Lady Hamilton 2019

DEGERBY TO MARIEHAMN, Capital of Aland

Day 67  Tuesday, 6^th August 2019

Talk to the Germans on the next boat to us in Degerby, we’ve seen them in Kokar.  They have an old ketch with a petrol engine, which they keep on German fjord close to the Danish border.  They live in Hamburg and have 5 weeks left of sailing and are going to Sweden (the Stockholm Archipelago) today. 

Pink granite rocks on the way to Mariehamn and a small lighthouse as we’re leaving Degerby.

We see them three hours later setting off for the archipelago.

We sail, under main and genoa,

from 11 am until 1.30 pm when the wind dies completely and we clock 0.06 knots of wind speed.   We’re going down a narrow channel (no ferries fortunately!) and a Swedish charter boat passes us with 4 guys on board.  Apparently they’ve been doing this for 5 years, they tell us when they overtake us at a snail’s pace.

The ferries are coming!  We see on AIS that 2 are in the dock in Mariehamn and 2 more are coming.  The ferries depart and the two ferries arriving have to turn round just in front of us. 

And we can see the West harbour marina quite near.  There’s an East harbour but you have go round the Mariehamn peninsula – they’re 15 miles apart by sea! – but you can walk across in 20 minutes.

I meet our Finnish friends from Uto who gave us the courtesy flag for Aland in the Harbour Master’s office!  The husband, Tobi, buys a Magnum Classic for 3 euros in the office.  He’s says it’s much cheaper in the supermarket.  His wife is going on the ferry tonight back to Helsinki and he’ll be a single-handed sailor for a week.  So lovely to see them!  I give them a card with the Blog address on.    

I meet my friend in the showers and she persuades me to have a sauna with her – she’s even got two disposable mats with her to sit on.  We’re completely naked and she puts water on the sauna to make it steam more.  We find out that both our husbands are civil engineers, Tobi set up his own business in 1994, two years later than Malcolm.  Another lady comes in and puts more water on the sauna – it’s getting quite hot in here and I have to leave before I keel over!  They’re both very amused that I’ve never been in a sauna before – but I did go in one at Dunsley Hall, near Sandsend, with Keith Hopkins, many years ago!!

Tobi and Malcolm are in the men’s showers too – and he’s been reading my Blog and says it’s very interesting with all the history I put in and photographs.  I’ve gained a reader!

We’re dining out tonight – the first time in over a week – in the restaurant in the amazing club house. 

We find our Finnish friends are eating there too but we don’t join them as they may be bidding their fond farewells to each other! 

Malcolm’s got a spicy herring starter and I have a salad, then he has mussels!  And I have perch with new potatoes with grilled lettuce.

I try to take photos of our boat out of the window, but the sun is sinking fast and it’s right behind the boat. 

We love this restaurant – so quaint inside and out.