Nyord. Swallows?

From Rødvig, we moved through the Bøgestrom, a narrow and shallow channel with a bit of tricky navigation.
Our destination was Nyord, a small island with an even smaller harbour. As the weather is nice and we have been pushing quite hard lately, we decided to spend the Sunday here as well.
We walked around the island in about an hour and a half. Here are some impressions:

 There is a round church in the little village 'Nyord By'

 The harbour is really small, and the harbour entrance is equally narrow!

At the bird watching tower, you could see what the swallows do in each month of the year. 

For August it reads: "The long trip to Africa begins". Looking at our own travel plans, we thought it was quite an appropriate observation!

Back in Denmark

We left Gislövs Läge at 7 this morning. A bit of an easterly wind and swell, which rolled the boat a bit, but it soon became more comfortable.
The AIS once again made it much easier to navigate the TSS (Traffic Separation System) at Falsterborev, it really helps to see the big ships on the plotter before you can even distinguish them visually and also be sure whether they will pass behind or ahead of you! Of course this is just a 'navigational aid', you need to keep proper lookout as well. Plus we plot our position on the paper chart every half hour. Electronic navigation is great, but it is not the only and ultimate solution!
Anyway, we tied up in Rødvig just before noon. Removed the Swedish courtesy flag which has been flying for 57 days and replaced it with the Danish one.
We'll move on tomorrow, probably to an island called Nyord where we have not been before.

Location:Havnepladsen,Rødvig,Denmark

Traditional ships - past the Southernmost tip of Sweden

When we arrived at Ystad yesterday, there were two nice navy training sailing vessels lying at anchor outside, which we quite liked:

This morning, we left at 7. There was a light easterly wind blowing which was perfect for the relatively short trip to Gislövs Läge. 

When we emerged from the harbour, which is hidden behind rather high breakwaters, we saw this beautiful three master at anchor. A bit later, against the rising sun it looked even better!

Halfway the trip to Gislövs, we passed Smygehuk, the southernmost tip of Sweden. The starboard harbour head you can see in this picture is the actual point.

We would have liked to go there, but the harbour - although quite scenic - is so full of rotting seaweed that the stench,  according to many sources, is reported to be unbearable.

So we continued and were tied up in Gislövs Läge before 11am! This is a sleepy and not very exciting spot, but ideal as a starting point for tomorrow's trip to Rødvis in Denmark as it is only just over 30 miles. It could be less, but you need to go south of the Falsterbö Rev traffic separation scheme (TSS) and that is a detour of a few miles.
We plan to leave early (6am) for a few reasons: the sea always looks at its nicest early in the morning, Rødvig is a busy harbour and arriving early will help in securing a decent berth and the wind will still be in the east and thus behind us in the morning.

So tomorrow's post should come from Denmark, after almost 60 days in Sweden.

Ystad

We did a - just under 30 mile - stretch from Simrishamn to Ystad today.
In the beginning light winds, quite a bit of 'leftover swell' and a bit of current behind. As we got to 'the corner', Sandhammaren - the Cape Horn of the North because of the many shipwrecks over the centuries - the current turned against us, not a lot though. Then the wind started to pick up, right on the nose. Nothing too serious, but the boat is now as salty as a herring again as quite a bit of water came over the bows. All of the pounding into the waves of course also slowed us down a bit, instead of around 6.75 knots in smooth water without current we did between 5.9 and 6.3. Not good for the diesel consumption!
When we got to Ystad, there was still a choice of moorings, but later it filled up quickly. That's quite normal, so we try to get to the next harbour by 2pm if we can. Ystad is a nice town and a good harbour too! Tomorrow there will be an international military tattoo, but we won't stay for that.
On the way out, almost 2 months ago, this was our first stop in Sweden but tomorrow we'll go to Gislövs Läge, about 25 miles to the west. That makes the trip back to Denmark (Rødvig, most likely) a lot shorter at just over 30 miles which is close to what we have been doing the last week or so.

Location:Segelgatan,Ystad,Sweden

Photo-post

Today I am going to deliver on yesterday's promise to post the pictures of the last week.

We did a very quiet almost 5 hour stretch from Hanö to Simrishamn today. As you will see in the pictures, no wind at all, perfect for us! Tomorrow might be a bit windy, in which cas ewe'll stay here in Simrishamn. The next stop will be Ystad, just 28 miles 'around the corner' on the South coast of Skåne (we are still on the east coast now).

Here are the promised pictures:

Big ship traffic is rare in the Kalmar Sund. In the background is the bridge between Kalmar and Öland. 

 The TV show in Kristianopel

We were the background for the TV show.

 And we had a first row view of the proceedings too!

 The small harbour in Kristianopel would not offer much protection from a strong Easterly wind!

 The last rocks in the last Skärgård between Karlskrona and Hanö

 The 'English cemetery on Hanö, seen from the water.

 From the highest point on Hanö

 The Hanö lighthouse

 The English cemetery, now seen from the island towards the sea.

 The only tombstone in the cemetery.

 The northern point of Hanö is made up of a spit of small stones. 

 Hanö harbour.

Very calm and sunny conditions this morning. Perfect for us!

Hanö

Hanö is our last Swedish island and it is proving to be very nice indeed!
It is only 6KM in circumference and there are 60 permanent inhabitants and no cars at all. Hanö boasts the most powerful lighthouse in the Baltic (which I suppose is true) and the legend has it that there used to be a dragon which covered the 20KM distance between Tärnö and Hanö every night with only two strokes of its wings. But when the light on Hanö was lit for the first time, the dragon was blinded by the light and crashed into the island. The mark of the impact is still visible.....
We walked to the lighthouse on the highest point, 60m above sea level and also to the 'English cemetery'. During the Napoleontic wars, the British fleet had a base here and a few sailors were buried on the island between 1810 and 1812. Much later, in 1974, a cross was erected by a British naval vessel. British naval vessels still call here from time to time and when that happens, a service is held at the cemetery (which, apart from the cross, only has one single gravestone).
The harbour is very small: according to the pilot 'the harbourmaster claims that 70 to 100 boats can be accommodated'. We have no idea how he could squeeze those boats in, there are currently about 40 of us and we are two or three deep. Anyway, we'll happily come back another time to see how much fuller it can be!
The forecast for tomorrow is good, so we'll move on to Simrishamn.

I promise to get the laptop out there and post all the missing pictures (assuming the Internet connection is good enough.....).

Location:Bönsäcksvägen,,Sweden

Skärgårdsfest in Karlskrona

When we entered Karlskrona just before lunch today, there appeared to be a lot of activity on the quayside. And the Gästhamn was full, we got the last 'proper' spot before people start to have to double up.

We discovered it is the annual Skärgårdsfest, a festival throughout the town, with all sorts activities like beach handball, a kiddies circus, a fun fair and live music. Quite a nice vibe and the weather is nice and sunny which of course helps a lot!

The plan is to use the upcoming days with little wind predicted to move further southwest, tomorrow to the small island of Hanö, where we have not been before and on Monday on to Simrishamn which is in the southern province of Skåne and two stops away from our last Swedish port which will most likely be Gislövs Läge, near Trelleborg.