! - 60° 05' 58" N 19° 56' 49" E

Chinook from Niklas' deck

Our first stop after leaving Stockholm was Niklas' dock in Åkersberga and a great reunion with him and a few friends we had met in Cherbourg. It was a fun couple of days catching up. He gave us some recommendations for anchorages as we headed north, which we followed. Always happy to follow the advice of locals!

Gord and Jenny swapped notes with Niklas on backcountry skiing

Dinner at Niklas'!

Full view of Chinook while Niklas BBQ-ed our dinner. What a treat!

As well as a chance to catch up with Niklas, our time in Åkersberga was a great chance to provision, do some boat maintenance, fill up the water tanks, hose the salt off the decks and prepare for the next part of the journey.

Our route north (or more precisely, north-east). Thanks Niklas for the local tips!

Woo hoo! Sailing in shorts - or more correctly, motoring. There was very little wind.

The weather was glorious and we had our first day sailing in shorts in what seems like forever. It was a very wiggly route and we had planned to tie up to a rock. Sadly, there was just a little too much wind from the side so we abandoned that plan and dropped the anchor.

How's that for a quiet spot?

Jenny and Gord went for a hike ashore while Kate and Sean paddled around the bay on the stand-up paddle boards.

Drop off and pick up service!

Helped along by stunning weather, the next anchorage was an absolute gem. Narrow and shallow, we inched in and dropped anchor.

Then we looked around. Then we took out our laser range finder (a handy tool to tell us, within a fraction of the metre, just how far we are from the shore and the rocks on either side.

It was just too close for comfort.

There was some pursed lips, some chin-stroking, then it was decided that yes, we were in too close quarters for anchoring. Luckily, we had been in Scaninavia long enough to know that there was an alternative - Rock mooring!

We weighed anchor, got out the appropriate lines and acoutrements, then slowly ... gently ... motored straight towards the hard, granite outcropping. Kate and Jenny were at the bow. Gord dropped the anchor when we were a boat-length from the solid rock shore and used it to slow us as we approached. Just before we touched, Kate was able to leap from the bow to the steep, rocky shore with rock anchors in her hand. She secured the anchors in cracks and as Jenny tossed the bow lines to her, she secured Chinook to the shore. We had done it!