Sailing away from it all in Baltic’s Archipelago Sea
Cruising the Åland Islands between Sweden and Finland is an opportunity to get back to nature, and off the internet grid, with a few rums thrown in
I stand on the gently rocking bow and measure the distance with my eye, then jump onto a granite boulder covered in orange lichen and scramble up the rocks, using scrawny fir trees to pull myself into the forest.
Bright green moss swallows my footsteps and releases a musty, earthy scent I’ve never before smelled on a sailing trip. But then, I’ve never before sailed in Åland. Cruising these islands, sprinkled across the Archipelago Sea, between Finland and Sweden, is as much about exploring the land as it is about the sailing the waters.
The islands and skerries number 6,500 in all, according to Wikipedia. A look at my charts and a few days navigating a yacht through the Archipelago Sea lead me to concur. Rocky outcrops – some only breaking the surface of the water, others home to villages, marinas and forests of pine and silver birch – dot the horizon. On many stand quaint little summer homes, each with its own sauna shack near the water. If a pennant flies from the home’s flag pole you know the master is in residence.
The islands belong to Finland but war and history have turned this into an autonomous, demilitarised region with its own flag. The people speak a flat-sounding version of Swedish and eat a uniquely sweet black bread.
