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We returned to Barcelona on Sept 22, just in time to greet our arriving guests from Coconut Grove, Wes and Alexis. A couple of days of sightseeing and visits with old friends before we were all off to Palma, Mallorca.
Beatrix and Graham, also from the Grove, had invited us all to join them for Grahams birthday bash. And a bash it was with a day on the beautiful yacht Falcoa Uno with great friends imbibing, swimming and dancing. A few more days on the island with our wonderful hosts and it was back to Barcelona for a few day.
The opportunity arose to join old friend Alessandro in Venice for a few days. What a great time to go with the Covid effect still in its grips. Turned out Alexis had a friend with a wonderful flat in the city that was available, so off we went. Walking the quietest city we have ever been in, the loudest noise was a rolling bag. A day trip to Murano and the charming Burano. A wonderful visit with both Alessandro and his new friend.
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It was mid September by the time we got True East back to her winter home a few miles below Stockholm. What we called ‘Indian Summer’ in New England came in late September and October, in Sweden it comes on August 15th and might last a month. We had planned to cruise Lake Malern in True East, a plan to be reconsidered given the weather.
Lake Malern is Sweden’s third largest lake and lies west of Stockholm. While it is only about 100 miles long, the shoreline is enormous and much of it undeveloped. At the turn of the century, the wealthiest families in Sweden building mansions or castles around the lake, more than 60 of these huge estates.
Our goal was to circle around the lake, and visit as many as possible. This turned out to be a 300 mile trip over 9 days. As a guide, we decided to follow the map of the major castles open to the public…..on season. We quickly learned the season was OVER. Nevertheless, we could at least take the grand tour and see the exterior of the buildings and the grounds.
First stop was Gripsholms, one of royal residences. While it was open, we decided that we would return here on the boat in the spring. We proceeded on to Sundbyholms Castle where we had a reservation for the night…oops, not in the castle but a small cottage. The next day we passed Stora Castle or what we call the calendar castle….4 towers, 12 turrets, 52 rooms and 365 windows. This has been in the same family for generations.
We stayed in one of Swedens former industrial cities, Eskilistuna, for two days. A charming town with many of the old mills converted to museums. At dinner, our hostess revealed that she grew up near Stora and used to play in the castle with the children of the owners.
After a few more castle views, we arrived in Vasteras, a delightful city build along the river with a park running the length of the river. It was then on to Uppsala with a few more castle views along the way. This is Swedens fourth largest city with a little over 100,000 people. It is a university town filled with all the life that brings.
Our plan was to stay at Rosenberg Castle, arriving we discovered that it is always closed on Sunday night….enough, on to a hotel at the airport only 10 miles away. From our base at the airport hotel, we visited a few more castles including the Royal Palace at Drottingham, magnificent. The train from the airport into Stockholm is only 20 minutes so we spent a couple more days exploring the city before returning to Barcelona.
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Leaving Marstrand we headed for Varberg and fueled up there. Most of the boaters in the Nordic countries are sailors, no wonder with diesel costing as much as $10/gallon. With a forecast for a calm day on The Sound, we decided to run the 100 miles down to Copenhagen so we could enjoy the Danish food. Dan is convinced that the school for chefs in Sweden is only four days – hamburger, pizza, klucking salad and shrimp with mayo on toast (HPK&S), with this you are trained to run any restaurant kitchen in Sweden. The locals say that since Covid the quality is the restaurants has really fallen.
We managed to return to our exact spot on the Nyhaven Canal and spend an afternoon at Trivoli Gardens, one of the oldest amusement parks in the world. We love Copenhagen and consider Denmark to be the best of the Nordic countries.
Leaving Copenhagn, we continued south, then east along the coast which is pretty barren. In the end we were bucking 4-6’ seas as we pulled in the Simrishamns. The boating season is over in the part of the world in mid August, so by the end of the month the Guesthamns are pretty empty. Every town has a Guesthamn or Guest Harbor some with nearly as many moorings as the residents, in season a reservation is mandatory.
As we rounded the corner and started up the east coast we started again to get into the coastal island that provided both interest and shelter. Karlskrona was our next stop and a major naval port since the 12th century. The naval museum was a gem. After a visit of several days we moved onto Kalmar, one of Swedens larger cities.
On entering the harbor, the Swedish Coast guard approached and ask to board us. No check of safety equipment but a thorough check of our paperwork including the VAT temporary import document we went all the way to Norway to secure. They also performed a breathalyzer on the Captain who was drinking 2.8% beer in Sweden. The highlight of Kalmar is the magnificent castle/fortress dating from the 12th century and site of the Kalmar Union that united the Nordic countries for several centuries. It really is amazing how many war there were between these Nordic neighbors.
At Kalmar we rented a car and toured the north end of Oland Island highlighted by the summer Royal Residence and an enormous 12th century fort that suffered a fire in the 19th century.
Having discovered that there was a good harbor on the north end of Oland, we make Byzelkrona (we are now up to about 200 places in Europe we can not pronounce) our next stop on route to Gotland Island.
Visby is the capital of Gotland Island and was a very important trading center between the late 12th and and early 15th centuries during the Hanseatic League. This walled city is filled with period buildings and has a great museum. We again rented a car and over two days visited most of the island, including the small island of Faro. Today this is very much a holiday island with some beaches and lots of campgrounds.
From Visby it was back to the mainland of Sweden at Nynasham that happens to be a major port for ferry’s to Estonia and Poland. Looking at a map, this makes sense as the overland route would be very long and pass thru Russia. Our final leg was back to Sodertalje where the boat will be stored for the winter. Five weeks and a little over 1,000 miles….do not ask about the fuel!
Leaving the boat, we rented a car to take a tour of the Stately Homes (castles perhaps) around Lake Malaren.
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It had been 22 months since we left True East in Södertälje, Sweden (about 40 miles south of Stockholm), as the Covid-19 virus got in the way of our travel plans. We arrived late on August 11 and were off the dock by noon on the 12th thanks to the team at Wasa Yachts.
While our plan for the cruising season had been to go east to Finland and then down the eastern side of the Baltic. Instead we faced a Value Added Tax (VAT) problem. As an American boat, we did not have to pay the 22% VAT tax on its value as long as it was on a Temporary Import License (TIL), good for 18 months. This is further compounded by a 25% import duty imposed on American boats during Donald’s tariff wars. In order to renew the TIL was to leave the EU. The two closest exits were Russia and Norway. We decided against the Russia solution and laid plans to get to Norway and back in 4-6 weeks.
The quickest route to Norway is to take the Gota Canal to Lake Vanern, the Trollhattan Canal to Gothenburg, and then run North for about 100 miles to Fredrickstad, Norway. In 2019 we had done this trip in reserve going west to east so these were familiar waters. The Gota Canal was built in the 1830’s and has 55 locks and 49 draw bridges in it’s 102 mile length. The regular season for the canal ends on August 12, the boating season here is over by mid August.
We purchased an off season express pass whereby we had our own personal lock and bridge operator and were able to complete the Gota Canal in three days. Another day across the lake and one more to Gothenburg were we again stayed across from the Opera House and met a great couple from Curacacao we will surely see again. From there it was up to the popular tourist town of Smogen, this town was in full spring on a beautiful weekend. Last stop in Sweden was Stromstad, it feels so comfortable when you return to a dock and not the routine and it’s not often we do that. Fredrickstad is only 20 miles, so we scooted up had lunch and returned to Stromstad the same day. The customs office is manned when the ferries arrive, so at 9 am Dan presented the paperwork to a baffled customs office. Not many American boats trying to get a TIL signed off, after a few phone calls task completed.
Now we had to think about getting back to Sodertalje before the boating season truly ended. The Gota Canal was now closed for repairs instead of normally being open to the end of September. The alternative was to go around the bottom of Sweden, about 600 miles to get back to Wasa Yachts for the winter. Our first stop was Marstrand were we docked at the exact spot we were in in 2019. This is the sailing capital of Sweden, has a monstrous fortress from the 13th century and three fourths of the island is a nature preserve. With the wind up to 25-30 its, we elected to stay in port….for four days.
After passing by Gothenberg headed south, this would be new territory for True East.
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Bom Dia (s), good days in Portugal. Leaving from Barcelona, we flew to Porta on the Atlantic Coast in the Northwest. Our first reaction was how clean the city was with no litter, no graffiti, no grime on the buildings, no gum on the white marble streets. This was consistent throughout the country with some minor exceptions in Lisbon.
Our second reaction was that everyone was wearing masks despite the high vaccination rate and the low positive testing. A Covid test was required at our hotel, the self test kits are $3.00 at any pharmacy, we picked up a batch. This is a unified country after many centuries of foreign domination and oppression. “The First Global Village” by Martin Page is a very good read.
Our third reaction was the most everyone we encountered spoke fluent English. Our fourth was that almost every storefront was occupied and that throughout the country we saw both public and private investment.
Beyond those observations, the food was great, the sites amazing and the people gracious. We would highly recommend a visit to anyone.
From Porto, famous for its Port wines, we traveled up the beautiful Duoro valley where the port wine grapes are grown on the terraced hillsides on both sides of the river. If you are in Porto, you can take a train or boat boat up the river or do a combination….highly recommended.
Moving south we passed more vineyards, olive groves, apple and pear orchards, walnut trees….all manor of agriculture, the specific determined topography, soils and micro climates. Traveling on to Marvao, we encountered a walled city on a mountain top. This turned out to be typical along the boarder with Spain, more fortress than cathedrals to see in Portugal.
We continued on to the south coast with a stop for a few days in our favorite city Evora. Just the right size, full of heritage and away from the tourist beach crowd…the water here is about 58 degrees. “its for looking, not swimming” is a local joke.
Largo is typical of the coastal cities with its beaches and tourist accommodations and lack of parking. Unlike the coast of Spain, there are no high-rise building and a scattering of mid rise. A stop at Sagres took us to the propertied location of the famous navigation school reported to have been established by the great Henry the Navigator. Subsequent reading have disabused us of much of this ledgend; however, the nautical knowledge and tools used by the early Portuguese explorers opened the west to an understanding of the scope of the world.
On to Lisbon for a few days exploring its museums, restaurants, shops and even the aquarium. Quite a history, in 1755 there was a tsunami that originated in the Caribbean and was felt as far north as the British Isles and Belin. It struck the Lisbon on November 1, All Saints Day when the entire city was required to be in church. Only 5 of the 65 churches survived the devastation of the wave, it is estimated that more than two thirds of the population perished in the flooding, fires and aftermath of this event. The story goes that the king, Jose I asked his youngest minister what should be done and the future Marquis de Pombal said “Bury the dead. Feed the living. Rebuild the city.” Pombal did just that for the next 22 years virtually single handed and without budget constraints. A remarkable feat to remember as you walk the streets.
Sintra is an amazing little city about 15 miles from Lisbon. Ferdinand II built a palace here in the 19th century and what followed was a series of magnificent residences by those seeking access to the throne. Today the entire city is a World Heritage site. Give this place at least a couple of days.
A quick stop in Nazare, home of the 30 meter waves for surfers…sorry seas were dead calm. On to Coimbra, the university town with one of the oldest universities in Europe. Outside of Coimbia is Conimbriga, a major Roman city lost to the ravages of peasants, barbarians and time. A reminder of the fragility of our current situation.
Returning to Barcelona, we reflected on our decision of make our residence in Spain as opposed to Portugal. While we loved Portugal, we have to admit we also like the larger cities in particular Barcelona that is three times the size of the largest city in Portugal. We were also extremely fortunate to visit during Covid and the absence of tourists. No hotel reservations required, no waiting in line, no crowed restaurants….perfecto!
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Off to Alaska once again. We have boated in South East Alaska a number of times including the summers of 2015 and 2016 on True East and now twice on a chartered 42′ Nordic Tug from Auke Bay Charters in 2020 and now 2021.
While these are familiar waters, there is an endless choice of bay and inlets to visit, the weather is never the same and the wildlife makes different choices each season of each year as to their whereabouts. Net result is that each trip is a new adventure.
Marcia’s brother Mike and his partner Cheryl arrived a day in advance and did a great job of provisioning the boat before we even go there. As a result we were off the dock quickly and headed west in Icy Straight to Swanson Harbor where we spent our first night at anchor. From there we headed south down Chatham Straight to Tenakee Harbor where we docked for the night and enjoyed a long walk along this village. Continuing down Chatham we arrived at Baranof Warm Springs that is one of our favorite stops. The waterfall, the bath house fed by the hot springs, the walk to the lake and the natural hot spring next to the river.
At Baranof we spent two days waiting for a break in the weather before heading down Peril Straight on route to Sitka. Our first night we anchored at Appleton Bay and on our second we anchored at Baby Bear Bay. Planning to make Sturgis Narrows at slack tide, Dan decided to follow the only other boat in the bay as it was departing. Good thing as we discovered dead batteries and Dave and Marilyn on Misty One had jumper cables. Thru the Narrows and on to Sitka. There we met up with our old friends on m/y Discovery for a nice visit. Mike and Cheryl spend a day with us at Goddard Hot Springs before they left us in Sitka. We then had a couple of days to get the boat fixed and reprovision.
Marcia’s brother Ed and sister Jeanie then joined us for the trip back to Juneau. We returned up thru Sturgis Narrows with an overnight at Baby Bear, then headed out Peril Straight for a return visit to Baranof Warm Springs. Once again we enjoyed the springs and got to enjoy a young bear swimming across the bay. Once again we spent an extra day here waiting for some weather to pass. We then proceeded east thru Fredrick’s Sound and into Snug Harbor in Gambia Bay. To our amazement, this was a day without whales.
Next stop was Tracy Arm north up Steven’s Passage. On arrival we where treated to a pod of humpbacks and a coupe of whales breaching for all to see. The trip up Tracy Arm and back is a full day with ever changing ice conditions. This year it was relatively clear up to the face of the north arm. What a disappointment to find the face of the glacier has receded several hundred feet from even last year and looked grim. The south arm had a lot of floating ice and looked it’s magnificent self.
With one more stop at Taku Harbor where the remains of a major cannery are still visible. It was then back to Auke Bay at the north end of Juneau where Steve treated us to dungeness crab and halibut before send us off the airport in the early morning hours.
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Most people do not know that one can actually circumnavigate south Florida….you can do it in either direction. The key is the Okeeechobee Waterway that dates back to 1937. There are two locks east of the lake and three to the west.
Headed out of Miami, we went on the outside up to Ft Lauderdale, then on the inside up to Boca where we docked for the night and enjoyed the dolphins around the boat.
The next day we stayed on the inside passing the mega yachts at West Palm and proceeded up to Riviera Beach and docked at the municipal marina. We went into Rosemary Square in Boca Raton and really enjoyed this area and particularly the LED tree. Day three took us up to Hutchinson Island near Stuart, FL. Marriott has a monster resort here and we got a chance to walk the beach and take a swim before heading away from the Atlantic.
The following morning we entered the St Lucie canal and two locks later were in Lake Okeechobee. While we did not see a big algae bloom in the lake, the stench at the Port Mayaca lock was so bad Marcia put her mask back on. There are two routes across the lake. The first is the rim route along the south shore and the second is directly across the lake, we elected the later about a 60 mile run for the day.
Rolands Marina in Clewiston was the next stop, this is real redneck country. From Clewiston we took the rim route north the Moore Haven where we entered the canal on the western side and proceeded to Ft. Meyers, about 70 miles. At Ft. Meyers we were guests of the Bentley and Brenda Collins, both formerly of Sabre Yachts. We enjoyed a visit to the Edison and Ford Estates and a delightful dinner.
Our original plan was to head north to Sarasota but discovered all of friends had already headed back up north. We proceeded to Captiva only to discover how difficult it is to get to Sanibel without a car. With a forecast for some heavy weather, we decided to head down to Naples and tuck in there. From Naples we would be heading primarily east across Florida Bay. The forecast was strong winds from the east for the coming week, we decided to leave the boat and head back home till the storm system passed.
Ten days later we were back on the boat and headed down to Everglades City were we stayed at the historic Rod and Gun Club. This area was very busy in the late 1800’s as the birds in the area were plucked for their fancy feathers. From this historic city it was kind of run home. Crossing Florida Bay we docked at Caloosa Cove, not recommended, and then took a long run up the Keys and Biscayne Bay to our dock at Rickenbacker.
We enjoyed three different trips to the Bahamas during the opening months on 2021. The first thing to note is the very impressive system developed and implemented for visitors to the Bahamas during the Covid 19 epidemic. The system is called a Bahamas Health Visa and the application is on-line. Fill in your personal info, upload a copy of your passport and then get a Covid test 3-5 days before your departure. Upload the lab report with your test results and fill in you travel plans…flights, dates and location you are staying in the Bahamas and pay $60 for health insurance. Next day you get a Travel Visa that you present at the airport, at customs on arrival, at your hotel, etc. You then get a daily email to check on your health, after 5 days on island you are required to get a rapid test with the results automatically uploaded to the government.
Our first visit was to our favorite, Harbour Island, where we joined Graham and Beatriz for a few day staying at the Coral Sands hotel. A snorkel tour to the Devil’s Backbone with Jeff Fox was a highlight of this trip. Not that the great meals, good drinks and beach walks were not wonderful.
Our second visit was to Long Island where we rented a house, Osprey Nest, with Wes and Alexis and Graham and Beatriz. Over the course of a week we drove from one end of the island to the other, about 80 miles visiting various resorts and enjoying a lunches out.
The caretakers of our rented house were Charles and Theresa who where also our caterers, auto mechanics, shoppers and captains of our tour boat. Good time had by all at a new place for us in the Bahamas.
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Trip number three was our delayed sailing trip in the Exumas from 2020. We chartered a 45′ sailing catamaran with four guest cabins from the Moorings in Palm Cay, Nassau. For this two week trip, our plan was to have three couples for our guests the first week and cruise down to Georgetown and then drop them off and pick up three new couples for the cruised back up thru the Exumas to Palm Cay.
Arriving the night before departure Wes and Alexis stayed with us at the Breezes which Doug and Melanie stayed in town and Jess and Sam stayed at the airport. Amazingly, provisioning started at 8:30, we were on the boat at 10am and off the dock by 11 am headed for Highborne Cay. While we had great sailors aboard, we did not have the wind in our favor as they clock a full circle the first week. Hopping down thru the islands our friends got to know each other and explore the beauty of the Exuma islands.
Peter and Diane served as the advance team in Georgetown and did great preparations for our arrival. The boat was fueled, reprovisioned, laundry washed and dried and the boat cleaned all in a few hours. Here Tony and Julie, and Kristi and Gigi joined us the for the return trip. After a wonderful lunch for all 14 of us on Stocking Island, we were off again and stopped first at Larry’s Island…..so named for our cab driver in Nassau. While we made a number of the same stops at our favorite places…Thunderball Cay, the aquarium, blowhole, etc. we took much more of an outside route on the way north.
Marcia and I could not help but laugh when we removed the trash from the boat returning to Palm Cay. After the first week, the recycles were primarily wine and beer bottles. After the second week, it was mostly soft drink cans. Either way, great friends together for a couple of great weeks.
