When is a rock an island? The Stockholm Archipelago

The Stockholm archipelago consists of water and a whole bunch of rocks. Quite a few rocks, it's true. Some of which have grass on them. A lot have trees too. And some have people living on them as well.

But when is a rock an island? This has been the subject of many a debate between us (never a dull moment here, I can tell you!).

We started off by applying a simple size criteria but this didn't work in practice. We both agreed that a large, bare rock was less of an island than a smaller one with a tree on it.

So the ability to support life was clearly a factor, But what life? Just grass, or did it have to be something taller? And, if so, how tall?

If a rock had animals living on it, would that make it an island? It seemed so to us - at first. But when we explored this a little deeper, we realised that the type of animal was all important. A cow was one thing - definitely island status for that rock! - but what about a rock with birds living on it - birds who got their water and food from elsewhere? Or a rock with an ant? Clearly the presence of animal life was not sufficient in itself for a rock to claim island status.

We still haven't successfully defined an island, although we think that a point scoring criteria taking account of the above factors (amongst others} is clearly the way forward. It seems that we're not alone in this, as I can't find anywhere that quotes a definitive number of islands in the Stockholm archipelago. One source quotes nearly 30,000 - yes you read that right, thirty thousand! - islands, islets (we never even considered classifying islets!) and rocks. Which brings me back to my opening sentence; the Stockholm archipelago consists of water and a whole bunch of rocks.

Our first glimpse of the archipelago was from the top of a communications tower in Stockholm.

The archipelago from the communications tower

And again

This was on the day I discovered that you got a free night at the marina if you paid for 6 so, having already paid for 5, we decided to hang on a bit and have a lazy day or two.

Stockholm from the tower

And again. It's spread over 14 islands, you know.

One issue with delaying our departure from the marina was that the round Gotland sailing race was due to set off on our departure day. This race is a bit like a Round the Island (Isle of Wight) race on steroids, covering some 350 miles through the archipelago, around Gotland and finishing in Sandhamn. It takes 2 to 3 days to complete, non-stop. Apart from not wishing to get caught up in this, we weren't allowed to be in the harbour between 0930 and 1500. We therefore had to set off quite early to ensure we were clear of the restricted area before the crazy people got there.

The day before the main event was an inshore race around the archipelago. The picture below is of one of the group starts:

Inshore race start - all disappointingly civilised!

We hadn't realised just how challenging this racing would be until we got into the archipelago itself. Apart from the gaps between the islands being quite narrow at times, the tall trees on them play havoc with both the wind's speed and direction. These guys have to work really hard to make decent progress and I take my hat off to them.

We couldn't leave Stockholm without a picture of the marina's sauna. A true hobbit version and the only one we've ever seen with an outboard motor!

Sauna - complete with outboard!

The best way to describe the archipelago is with pictures, not words. The problem is that they don't do it justice because you only get a view in one direction and can't look around you to take it all in. Anyway, here goes:

En route to our first night at anchor

Not a bad pad. Complete with boat house and mooring

The view from our boat. Anchorage in Gallno

Sunset at Gallno

En route to our second anchorage

Assistance from the natives of Krokholmsviken? Our second night's anchorage

View from our boat at Krokholmsviken

En route to our third anchorage

The entry to Sack - our third night's anchorage

The entrance was quite narrow....

Views of Sack from Cyclone

More views of Sack

Classic yacht moored just outside the entrance - seen on departure

En route to our fourth anchorage

There may not be much space between the islands, but that doesn't mean it's not deep!

Our fourth anchorage - Kolnasviken on Orno

Another view of Kolnasviken from Cyclone

Having been on the boat for 4 days, we thought it was time to get some exercise. There was also the small matter of 4 days of rubbish to get rid of! The dinghy was duly inflated and we rowed the 25m to Orno. We had a rudimentary map of the island in our guide book, which I did my best to reproduce onto a scrap of paper, and we set off to cross the island.

Orno. Most of it was like this

Now my cartographic skills don't match those of my former colleagues at Ordnance Survey, so when the opportunity came to check we were going the right way I took it. The people I asked spoke excellent English (of course!) and confirmed that we were on the right road. They then offered to give us a lift. Tempting as this was (it weren't arf hot mum) we remembered that we were supposed to be getting some exercise and so politely declined. About half an hour later, I thought I recognised the car that was pulling to the side of the road ahead of us. Sure enough, it was the people we'd spoken to previously. They'd been to a tourist information centre and brought us back a map which they then used to show us all the places of interest to visit! Such kindness.

A disused quarry on Orno. Now a reservoir.

Orno's wooden church - built 1886 

Some flowers by the roadside. Tall, purple ones....

Letterboxes. But where are the houses?

Cyclone at anchor in Kolnasviken

View from Cyclone's orangery at our fifth anchorage - Ranohamn, Rano

And another view of Ranohamn. Look at the crowd tied to the rocks!

Now we've mentioned our friends from the Netherlands before but, to recap, we met when we rafted alongside them at Scheveningen in April. We then bumped into them unexpectedly at Utklippan in June, from where we took their tip and followed them to Gronhogen. We saw them briefly once more in Kalmar, which wasn't a surprise as we knew they intended to go there.

Now those who've been paying attention will know that there are some 30,000 islands, islets and rocks in the Stockholm archipelago. I don't know how many anchoring opportunities they create between them, but it's more than a few! So what are the chances of us being in the same one as Alfred and Marjolein on the same night? Pretty slim I'd have thought, so we were both surprised and delighted to see them entering Ranohamn as we sat at anchor. They'd painted their decks since we last saw them - and very nice they looked too - but if that was an attempt at a disguise, it didn't work because we spotted them anyway!

Marjolein and Alfred's boat - Ranohamn

After a week anchoring in the archipelago it was time for us to leave. This was for several reasons - including the desire for a hot shower (Jo) and the fact that we were running out of water. However, strange as it may sound considering the beauty of the place, we'd actually seen enough. We put this down to the Plitvice effect.

The Plitvice Lakes National Park is in Croatia. It has many spectacularly beautiful waterfalls - just Google it to see some images. Jo and I went there on our motorbike many years ago when it was still Yugoslavia and were totally wowed by it - at first. "What a beautiful waterfall" we exclaimed as we came upon the first one. And the second. And the third. And so on.... But eventually it became "Look, another waterfall". And eventually "Yeh, it's a waterfall". You can only be bowled over by a particular beauty for so long and then it just becomes the norm - or at least that's how it is for us. The Stockholm archipelago is a truly beautiful place and, if you get the opportunity, perhaps you should see it for yourself. But, ultimately, it's just a lot of islands, islets, rocks, trees and water.....

And so on 5 July we set off for Arkosund on the mainland, passing the landmark Landsort lighthouse as we left the archipelago. This is Sweden's oldest lighthouse and is visible for 22Nm.

Landsort lighthouse (the white one with the red hat)

Arkosund is where I'm writing this and where the story ends for now. In a couple of days we'll travel the 20 miles to Mem and the start of the Gota Canal.

Addendum - there's no need to read this bit...... Really. No need...

Whilst anchored in Sack, my right ear became blocked. If this has happened to you, you'll know it can be really quite painful and is usually cleared by a visit to the nurse / doctor for an ear syringing. Well, there aren't any nurses or doctors in an anchorage and so we were faced with a trip to the mainland, a marina stay, and a possible delay of several days while I tried to sort out the vagaries of a health service in a foreign land and waited to see a nurse. Of course, I tried all the things you're not supposed to do - sticking matchsticks in my ear, followed by tweezers - but to no avail. I even filled up an empty shower gel bottle with water and sprayed that at my ear with identical results. 

Enter Jo with an idea - remarkable not just because she had one, but because it worked!!

Jo - my heroine. I've been waiting for an opportuity to use this picture......

And here it is. A Sizilia bottle.  Ostensibly some lemon juice flavouring stuff (which may or may not be good - its contents had to be sacrificed) but actually a DIY ear syringing kit! 

Sizilia - DIY ear syringing kit extraordinaire!

Now I'm not suggesting you try this at home, but my Sizilia bottle is going nowhere. 5 minutes with this and ahhhh! The relief!

I did say you didn't need to read this bit....