This was an important day, #1 crew's birthday. To celebrate, we had a 'fried everything’ breakfast and moreover, the sun was shining and the air was warm! After present and card opening, it was time to leave Stockholm, our destination was all of ten miles away, the fortified town of Vaxholm, with its fort dating back to 1548. We were off and on our way by 11:00, sailing in a southerly F4 breeze, taking us initially the way we came and then branching off for Vaxholm. This was all new for Elaine and Rosemary and they were exclaiming every few minutes, commenting on the fine houses we passed and the scenery itself. It was nice to see that they were enjoying it and would be likely to continue to do so.

By one o’clock we were safely tied in, bows first, in Vaxholm’s harbour . There was a British boat nearby, with 3 aged ‘lads’ on board and they were very chatty and made us welcome. Later on they went shopping and we saw the contents of their bags, mostly beans and beer – I’m glad I wasn’t on their boat! We had a little exploration of the town, this is a very popular seaside town with the Stockholmers and as such, had lots of little designer shops but even my crew were put off by the prices, thank goodness.



Later on the weather started deteriorating ie cooling and we erected the cockpit cover, which made it instantaneously comfortable. Considering the cover cost as much as the cruising chute, I know which item we get most use out of! We had aperitifs on board (champagne, given the occasion) and that evening, we went out to the recommended location for a nice meal in Vaxholm, the local hotel, surprisingly. This was not cheap (unusually for me) but it had a nice atmosphere and great views of the hustle and bustle in the harbour, with ferries of all shapes and sizes coming and going .

Now this is a first for me – I voluntarily opted for the cold fish buffet, which consisted of eight different herring recipes and five salmon, together with hard boiled eggs with lumpsucker eggs, cheese, potatoes and capers. Now I have been trying for years to enjoy cold herring, I have tasted it literally dozens of times and slowly, my reaction to it has changed from one of a gag reflex through active dislike through to mild dislike and finally a positive side of neutral, in most cases. Occasionally a very ‘fishy’ one puts me right back but I battle on and tonight was going to be the test. And I have to report that I actually enjoyed two of them, was positively neutral to 5 and mildly disliked the last – progress! The salmon, which I’m normally OK with ie positively neutral to mild like, this time I really enjoyed the mildly hot-smoked salmon. In other words, we all enjoyed the meal, the others don’t have this problem with fish in the first place and Rosemary had lamb anyway. I didn’t, however enjoy the price of the Chablis, £50.00 a bottle – obviously we only had the one! Then it was back to the boat and nightcaps and another great day safely ‘in the bag’.