Midsummer

At exactly midnight on Midsummer's Eve I set out with my kayak from Fjällbacka, a small Swedish coastal town. I paddled for 45 minutes until I saw the fire on a beach on "Porsholmen", an small island in the archipelago outside Fjällbacka. There 18 other kayakers were having their Midsummer celebration.
Next morning four of us started earlier then the rest to go out to "Lyngö", an island with a lot of reefs and nice passages passable only with kayak. We had a fantastic day with some wind, swell and a lot of sun. Perfect! Unfortunately I didn't catch the best parts with my camera or the GoPro. In one deep ravine I got stuck with the kayak, too narrow to turn and at an other moment a reflecting wave turned me over but I manged to roll up again.
At lunch we met up with the others at "Långeskär" and after we split up in different groups again. Was with some other friends in the afternoon as we took a trip more outside before heading back to "Porsholmen".
Then we spent a nice evening with food and drink on this beautiful place before going to sleep. Some had then already left us but we were about ten of us who stayed the last night at Porsholmen.

A very nice weekend with old and new friends. Thanks to Caroline, Micke and Marina for arranging this.

Our campsite at Porsholmen 

Viewed from the water

Anette, Joakim and Marina.

At Lyngö

Fantastic day

"In the midnight hour". Viewed from my tent.

Kayaking day five this week

A very, very good week with a lot of kayaking. And a lot of weather! It has been sun, rain, hail and snow. (And all of it today). See previous posts from the trips earlier this week.

Today we were outside Fjällbacka on the Swedish west coast (that's Skagerack, part of North Sea). It was a trip with Friluftsfrämjandet , a Swedish outdoors organization. Twelve of us made this wintry april trip. As I drove there with my car the temperature was at times down to 0°C and with heavy snow. But as we got off with our kayaks the sun was shining and it was rather nice but a bit fresh in the air.
First we went to Stensholmen and from the kayaks we saw the cemetery from British and German sailors who died at the Battle of Jutland, most famous was the author Gorch Fock. Next was Kalvö where we had some sight-seeing and a fika break.

As we left Kalvö it was heavy hail and snow but luckily no wind. It was rather cosy in our dry-suits and in the kayaks. After Kalvö we paddled around in the archipelago until we finally took our lunch at Getryggen island. We were all a bit cold by then so we kept it short and was soon in the kayaks again. After that we continued weaving around the islands on our way back to Hamburgsund.

A good trip and my first this year in salt water and I got to meet some old and new friends as well. That is always nice. I also did my first roll this year in the ocean.

On our way

Snow and hail on my Anas Acuta

Look at the water color!

More snow on the way?

Lunch break.

Snowing

One of many fishing villages on the Swedish west coast.

Brrrrrr!

View from Kalvö.