Kayaking in the Stockholm Archipellago

Hannah and I went on a 10 day trip to Sweden in the beginning of August. We spent most of our time kayaking in the Stockholm Archipelago, a vast array of islands radiating out from the capital city into the Baltic Sea. Neither one of us had been to Sweden before, but we felt right at home as soon as we stepped off the plane - we found ourselves surrounded by a boreal ecosystem so similar to Marquette, Michigan (where we both went to college) it was surprising to hear people speaking a different language.

Here is a map of our trip:
http://maps.google.com/maps?tab=ml


Our outfitter, Horisont Kajak, was located in Norråva, just outside of Stockholm, but we journeyed by train, train, bus, plane, bus, walking, bus, walking to get there...a but of an epic journey. But here we are organizing our gear - how can we fit it all into two small kayaks?

The view the first morning from inside the tent on Brannh Island.

Hannah and the kayaks after night 1.

Perhaps the hardest part of the whole trip: closing the kayak hatches! (the neoprene required finesse)

Great cliff jumping! (you're not suprised, are you? I know, one of my life passions.)



The Baltic sea turns out to be a great place for swimming because the Brackish waters don't leave your hair standing on end at the end of the day and has just enough salt to cook tasty pasta (Annie's Pasta, ahem!)

Testing out Hannah's fancy new underwater camera on a little jelly fish..."my brain is just a jellyfish in the ocean of my head"

Note to Pelican Camera Case manufacturer:
when case is thrown off a cliff, the latch pops open and the camera falls out & sinks.

Seemed like every Swede in Stockholm either owned a sailboat or a little cabin perched on a rocky ledge in the archipellago.

Waiting to play our nightly card game that nobody knew the name of (it was a good one)

Allmansrätten, or “Every Man’s Right”, is a law in Sweden that enables everyone to camp wherever they want for one night, on public or private property, as long as it is not within sight of a house or on agricultural land. This allowed us to set up our tents wherever we found ourselves when we felt like stopping for the day. Really great camping!

We saw dozens of sailboats tied up to the rocks, people just hanging out enjoying the short summer. The weather was spectacular while we were there - sunny and warm every day, with only a slight breeze on one of the days and riduculously calm waters. Sounds like this may not be typical weather for Sweden.

Hannah out for a little evening paddle.

Behold - the Yucky Swim Dock

(As we headed farther from Stockholm, the islands became farther apart (in the beginning it seemed more like river paddling than being out in the ocean) and the aquatic vegetation changed: more algae and weeds growing on the edges of islands. Swimming was sometimes a little...yucky.

Ah, so you can read Swedish, too?

Along our paddle we wandered through a few small towns. This is some type of drinking well.

We slept on the beach this night, real close to the water. Good thing there wasn't much of a tide!

These three-wheeled motorized bike things were pretty popular on the islands for hauling stuff and people where cars couldn't go.

The best ham and cheese sandwich I've ever eaten in Sandhamn (Sweden's equivalent to Mackinac Island...except no horses). This bakery also had these pastries very similar to cinnamon rolls except with cardamon - they were out of this world!

The little touristy village of Sandhamn

We ocassionally saw cruise ships passing through the islands - a few were taller than the isalnds and you could see the smoke stacks poking above the treeline as they passed behind them!

Back at the outfitter - unpacking after 7 days of bliss.

Part 2: Stockholm

After a mild fiasco involving missing our bus and hitching, we ended up back in Stockholm for a couple days and took some time to walk around the city, gawk at the totally-80's-outfits, and eat balls of chocolate rolled in coconut (just think of a grapefuit-sized no-bake cookie rolled in coconut)

We visited the Vasa museum - wow! the Vasa was a swedish war ship which sank in the Stockholm harbor in 1628 and was re-discovered in th 1900's and raised. An archaeologist's dream: they found wooden food containers, chests filled with wollen clothing, 300-year-old sails, and elaborate wooden carvings.

French hotdog, anyone?

Look at that hot dancing outfit!

Fashion mistake: if you aren't wearing Roman-style shoes in Stockholm, you are nobody.

Fashion mistake: if your waitsline falls below your ribcage, forget it!