After a week in the bustling city of Visby, and a nice sail over towards the mainland, it was time to enjoy the peaceful and rather secluded archipelago on the southeast coast of Sweden. And time to do what we all had been waiting to do since we left the Sand Island — jump into some refreshing water and swim!
After a bit less than one (very enjoyable!) week in Visby, we were all ready to head onwards and in the general direction of our next destination. We didn’t really know what that destination would be, though. “Maybe Kalmar?” we had loosely discussed the day before.
It was lovely to be in Visby again! We adored the place last time we visited, so it was clearly on all of our wish lists to stop by this time as well. “If you ask me, I wouldn’t mind being there all summer!” Charlotte said.
After an evening on the beach and a whole day walking around and exploring (a small part of) the beautiful island (a big thank you to the nice caretaker for the surprise private showing of the lighthouse!), we felt ready to sail onward.
We had loaded ourselves and our stuff aboard— with surprisingly little drama, I might add!— and we were ready to go. Ready to start the (hopefully mostly enjoyable) process of replacing brave expectations with actual experiences, and memories to be.
With no more snow and ice in our country (hooray!), it was time to jump on the first bus to the winter storage place in Dalsbruk and get our dear boat home!
We had just a few miles left until we’d reach the final destination of our summer vacation sail, our home harbor in Turku. The children were all out on the deck, looking quite happy, but also a bit anxious. It had been a long journey (well by our standards at least), and while getting home was a good, and dearly anticipated thing, it would also mean the end of our great adventure.
Geographically, when we left Poland and headed for Klaipėda, we had already gone from sailing farther away, to getting closer to home. Our hearts and minds joined in on this turnaround one step later, though. Only now, when we were sailing north from Lithuania towards Estonia, it started to feel like return trips do. Less of the ‘to boldly go where no family of six— with dog!— has gone before’. More of ‘how far is it? are we there soon?’
After our exciting sail from Poland to Lithuania, we were dearly appreciating the feeling of some firm Lithuanian ground under our feet. And the urge to walk some with these feet, as well!
After a few days in Hel, we were now out on the sea again, and heading in the general direction of Lithuania and its seaport city Klaipeda. Not too directly, though, to avoid all encounters with potentially unfriendly Russian warships and submarines.
