Spent a great Sunday morning at the Vasa Museum. The ship is stunning and well placed for wow factor as you enter the building. We arrived at 9 when a handful of people were there: by 11 it was rammed with coach tours and guides.

Now at Stockholm Airport on our way home. Hope we come back to the Baltic and Stockholm.

Had a super last evening meal as a group and then last night on board Matilda.

James and Kevin left us in Central Stockholm to fly back to Manchester. Barry, Adam, Michael and I went for an afternoon of relaxation and deep cleaning at the Stockholm Centralbadet. A beautiful art deco baths and spa with a herb and crystal steam bath, a hot steam bath, Nordic sauna, sun terrace, various jacuzzi and lots of treatment rooms. We had a beautiful whole food lunch in the restaurant. It was exhaustingly relaxing!

We had about 14 miles from Grinda back to Gåshaga Marina, so spent a few hours exploring the island in glorious weather. Michael and I wandered the south of the island with Adam and Barry. Stopping for a salty ice cream.

We set off for a sun-drenched motor back to base, stopping off for some diesel from some nice blond Gulf Boys.

We squeezed back into out small mooring, about 2 foot wider than the boat. We liked the neighbours too.

A Finish find on Grinda. It’s a lovely salty licorice ice cream. Yum!

We managed half an hour of lovely frisky sailing from Djupfladen to Grinda. Started the day with a bracing swim in the bay: Michael, James, Adam and I all had a dip at various stages. It was a glorious morning but it clouded over and got windier as the day progressed.

Route.

It was windy when we moored: stern too with the bow on a buoy. Pretty hard work in the wind, but Kevin got us in.

We had lunch on the island in the small restaurant, very nice fishburger and chips was 170 SEK, about £15, washed down with a beer.

Drinks tonight were aboard Cecelia and Imagine. Michael is making a huge vegetable chilli and James a huge apple crumble. So plenty to eat later.

Spent the night in Paradise! Motored across from Rödlöga in time to have lunch when we arrived. Lovely sunny day and we moored well bows too in a slot in the rock, where it turned out to be too shallow for others to get in either side.

Lovely swimming in the harbour. Ken, James and Michael took the dingy out for a run around, but we were able to get off the boat into the rock easily.

Explorered Kålgårdsön island, where we also had a group BBQ with the five other S&CA boats. Lovely evening up the hill with some sausages and a couple of disposable grills. There was an ABBA-themed quiz, which we won, thanks to James and Barry’s extensive knowledge. No prize, but we did avoid loosing and hosting the next drinks!

We had a drama with our water. The pump stopped pumping water after we changed the tanks over. Barry eventually solved the problem by taking off the pump and breaking the air lock.

The crew of Imagine came round for sundowners at about 11pm, to a brilliant sunset. We killed over a dozen mosquito’s, whilst downing amaretto and Glenmorangie.

Michael and I started the day with a 7am walk around Sandhamn and a trip to the bakers for black bread and pastries. The island was bigger than we thought so we only managed to explore a part of it.

We had a long motor to Rödlöga, a lovely anchorage where we had to moor bows too against a rock, using a ring set into the rock. Interesting experience. Kevin did a good job of bringing us in, with some help from others in the S&CA.

We stopped for a lovely lunch and a swim en route.

Short motor to Sandhamn, in time to get there for a late baked salmon teriyake lunch. Had time to explore the holiday town: very quaint. A bit of shopping and mooching. Pizza in town. A relaxing day.

Gandalf hosted a drinks party and we were welcomed on board by the glamorous hostess, Steve. 

30 miles today, half of this under sail at about 6 knots. Lovely channels, some very narrow indeed.

Nice!

Michael moored perfectly using a stern buoy for the first time.

Time then for a beer and a swim in the swimming lake in town. Bbbrrr. But lovely.

In the evening our yacht and Jason Keedy’s alongside had the first drinks at 6:30. Good fun but leaves the hosts rather the worse for wear. Photo from Liz:

So, broke out the Swedish meatballs and lingon berries with pasta which was our easy meal. Also tried the 54% Aldi Rum. Not bad for €7.