Day 53 Björkholmen
This morning was a bit like the day after the night before. Originally we were going to leave at 8am… but we had been Hoedic'd. We left at around 9am which was better than Bolero and Jolief who had a very merry night.
Originally we were going to go to Vastervik as it had been recommended to us but we decided that we had enjoyed being at anchor so much we would rather anchor again. We also decided that as the weather was likely to deteriorate in the afternoon we didn't need to go that far. I had a look at all the anchorages recommended at about the time and distance we wanted to travel and Björkholmen was our chosen destination.
Just like every other location in the archipelago Björkholmen had to be accessed via some very shallow and narrow passes. We arrived and it was lunch time HOORAY! We love to stop at lunch time and unwind. Then just as I had to anchor… the cloud above us burst and I got soaked. It lasted all of three minutes but at exactly the wrong time.
Björkholmen was not quite what we expected, there was much less water than charted which meant we could not anchor where there was lots of swinging room. Instead we anchored where we could and it all looked fine. After about an hour the wind shifted and we swung towards the nearest shore. The stern of the boat was about 15-20 feet from the shore. This is disconcerting and I was not relaxed but again at this precise time the heavens opened again so we just waited it to pass. Once this was over I went forward and pulled up about 8 feet of anchor chain and that was enough to keep the boat at a more comfortable position from the shore. As it happened the wind then dropped for the night and we swung length-ways into the spot and had a wonderful evening and nights sleep.
On the pontoon were a few Swedish boats and nearly they are not used to a boat of our size blocking the harbour. We set our alarms for 5:45 and went to bed.
Originally we were going to go to Vastervik as it had been recommended to us but we decided that we had enjoyed being at anchor so much we would rather anchor again. We also decided that as the weather was likely to deteriorate in the afternoon we didn't need to go that far. I had a look at all the anchorages recommended at about the time and distance we wanted to travel and Björkholmen was our chosen destination.
Just like every other location in the archipelago Björkholmen had to be accessed via some very shallow and narrow passes. We arrived and it was lunch time HOORAY! We love to stop at lunch time and unwind. Then just as I had to anchor… the cloud above us burst and I got soaked. It lasted all of three minutes but at exactly the wrong time.
Björkholmen was not quite what we expected, there was much less water than charted which meant we could not anchor where there was lots of swinging room. Instead we anchored where we could and it all looked fine. After about an hour the wind shifted and we swung towards the nearest shore. The stern of the boat was about 15-20 feet from the shore. This is disconcerting and I was not relaxed but again at this precise time the heavens opened again so we just waited it to pass. Once this was over I went forward and pulled up about 8 feet of anchor chain and that was enough to keep the boat at a more comfortable position from the shore. As it happened the wind then dropped for the night and we swung length-ways into the spot and had a wonderful evening and nights sleep.
On the pontoon were a few Swedish boats and nearly they are not used to a boat of our size blocking the harbour. We set our alarms for 5:45 and went to bed.
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On route -
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Anchored.... -
Drop a stern anchor and nose into the port -
