After the hustle and bustle of Sandhamn, we seek the solitude of the smaller islands. We find it in two anchorages: The first is called Kyrkoviken (“Church Bay”) in the north of the island of Utö (see above/below), the second Soviken in the south of the island of Torö.
On the way there, we sail past many beautiful houses with water views again, as well as past the 17th century Skraken Fortress, which is now used for weddings and state receptions:
There is indeed a church in Kyrkovik, to which people from the surrounding islands travelled and still travel by boat – the jetty in front of it is exclusively reserved for worshippers. The morning view from the window does not bode well: Fog! When the sun finally seems to come through, we set off, not without repeatedly encountering fog banks at sea – good thing we have our AIS (and A., who knows how to tune our fog horn with increasingly better intonation).
Fortunately the fog clears quickly, because around us there seems to be some kind of manoeuvre by the Swedish navy – warships don’t have their AIS switched on in such cases, which makes everything a bit confusing...
Nevertheless, our foghorn is not put away, because we intend to pass through the Dragets Canal, a narrow passage through the rocky sea of the archipelago that was already used in the Middle Ages. In the 19th century, the water level had dropped so low that the passage was artificially deepened, which benefits us today. At the narrowest point (see below), two ships can not pass side by side, so there needs to be a loud hooting before entering...
Our sea chart shows a guaranteed minimum depth of only 1.50m, but insiders assure us that SY Blue Layla can get through with 1.80 draught. In fact, we have more than the infamous handbreadth of water under our keel the whole time.
After the thrill, we are happy to drop anchor completely in complete solitude behind a pristine archipelago island...
