Sweden - Norway - Scotland __/)_

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Sweden/Norway/Scotland, June 2018

After intense weeks of work on the boat, it feels good to finally raise the sails, head west and let the power of nature speed up our approximately 12-ton heavy Eja.

Behind us, the Swedish west coast gets smaller and smaller, until we are totally surrounded by endless horizons...

After two days of smooth sailing over Skagerrak, with up to 9 knots of speed, which is fast for our overloaded Eja, we arrive close to the most southern tip of Norway.

Strong winds and rain is in the forecast, and we seek shelter just in time to get settled and cozy before the turbulent weather sweeps over, providing us a free sweet-water rinse of the boat! 😊 🌬🌧💨

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Our next goal is to get out on the North Sea. Good weather is forecasted along the coast, but further out at sea the "weather window" is too short to make it worthwhile for us to head out. This as we do not only want to cross the North Sea, but also to find and film dolphins. We therefore keep patient...

Meanwhile waiting for a window long enough, we explore the natural beauty surrounding us at the coastline, both over- and underwater.

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After a good week, we finally get a weather forecast with calm conditions further out on the North Sea. To get there, however, we need to get through a couple of nights in gale force as there is a low pressure keeping stable a bit southwest off the Norwegian coast.

The sails are set and off we go! ⛵️ 💦

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As forecasted, the crossing starts up with gale force and a couple of days of seasickness...

Yes, even after more than 40 000 nautical miles of sailing for the past 16 years or so, the seasickness keep being eager for attention once in a while... 🤢😌

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During the second night, the wind- and sea conditions calms down by a lot, providing smooth sailing and dreamlike sceneries. 😍

Another highlight are the daily visits we get from huge numbers of whitebeaked dolphins, who keep bowriding Eja for longer distances, giving us great opportunities to film this big and energetic dolphin species. 🐬 💦

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After three cold nights at sea, we arrive warm temperatures (25°C ++) and a beautiful, green coastline, decorated with long, sandy beaches.

Hmm... wait a minute, where did our sails just bring us to..?  🤔 😉

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A kayak onboard gives additional freedom and is a quick and easy way to get off the sailing boat to explore the surroundings a bit more!

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What an amazing welcome to the east-coast of Scotland! 🌞

Next up is the Caledonian Canal, more from this special place in the next blogpost 😇👌