Sep 203 min read

#14 Stockholm archipelago with special encounters!

Here we go. On Friday, August 26, 2022, we set off in the van loaded with sailing clothes, plenty of pro-fish and a few crates of beer. Sweden is the destination. As is well known, the cost of living there is quite high and so we decided to drive to STOCKHOLM rather than fly.

So we first go to the beautiful state capital Kiel to take the ferry to Gothenburg. Before we can board the ferry, however, the nice lady at check-in explained to us that all guests would need a valid ID card. However, as this does not apply to two of us smart guys, we are allowed to do a lap of honour past the main train station. We are quickly helped at the federal police station there. The guys seem to have had a lot of experience with this. The exit from the Kiel Fjord is quite unspectacular. The weather is cloudy and visibility is only moderate. It's a shame - I would have liked to have taken another nice photo of thenaval memorial .

The next morning, entering the Gothenburg Sound is completely different. Glorious sunshine and we drive through the bare skerries. Rocks that simply protrude from the water. Here and there, even islands the size of small red-painted wooden houses on them.

We continue with the van across Sweden to Stockholm.

There we take over a Sun Oddyseey 440 into the "4Sea".

The coming week takes us north to Arholma, where we will anchor overnight for once. On the way there we will spend a night in the basin of the island of Idholmen at the natural jetty and in the Furusund guest harbor.

On the way back we stop at Nässlingen, a small wooded skerry between the large island of Nora Ljusterö and the long island of Edö.

And here the incredible happens:

In the morning I make my way to the showers. It's about time, after all we spent the last night at anchor. My flip-flops clatter across the fairly new path. The skerry is practically deserted. There is only one other yacht moored here. Nevertheless, it is quite a long way, as I have to go around the harbor basin. This path leads me along a small forest path, lined with bare rocks, slightly overgrown with moss on one side and the spruce forest on the other. The ground is covered with brown spruce needles. I reach the barbecue corner, which is hidden in the middle of the forest. I am just thinking that the steel frame, which is probably supposed to serve as a grill, has not seen a steel brush for a long time, when I suddenly hear noises. At first it is a quiet pounding, but then it gets louder and louder. Then they come around the bend. I can't believe my eyes. A goat comes bleating towards me. I stare at it in amazement. Everything is still fine.

But then your colleagues appear. A whole herd. At least 30 animals. They bleat. They harass me and I am surrounded. The colleagues are really pushy with their horns and the green eyes with which they stare at me.

I try to make my way through the crowd of goats, big and small. But when I manage to do so, the boys and girls start chasing me.

Wearing shorts, a T-shirt and flip-flops, I try to gain distance as quickly as possible without running off.

It must be a funny sight, how I come around the second pool with a whole herd of goats in tow. Jörg, who is standing in front of the showers, has tears in his eyes from laughing so much. I run over to him. "Where did you get them?" he asks. I just answer briefly: "I found them in the forest!" and disappear past him into the shower trailer. Now he can deal with the gang, I think, and I also have to laugh out loud.

We spend our last evening in the city center of Stockholm. In Vaasahaven to be precise. We want to visit the famous Vasa Museum . The ship Vasa sank on its maiden voyage off Stockholm in 1628. After 333 years on the seabed, the impressive warship was salvaged and set off on a new voyage. Today, the Vasa is the best preserved ship of the 17th century and can be admired in a museum built especially for it in Stockholm. This unique cultural treasure includes 98 percent of the original parts, including hundreds of artfully carved wooden sculptures.