As we came by to the west of Orno, we saw two naval vessels, frigates or destroyers, running at speed across the sound, kicking up great plumes of spray.

Looking at the chart, I saw that they were just off the island Muskö, the site of Sweden's main Cold War naval base. This base has surface harbors, of course, but it also has underground harbors and even a shipyard and a vehicular tunnel to the mainland, all blasted out of the granite. I have read that its role as principal naval base has largely reverted to Karlskrona, which must be a nicer place to be stationed, but it is clearly still active, and my AIS showed me a picket boat on guard at the entrance to the main harbor.

In time, we came by the northeast point of Utö and picked up the buoyed channel to the narrow harbor enrance. It looked narrower and tighter than it was, and soon we were alongside a solid wharf in a lovely secluded place.

I walked around the area near the harbor (the island is maybe ten miles long, but the southern end is mostly taken up with a military firing range) and enjoyed the respite from the wind and chop.

I was in no hurry to leave the next morning, and it was not until 11:00 that I started the engine and headed back out to round the point at Landsort and head west toward Nyköping. The wind was southwest, 30 knots gusting to 35, and outside the harbor the conditions were less than ideal.

After we rounded Landsort, we alternated passages of open water and threading our way between rocks and breakers. The wind and chop bounced us around a little and made steering interesting, and I did not want to think how it would be if something went wrong, but we made it through OK and by 16:00 we were anchored in six feet of water between Stora Bergö and Lilla Bergö, in a very sheltered place between two islands that are bird sanctuaries. It was a very cosy place, but so tight that there was no swinging room, so I put out a stern anchor as well and slept soundly.

So it was just after 08:00 when I was secured alongside in Nyköping. Nyköping is at the end of a long dredged channel through tne estuary of the river Kila ån, and was an important harbor in earlier centuries. Now it has an Olympic-sized canoe racing stadium and an active canoe club, but no commercial traffic to speak of.

The center area is modern and not too interesting, although convenient for shopping, but one has to love a place with two workboats named Buster and Keaton.

With no distractions, we got an early start in the morning, weighing anchor at 06:30 on a sunny day with light south-westerly wind.

The run to Västervik is not long, and after we passed the old pilot station on Stadsholmen we had only a couple of open sounds to cross before rounding the point at Gränsö and heading into Västervik harbor.

The harbors for these Swedish East-Coast towns are usually as far inland and as close to the town center as they can be, and nowadays they are generally too small for modern commercial vessels, so they are developed for pleasure-boat use. On the way into Västervik, we passed commercial wharves, with vessels loading and unloading, but the inner harbor, reached through a small gap between two islands and made narrower by two sets of solid-looking pillars, is reserved for yachts and tour boats.

Barbara and I had stopped in Västervik on the way north, but we did not spend any time in the town, and I wanted to make up the omission this visit.

The current in these passages varies quite a lot. As one does the skärgård slalom, the current can vary from abeam to dead ahead within a quarter-mile.

We saw the ominous notice on the chart that "the harbour Simpevarp is closed to unauthorized traffic," and as we rounded the point we saw the unmistakable bulk and cooling towers of a nuclear power plant and thought that we really had no need to go there anyway.

As we passed Eknö, the wind built to 20-25 knots southwesterly, but being off the land it did not raise any sea to speak of. We had rain off and on, and then, just as we were about to turn into the buoyed harbor channel, we were hit by a 40-knot rain squall. We thought the timing was good. If one must confront a squall like that, it is much better to do it outside where there is sea-room and visibility is not so crucial.

To enter Oskarshamn is to pass by, as at Västervik, an outer harbor full of commercial wharves, dominated by the huge shipbuilding hall, formerly Oskarshamn Shipyard but now a facility of Damen, the very successful Dutch company that specializes in semi-custom boats for comercial or government uses.

As at Västervik, we made our way to the very head of the harbor, ducked around the long float for visiting yachts, with its fingers, and moored alongside at the old quay. Here in the harbor there was no hint of the wind blowing outside.

I walked around the town a little, happily exploring, and had a good meal at a "Sports Bar" near the harbor.

In the evening, I went to the Sports Bar again for dinner, and there I met Lars-Erik and Hans, two friends who had just arrived in a sailboat and moored near us. We agreed that the weather was less than desirable, and they suggested Borgholm, a town on Oland, the island that forms the outside of Kalmar Sound, as an interim destination.

The route down Kalmar Sound leads out to the east, around the shoals and rocks off Mönsterås almost to Oland, in any case, so I decided to lay out some provisional waypoints and make the decision on the spot.

Just south of the island Runö, we saw the ship Medon with a full cargo, including a deck load, of pulpwood, at anchor waiting for a berth at the huge paper mill or else the cellulose factory at Mönsterås.

The trip down Kalmar Sound was quite pleasant at first, with 25 to 30 knots on the starboard bow, kicking up a 2-3-foot wind chop. Barbara bobbled along gently in it, as we slowly overtook a sailboat. It was nice to be in open water again, after the confines of the Skärgård.

By 14:00 the narrowing of the sound made us a lee, and so the sea was down somewhat. By the time we reached Sillåsen Light, sheltered by the bulk of Skäggenäs, the wind and sea had both moderated, and just after 15:00 the sun came out.

We had been a little concerned about finding a mooring space in Kalmar, since the word on the grapevine was that there was a big festival there, but by Sunday night the festival was over, and a call to the harbormaster assured us that there would be room for us. Sure enough, as we approached the harbor entrance, an inflatable came out to meet us and guide us to a spot that was almost exactly where we had been in April. This time, however, we had to pay, but the harbor dues were not very high.

I then walked over to have a look at the castle, the Slott. This is at least one of the best-preserved Renaissance castles in Europe, and there has been an important fortress on its site, on the former border between Sweden and Denmark, since the 12th century.

I was also impressed by the kitchen, which seemed quite small and simple for the kind of simulated banquet set out in the large dining-room.

The next day I started off early, clearing the harbor by 06:00, and headed south again, on the long run to Christiansø, a Danish island between Sweden and Germany that was an island fortress for many years. Just west of Christiansø is another island, Frederiksø, and between them is a snug natural harbor.

After the Treaty of Roskilde, in 1658, Sweden was the principal power in the Baltic, controlling parts of northeastern Germany as well as Finland.

Christiansø had been the home of a few fishermen, but in 1684, the Danish King Christian V ordered that it be made into a fortress as a kind of counterweight to the growing Swedish power.

By the mid-19th century the island's usefulness as a fortress was over, and the military officially moved off. Former Danish soldiers, and people who wanted to fish from the island, were allowed to move in and build houses or live in the barracks buildings.

My destination was Allinge, the nearest port to Christiansø. Like all the Bornholm harbors, it is an artificial harbor blasted out of the granite and then surrounded by breakwaters made of that same granite. Approaching the island, it was not easy to see the harbor entrance, but the shore view was dominated by some striking vertical structures, a little like lighthouses, but not quite.

Allinge was beginning to get ready for a festival of some kind - these Baltic towns are competing hard for tourists - and crews were putting up tent pavilions in all the parking lots around the harbor. The very friendly and helpful harbormaster said that they might have had a problem accommodating me over the weekend, but since I was not staying that long there was no problem.

We did not stay long in Alllinge. We arrived, after our weather delays, on June 4th, and on June 6th we were supposed to meet Barbara, returning from the U.S., in Sassnitz, on the German island Rügen.

I walked around town a little and did a little shopping at the Netto by the harbor. The next morning we slid out of the harbor between the breakwaters at 06:00 again, and headed around the northern point of Bornholm, for Rügen and Sassnitz.