Across Little Biscay
Well, there have been a few very jolly days taking us from Ystad to Kalmar. The sea area has a bit of a reputation, but we had the most fabulous breezes to take us across and into Kalmarsund. We stopped off at a favorite island, Hanö, and had the most lovely walk through the woods along the headland, followed by ...
Van Gogh
While in Kalmar, waiting for the next frontal system to pass through, we took a walk over to Kalmar Slott, a very impressive royal castle, beautifully restored. We visited it last year, and it’s worth a second trip. The special event was a ‘Son et Lumière’ exhibition of Van Gogh’s life and work. We sat in the gallery for an ...
Warning signals
We love AIS. On the chart plotter, as Melodrama sails along, little triangles with dotted extension lines show approaching vessels, and warn us if we might need to take avoiding action. It's just interesting sometimes to look them up, as they transmit their size, type of vessel, and destination, as well as speed and direction. So we can see a ...
The Seventh Seal
In the last week, the weather has been very variable. Every other day, there is a good weather window to clock up some sea miles to the next destination, but then 30 knot squalls dominate for the following day. Saturday was one of those days, so we got out the bikes, took Bodilla the free ferry over to Fårö island, ...
The Cow Parade
Ventspils, Latvia, an old oil and petrochemical port, very important in the days when Russia ruled in Latvia, and our first landfall in the Baltic States. The yacht harbour is in at the back of the fishing port, well out of the way of the big boats, but has decent facilities, and a helpful harbour-master. It is definitely the first ...