The last few days have reminded us why we love cruising the Baltic so much. The winds haven’t been perfect, but sometimes have been really lovely – not necessarily in the right direction.
Here are four of our favorite harbours that encapsulate this part of Southern Sweden:
Hanö Island:
We were planning on crossing the Hanöbukten to the East, but the chop into a headwind and the lure to the north of this lovely island was too much. We had a great reach with Code 0 and a sunny afternoon exploring.
Once a British naval base in the Baltic, with a graveyard that to this day is visited by passing UK Royal Naval ships, the island has a pretty harbour, sweet cottages, and fabulous walks over the granite and heath, listening to birds and looking out for deer.
Tjärö Island:
This is a private holiday island, with a long sheltered creek and a super restaurant, serving an excellent breakfast ashore. Another balmy afternoon, wandering past huge granite boulders and scrambling across the rocks.
Karlskrona:
This is Sweden’s Naval base, with a good marina for stocking up on fuel and essentials.
There is a superb Maritime Museum on the waterfront. These days, cruise ships stopover here, we’ve heard because they no longer visit St Petersburg. Much as I love this town, it’s no competition for The Hermitage.
We are very close to the site of the Nordstream bombings last year, and we’ve been checked out by Coastguard and recorded by Harbour masters on a few occasions now. Large chartered Bavarias from the same German charter company, Mola, that rented the yachts implicated in the attack are in the same harbours. Occasional fighter jets fly past, and navy ships patrol the area. Interesting.
Kalmar:
Perfect for provisioning, with a great chandlery, and with the most stunning medieval castle, beautifully preserved and open to the public. This summer they have an exhibition of Monet’s art on huge screens, set to music.
And now we have’s found a little creek with a pontoon to tie to, run by Kalmar Yacht Club. There is no-one here, and there are facilities to barbecue ashore tonight. There’s an honesty box to make a contribution to the club.
The water is warm enough for a swim. It’s not even baltic!
Idyllic. Lots of blue sky weather. So good to have an overall plan and yet tweaking it all the time to fit the opportunities (and wind direction)!
South-east UK in midst of prolonged dry late spring high pressure with light winds stubbornly in the North – no rains for 3 weeks but we’re not complaining!
Glad to see the trip is going well so far. You clearly are hoping for the best but planning for the occasional weather related diversions. In Denmark we are also enjoying a warm spell. Warmer and sunnier than the Mediterranean for now…
Bon voyage
Sulli
Lovely to receive this, and I look forward to reading about your Baltic cruise. I hope that you’ve had a share of the great weather that this spring has shown us in Ireland. I’m just back from a week’s holiday in southern France, which was every bit as overcast as Ireland usually is in Spring for most of the week! Bad timing, but the French weather did improve during the week.
R
xxx
Your trip to France sounds lovely despite the weather. It’s a bit of the same here. Sunny but chilly. Xo