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more tries at piccies:

The view from the top of the lighthouse, at last!  It would seem that it is necessary to be online to upload photos. Odd. Since they are in the iPad anyway!
Peaceful Jurmo:  

 Ex-Russian fort, whats left of an insignificant bit of it.  
 

So now, when on the internet, more pics may appear with blogs

JosinJohn

I have tried to load the view from the top, but still have no luck, so. ……

Breakfast museli was taken sitting very quietly in the cockpit, watching the swifts coming and going. They have nested inside the woodwork of the jetty, and access is via missing planks. Two just by the cockpit. Very busy little birds.

Sunshine again today, but getting overcast later. Wind has gone round from the south to NNW, so today is a motoring day. First part is outside the rocks and islands, so no navigating, just blogging with a regular peek out. But the waves are from the west and we roll. Not good for the weak-stomached!  In a few hours we will be back in sheltered waters. 

Goal for the day is Reposaari, 61 37 / 21 26. Again recommended by neighbour in Lappo. Looks sheltered. 

Surprise this morning when I returned to the boat. There was a man standing, looking at my flag. “Unusual to see a Norwegian here, where are you from, etc” Turns out he is from Nordheimsund in Hardanger. We had a long chat. Motorboat type, lives up the coast somewhere else with an unpronouncable name. Relief for me to be able to communicate easily! 

Evening: didn’t get the above sent, WiFi dead. Now in Reosaari after an interesting day, partly motoring in and out of the islands, and partly sailing in open waters with plenty of wind, almost on the nose, mostly in the last hour getting here. The marina is in an inside lagoon, with very shallow water just before the entrance. Followed the markers carefully, and briefly saw 0 m depth on the echosounder. No bump, not even a slow squelch. Mystical. 

Neighbour sailboat came in just after me, but from the north after an exhilerating sail. We sat on the park bench and compared notes and harbours. I now have at least 20 recommendations up the Finnish coast, easy when you get to know how! Forecast for the next few days is not promising. Hope they got it wrong!

Hungry now. Dinner time. All’s well, from SailorJohn

  

I have just written a long post, and it has disappeared, not sent. Grrrrrrrr!! Try again. 

Yesterday evening, at nearly nine o’clock, the outside and inside temperatures were both 28,5 degrees, and that was in the ‘cool’ of the evening. Yes, summer is here. 

A motorsail yesterday north up the main channel, not relaay enough wind, and then lots of navigating in to this charming town with the unpronounceable name. The charts and lanes are peppered with markers, and the depth, or shallowth, of the lane one is negotiating. Need to pay attention, otherwise surprises. Pressing need to find a chart-shop, as we are now almost off the edge of the present ones. 

If you look at the map of this place, you will see that it is all in rectangles, about fifty meters each. All houses are similar, of wood, painted in a variety of colours, some fading, so must have been built all about the same time. A placard on the hard here tells of much maritime activity, customs, smuggling and prosperity. Probably to do with timber, as there are trees everywhere still. A large factory area, outside the town on the way in here, was belching both white and brown smoke, luckily out to sea, so there is still prosperity.

The heat sent me to the supermarket, air conditioned of course. Reckon that a lot of others had done the same. Anothr country, another system in the ‘super’. You pick up, for example, your carrots, and take them to the weighing machine. Behind is a large tablet of, not icons as in Sweden, numbers, a hundred of them. Help! Nobody could, until a young teenager showed me how. The carrot-shelf has a number. So, back to the carrot shelf, find and remember it and return to the weighing machine. Wait in queue. My turn. What was that number again? Whatever, the machine squirts out a sticky lable to be stuck onto a suitable carrot. No problem when you know how, but it taxes the number-remember part of the brain a bit. Shopping priority had to be strict, as it had to be carried the halfhour back to the boat. Choose the shady route. Find a bench half way. Sit and watch. Smalls in prams not happy. Pram-pushing mums none too happy either.

WiFi here is intermittent, and free, but only if you sit in everybody’s way outside the cafe. Roaring trade in cooling drinks and ice creams. One small boy angry because his favourite one was sold out. 

Goal for the day is not Rauma, the next largish place, but a lighthouse, Kylmäpihlaja, with small harbour, out to sea a bit. 61 09 / 21 18. Praised by the harbour-book, it will avoid the long navigational-knitting to and from the town. 

There is a breeze, from the SW, which will be perfect for a sail today if it holds. All’s well, from SailorJohn. 

Jurmo was very peaceful, very. Took a walk around and listened to the sigh of the wind in the trees and calling of birds. Took pictures, but uploading isn’t working.  No WiFi, so no internet and no blogg yesterday evening. 

So, pottered on and found a nice quiet bay a mile or two north and relaxed, and watched the birds. Early evening there was a considerable commotion of cormorants, at least a hundred of them, obviously following a steam of something and fishing it energetically.  About half an hour it lasted, then some of them flew away, but most swam to the nearest rock and struggled ashore, quite replete. Much flapping and drying of wings and competing for space.  Glorious sunset, at after elleven.  

Woken by the sun this morning at just after five, so the day began. Yes, I did have a dip, not long, water temp 14,5. Brrrrrr. Feel good afterwards!  Bright sunshine today and not a cloud. Pressure high and rising. Maybe summer starts here and now?

Goal for the day is Uusikaupunki, about 25 nm to the NE.  The little wind is in the east, so we are motor-sailing, and expect to get there at lunchtime. Neighbour boat in Lappo, Finish, excellent english, strongly recommended the place, so we must visit. (Don’t think it was his home town). 

Last two days in WiFi darkness, but now, in sunny Lappo harbour, we are back in the electronic world again. 

  
That Castle was quite impressive, mostly, from the outside, of the enormous area of wall compared to the miniscule ‘windows’. Inside I didn’t see, as it was closed. But more interesting was the collection of old buildings on the way there. (I’ll think of the name soon). Ålands official Maypole is erected and celebrated there, and most impressive it was too:

  
Explanations another time, I have the brochure somewhere. Lovely quiet place, grassy banks and picnicers too. 

Then on to Bomarsund, where we anchored for the night just round the corner. Entertainment that evening was a demented crow, large and very squawky-loud, trying to get into a cottage by flying through the closed verana windows. He must have had a very sore beak afterwards!  Next morning round to the small jetty, and a walk up to the remains of the Russian fort. Placards told of the original layout and buildings. Lots of big cannon laid out, just in case like.  Very comprehensive facility, must have cost a considerable portion of the Czar’s budget. Pity about the outcome though, as it was blasted and pillaged to ruins, for the Russians. 

Then had a lovely sail across relatively open water, going NE, and anchored up in a large bay off Eklinge, with a shallow entrance, (no, we didn’t). Only neighbours, swans. This area seems to be swan-country. Lots of them, also in swarms (wrong collective word, nicely onomatopeic!). 

Lappo for one night then, and then northward, up the main channel between Åland and Finland. Need to study the charts carefully, lots of shallows and rocks on the Finnish coast, and the harbour book, before deciding where to stop next. 

Now for an Åland pancake for lunch. Had one four years ago, and yummy memories. 

All’s well, from SailorJohn

Fog cleared. No wind, then good wind, a wait for the bridge to open, then more sailing, this time a little competitively amongst the other, bridge-waiting, five sailing boats. Three of them didn’t try very hard, and we came second. The other was several sizes larger though!

Very friendly harbour-help, who also informed that they had freshly-smoked ‘sik’, a trout relative, white flesh, available. Bought, filleted and eaten. Delicious. Half today, half tomorrow. 

There is a castle here which is a guide-book rave, with a significant history, so after the sik has settled, and maybe a strawberry or several, steps will be taken, (ten minutes, the harbour-hostess said). 

Will only stay here long enough to view the castle, and then on to Bomarsund later, against that lovely wind unfortunately, to get back out of this ‘fjord’, which has Ålands’s golf course on one side. Looks very attractive. Distance ashore is a bit too far to judge the slice/hook play. 

All’s well, from sailorJohn

Woke to the sound of a fog horn, from the main west channel. Is this a sign of summer? Sleepy head out through the hatch, and yes, fog. Not thick, as the sun is vaguely visible through it. The WiFi here is so intermittent and unreliable that no forecast is downloadable, so we shall just have to wait and see.

Yesterday was a day of variety. Food shopping, sightseing, wandering the pedestrian area, eating icecream like everyone else, bicycling around looking for the bike shop. Found. Saddle now more comfortable. More bicycling around seeing the sights. Walking up to the lookout spot and looking out, in very good visisbility. Buy three punnets of strawberries, (three for two), ate one after lunch, with cream, very good. Snooze. Chat with neighbour boat, English couple, wandering Scandinavian-waters sailors. Tried to chat with Finnish boat on the other side, but comms poor, chat curtailed. 

Fog seems to be clearing a bit. Plan for the day is to sail NE, to the inland sea, Lumparn, (opening bridge on the hour, every hour), a couple of probably motoring hours, to Kastleholm, apparently worth seeing, and then a further couple of hours to Bomarsund, where the Russians, who occupied this area a century and more ago, built a large marine base, as their place from which to dominate the northern Baltic, but were defeated and ousted by a combined French and British fleet. Historians theorise that keeping a large Russian contingent busy here had a significant effect on the Crimean War. Interesting. 

My blog will probably become rather intermittent, as communication will depend on WiFi availability. If I anchor up in a nice spot, no. If in a guest harbour, maybe. We’ll see. Keep checking!

Fog definitely clearing. Must start the day.

All’s well, from SailorJohn

Very fast sail over the “Ålands Sea”. Stopped at the most southerly harbour, Rødhamn, for a late lunch, then motorsailed up to Mariehamn. Will be here two nights. Need to do some shopping. WiFi on the boat doen’t work here, but there is a (poor) WiFi connection here in the marina, maybe because I chose a pen away from the shore, to avoid the noise. Åland is one hour ahead of Norway. It is now 22:00 local time and the sun hasn’t set yet. Anyway, sleepytime. 

this may be the last post for a while. I am not sure how far the internet signal will reach. 

Wind from NNW 12 -15 kts, course 070, or a little north of east, result: Max speed, 6,5 to 7 kts. in the right direction.  Wheeeeeee! Aolus again defied the forecast and is blowing much harder, thankfully, so ETA at the other side, probably Rødham , will be lunchtime. Excellent!  I am now glad that I decided to go further north last evening before stopping as the angle to the goal is now much free-ere. Only thing to do now is to watch out for commercial traffic, of which there is a good deal, including ferries, which don’t like sailboats in their way!

The rest of yesterday, after lunch, was just about perfect. Plenty wind. Sunshine. Sailboats out enjoying. Coffee and chocolate at intervals. Soup. Wind died just before goal, so a little motoring only. What better?!

Grey day today, there is obviously an old front wondering where to wander, and a stripe of clear sky to the north. Hopefully it will come south. 

All’s well, from SailorJohn

Woke early, wind forecast promising, so plan a long day and start early(ish). Managed 7:30, not bad, eh?

Aolius decided to go one better than the forcast and blew 10-15 kt wind, right behind us, and therefore excellent progress, nearly 30 nm already. Weather grey and chilly, but no rain luckily, and lunch in a warmed cabin is a good idea. Goal today is another SXK buoy at an island which is a good starting point to cross the stretch to the Åland islands and Mariehamn, about 30 nm. Forcast wind not so favourable, but you never know!

I am delighted and encouraged to see how many ‘views’ my blogsite are getting, no less than 35 yesterday! Can’t be boring, can it? I’ll continue to do my best.

Lunchtime over, saddle the horses…… All’s well, from SailorJohn