Blekinge archipelago- Tärnö

We left Hällevik this morning after three nights. Our destination was Tärnö, an island in the Blekinge archipelago. I don't like the translation of the Swedish word "Skärgård" into archipelago that much, as it does not really explain the number and size of the islands. But anyway, that's the official version. The Dutch is 'scherenkust".
Tärnö is - relative to most of the islands - quite big and it has a guest harbour and quite a few summer houses. As midsummer is coming up this week (it's a big celebration in Scandinavia), quite a few of the owners of the houses have arrived in the last few days and are busy getting the houses and gardens ready. Also at the harbour there is quite a bit going on, in spite of the relatively cool weather, people are barbecueing and the harbour is quite full of locals. Just us and a Dutch yacht as 'strangers'. It's quite a small and 'informal' harbour.
We had a walk to the lighthouse which is claimed to be the oldest still functioning wooden lighthouse in Sweden.

I can't post pictures from the iPad, so that will have to wait a day or so.

Tomorrow, we plan to continue a bit East to Rønneby.

Hällevik

First of all, apologies for not posting the last few days. We have had wonderful (motor)boating conditions and have been making big progress steps every day, but that is not an excuse for letting the blog slip!

First of all, a few pictures from our 'epic' crossing from Denmark to Sweden. It started with passing Møns Klint, which at 125m high is quite spectacular:

As you can see below, we crossed the 'border' from Denmark into Sweden after 20.8nm:

Ystad is a nice place with a good guest harbour. We managed to get  new Swedish 3G card for the iPads, so we have internet almost anywhere. we find the Swedish and Danish 3G offerings the best we have encountered anywhere!

After one night in Ystad, we continued to Simrishamn. It was again nice and quiet, here is the 'lunch buffet' on board. we can only do this in calm conditions when we know the lunch won't end up on the floor!

This 'Gästhamn' flag shows you that you are entering a harbour which meets certain standards. Quite high standards actually as far as toilets, showers, washing machines etc are concerned.

Again, we only spent one night in Simrishamn and early this morning we set off to Hällevik. North of Simrshamn is a 'shooting range', which ranges 22KM (12 miles) into the sea. It is only used a few times a year, but today was such a day. We know about the 'shooting range' and we always check in the harbour if anything is happening. So today we had to make a bit of a detour (actually our destination of Hällevik was influence by the shooting programme), to go around the area. 

To start with, there were jus fishing boats:

But we heard a bit of loud sounds and on the AIS we noticed that it was a full scale navy exercise, with big ships from several countries: Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Poland and the 'NATO Warship' on the right is a 200m long British vessel!

There were also some small Swedish patrol boats rafted together, presumably to watch out that no-one entered the danger zone"

One of them came alongside us and asked us if we knew about the exercises. We answered that we did and that we would stay away. They were happy with that and the very friendly Swedish Navy guy told us that we also had to keep clear by 2000m from any naval vessel even outside the exclusion area.

This is 'NATO Warship"

A helicopter had just landed here.

There were two hovercraft. There make an incredible noise which transmits under water and was very loud on our boat. As if our engine was vibrating!

Just over 4 hours after leaving Simrishamn, we got to Hällevik:

They have quite a problem with underwater growth here:

So there is a 'ship wash' facility, to wash the bottom of your boat! Not a bad idea if you keep your boat in this harbour!

Harbour office

 This picture, taken of the track on our chart plotter, shows where we are and how we got here. The red line is the track. Groningen (Netherlands) is in the left bottom corner and Hällevik in the right top.

As we have done six pretty solid days motoring, of over 30 miles per day and over 5 hours per day average, we are going to give ourselves one or two rest days. We have made good use of wonderful conditions. Tomorrow is going to be a bit more windy and also we have made (more than) the progress we wanted to make. Hällevik is small and quiet and there are a few nature reserves around where we will take a bit of a wolk tomorrow.

Sweden!

Just a quick update to say that we have arrived in Ystad, Sweden.
We had a long (8.75 hour, 58 nmile) trip from Klintholm.
Weather first overcast an 10 knots of wind, later sunny with up to 15 knots with a bit of a swell behind is. But nothing too much to be able to make coffee at 11, lunch at 1 and tea at 3:30.

Location:Segelgatan,Ystad,Sweden

Between Zealand and Mon, to Klintholm

First of all, I would still like to show you a 'late' picture taken on Femo, a nice sunset:

From Femo, we made our way to Vordingborg, out first stop on Zealand, the 'main' Danish island. It was perfectly still as you can see on this picture:

Great conditions for a trip across the 'Smalandsfarvandet', which can be quite choppy even in light winds because of the many shallow areas. We have had 'washing machine conditions' here, but today it was flat :-)


The approach to Vordingborg is quite scenic, you steer towards what is called the 'goose tower' as the weather vane on top is in the shape of a goose!

Vordingborg is an old town, officially 600 years old this year (they take the day it was given 'market rights' as the starting date). But there already was a castle of "Valdemar the Great" here in the 12th century.
We did some shopping here and I had a haircut!
In the evening, there was a rally of old cars next to Onbekommerd. We especially liked this 'pickup':

This morning we continued to Klintholm, on the island Mon (should have a little line through the 'o', but this programme won't allow that....). First we passed through the 'Gronstrom' (missing lines gain..) and saw the sort of famous ferry 'Ida":

Then a bit over open water and we tied up at a very nice place in Klintholm:

Nice view from the boat over the sea!


Tomorrow, we will go around 'Mon's klint', the 125m high white (chalk) cliffs. We'll try to get some pictures, but here it is as seen from the air, on a brochure:

As it is predicted to be stable with light winds for the next few days at least, we'll cross to Sweden tomorrow. Depending on the conditions, it will be Gislovs Lage, Smiggehuk or Ystad.

The former two are small and will most probably not have internet. In Ystad we can buy data for the iPads. So it is likely we will be 'out of touch' for a day or so. (but those who need to reach us can do so on my Dutch mobile number).

More Langeland walking - and onward to Femø

Yesterday, we wanted to do part of the 'Archipelago' trail, a walking train that goes around South Funen and Langeland. There is a section between Rudkøbing and Spodsbjerg which is 15KM, just right for a half day's walk. We wanted to take a bus to Rudkøbing and then walk back, but there is no 'normal' bus service. What you do is you call the bus company and tell them you want to use the 11am bus (there actually is a schedule). They will then send a vehicle that is the right size for the number of takers at that time. Or of course if there are no takers, they don't send a bus. Seems quite sensible for a very quiet route like this. In our case there were 4 passengers, so they sent a taxi!

We had been in Rudkøbing before, there is not a lot so see or do, its main claim to fame is that HC Oerstedt, who discovered electromagnetism. was born here (and was originally taught by the local hat maker). His statue is in one of the squares:

The walk back to Spodsbjerg was very nice. We came through a village called Tullebølle, which has a nice church. Apparently there are several special features inside the church, but it was locked which is very unusual for Danish churches.

This morning we covered the 24 miles to Femø, an island between Sealand and Langeland where we have been several times and which we like a lot. We have never been here this early in the season and have never seen it this quiet:

Only six boats, three danish, two German and us. As I write this, two more have arrived (one dutch, one German).

The weather is predicted to be nice an stable the coming days, with not much wind. Ideal for us! The plan is to go to Vordingborg tomorrow and then Klintholm on Wednesday.

Spodsbjerg

This morning, we had an early (7 am) departure from Bagenkop. The wind was still light and expected to pick up a bit later. We set course for Spodsbjerg, the only harbour on the eastern side of Langeland. There was a nice current behind us for most of the 18 mile trip, at times we did 9.9 knots (we were hoping to crack 10...) which means the current was over 3 knots. Two and a half hours later, we tied up in Spodsbjerg.
We'll probably be here tomorrow as well, doing a bit more walking.

I was going to try to post a video for a change. It was taken during the Laboe - Bagenkop trip last Thursday. It is also on Onbekommerd's own Facebook page (MV Onbekommerd). This is a page we keep in Dutch, mainly for our Valk Yachts Club friends but of course everyone can be a 'friend' of Onbekommerd. We don't know much about Facebook, but it seems to do the trick for this purpose.
Unfortunately, the local WiFi here is too slow to get the (93MB) file uploaded, so if you are interested to see it, you need to go to Facebook.

Bagenkop pictures

We had a very nice day in Bagenkop, including a nice walk to the southernmost point of Langeland where we saw the wild horses. And in the evening, we had the COBB out for the first time this year. Not yet shorts and T shirts weather, but it seems to be improving.
Tomorrow, we'll go to Spodsbjerg on the east coat of Langeland, although that is still a bit 'subject to weather' as the wind will not be as light as originally predicted.

Here are some pictures of our crossing yesterday and of today's walk:

 The Kiel lighthouse, which is also a pilot station.

 The pilot transferring to a ship.

 Crossing the border into Denmark....

Approaching Bagenkop. This is not far from Marstal, which is known for its tall ships. 

Bagenkop harbour entrance 

 Wild horses are a feature of South Langeland

Dovn's Klint, the southernmost tip of Langeland