Stora to Mon

Up early, releasing the buoy at 0810. We went north under main and motor, getting a little lift from a gentle westerly breeze. We found a Hallberg Rassy making a very cautious approach to Hasko from the south and wonder if he made it. The plotter seemed to suggest it was possible. Several people have now told us to go there as the smoked salmon is superb. We also found people coming from the east who could only have come from a difficult little passage which is a short cut to Harstena from the south. This looks quite difficult on the chart but probably looks much easier on the plotter – it is clearly a familiar passage to Swedish sailors. We had done this once before but reckoned it a little too risky for repeated use.

We left the main route Vaggo, passing between this island and Snuggholmen to continue north, just W of Vasteron and Missjo, now under power as we had a tricky set of passages ahead of us. We turned NW and went along a narrow railway cutting sort of passage between Inner and outer Olsen. There's a nasty little awash rock on the port side of the passage to be avoided but otherwise it was clear. We then turned SW and proceeded carefully through the shallows between Brandsholmen and Grimelso into deep water again. South of Grimmelso there’s a lovely inlet, well sheltered except from the NW where we had anchored some years before and we had been up to this point following a previous track on our plotter; from now on, all was new. The remainder of the days travel was relatively easy, all in “white” (more than 6 metre depth) water and requiring only the careful following of a pre-plotted track till we reached our objective, Mon.

The area, known as Halfjarden, is a delight, much used by canoeists who can go everywhere and who, alone can use any entrance other than the one we did. There is no through traffic and little in the way of fast motor boats. The guest harbour has a large and obvious boat house cum café, largely built by with EU money. Only the root pontoon is available for visitors and will accept about five boats more alongside. Facilities include water on the pontoon, electricity from the boathouse with showers and toilets some distance away. The site itself is mainly concerned with campers, hut renters and caravanners with a substantial number of resident boats. At the far end of the site, a good if very expensive restaurant will serve lunches and dinners. It is a lovely place to visit.