22nd - 24th June 2017 Stockholm to Ingmarso marina

We were both up at about 0440 to bright sunshine to take off the plastic tent we usually use to keep out the rain, to stow away the shore side power supply and it took a surprising amount of time. We eventually slipped at 0545 and motored off in almost zero wind through Stockholm harbour almost alone. The harbour itself was empty too, which we guessed was partly due to the impending midsummer. It was very pleasant to be able to proceed without the constant disturbance of passing power boats and ferries. We manage to spot the big ships starting to arrive in the morning convoy in good time but were nevertheless thankful to reach Vaxholm and be out of their reach for a time. That annoyance was replaced by that of the short range ferries which constantly cross between Vaxholm town and the neighbouring island carrying lorries, commuters and Midsummer visitors across our course.
Just north of Vaxholm is a splendid little wriggly passage out into open water with rocks close at hand. Here I was very pleased not to encounter an island ferry as space is very tight indeed.  Once out into open waters the big ship menace returns in force. The shipping routes into Stockholm are amazingly sinuous so that seeing a ship crossing  say from Starboard to port in the distance is no guarantee it will  not, while hidden behind an island, suddenly change course and approach at speed.  The Aaland ferry did just that but we only had to slow down a little for it to pass ahead and vanish down the very narrow channel at Oxdupet. As time wore on the temperature rose towards the tolerable but the sun began to hide behind clouds. We went on past Gallno into more and more beautiful seascapes of rocky islands and pine and birch trees with very little in the way of habitation. We also passed several islands used and probably owned by boat clubs. These are usually pretty civilised places where the members have contrived, often over several generations, build up the infrastructures of landing stages, a clubhouse, inevitably a sauna and so on.
We arrived by 1100 and found a place to moor.
One of the main reasons for coming to Ingmarso was to attend the midsummer eve festivities so on the Friday we checked out the situation:-
0900 Decorate summer pole and erect it. We decided to miss that and have a leisurely breakfast.
1500 Dancing and singing round the summer pole.
We got to the village school where the pole indeed had been erected and sat in sun or shade according to taste watch people and the ceremony of fixing up the PA system. This took a long time as it refused to work until an expert found the right connector. In the meantime the festival leader, probably the school teacher, with blonde hair and a bright red dress, looked crosser and crosser. People gradually arrived including a group of young men with a crate of beer who took no part in the event at all. Eventually there were, I guessed, about two hundred present.
Eventually the PA began to function and it, the mixing desk, loud speaker, Ipad and technical man were placed round the pole with a power lead taking a long route to the nearest power point in one of the school buildings.
The Leader proved to be both energetic and a good leader and we had a better programme of songs and dances than we had ever seen before. I don't know how many were dancing. You can see from the pictures that there were quite a lot. You can also see that many of the women were wearing wreaths of wildflowers in their hair.

 We enjoyed watching a great deal but eventually decided to return to the boat. The alternative suggested wa sto dance down to the quay to welcome the next steamer.
The evening turned wet and we were glad to be home and in shelter.
The pictures above show:- A collection of propellors ruined  by hitting rocks; a useful warning to all, The habour itself and an air ambulance taking off from a field behind the harbour with a casualty from one of the boats.