Skerries skerries everywhere.
Lighthouse marking entrance to Sandøya.
Moving north and west along the coast past Ålesund we stop at Sandøya, our first experience of a fishing village in the skerries. We check the weather conditions for passage through Hustadvika, a potentially dangerous exposed rock and reef strewn passage with no safe havens for 30nm. The weather looked benign, and indeed we had to motor most of the way to our overnight anchorage at Golmsundet, just past Kristiansund. As we sailed along the sheltered waters of Trondheimsleia we passed many and varied lighthouses and enjoyed the vistas of mountains to the south. But we were heading north and we sailed on, Trondheim could wait for the return journey. We had a wonderful sail up to Stokksund where we tied up to the pontoon and spent a couple of days. We reprovisioned, discovered the washing machine with the longest cycle (it must have taken 2 hours to complete, not sure what setting I put it on, the instructions were all in Norwegian). We also saw our first dried cod and began to see the paint theme of barn-door red.
Sailing on we had good winds and opted to sail offshore heading for Rorvik. However it took a little longer than we had planned. We therefore diverted to a fishing village in the isolated skerries just to the south. What a treasure. We wander into “town” to pay our pontoon fees and are treated to a personal tour of the island store and museum. We learn that in its heyday, Sørgjaeslingan had a population of over 6,000 during the cod fishing season but now the remaining buildings are seasonal holiday homes. We see the kittiwakes roosting on the cliffs and sides of buildings, what a racket they make at sundown. After dinner we take an evening stroll over the neighboring islands and enjoy the late evening sun.
An aerial view of Sørgjaeslingan and the skerrie maze to enter.
View of Sørgjaeslingan on our evening stroll.