Finally in Mariehamn

My great crew

View at 23.30h from deck

Sjökvarteret knots

Packing the last stuff

Sjökvarteret restaurant

Crafts shop

MSF Mariehamn harbour

Marimekko fabric so colorful

Flower shop Mariehamn

Lunch: Ålands pancake and shrimp salad

Bakery

Our boat far left in the back with dinghy #3

Mariehamn

Passage east to Mariehamn

Red rocks and green trees

Seeking stones

Brushing teeth in the bushes

After agreeing the night before with the 1 hour time change to get up as usual 8ish and leave for the last 10 sm to Mariehamn around 10 o'clock we all got to bed. The next morning Bjarne was up early continuing his exploration of the island. After breakfast Lorena and I learned from him that, if you brush your teeth behind a bush and spit into the water then you are coming back to the island. So we tried that out together! Then Lorena and I got caught up seeking nice souvenir stones for her to take back, so time ended beeing more than 10 when we returned to the boat. There Bjarne had struck up a conversation with our neighbor a family of 5 getting tips for me that I noted down. The family headed south 29 sm for that day, impressive my average has been around 15 sm with my crews.
Finally we were ready to leave into a beautiful sunny day. The last passage was under motor since Bjarne and I really needed high concentration to find the narrow passages through islands as well as sea marks. We passed through one passage where we had a mark ready to reach on each side of the boat, thought for a second we would not even fit through! But we did!
Finally in Mariehamns MSF harbour we needed to hush another boat away to get our reserved spot # 3 at the right end of the pier.
Just ready for lunch that Lorena had picked out, reading all pages on Mariehamn in my visitors guide, we went to a lovely bakery. After that the most pressing task was to get everyone a ferry ticket for the next day.
Since everyone was to leave early today we agreed to meet up on the boat for cleaning at 17h.
Going separate paths for a while felt good.
Back at the boat when Lorena and Rainer arrived I felt something had been lingering between us at least the last days since the crossing. Addressing how I felt perhaps not using the best choice of words opened up a heated discussion that confirmed my feeling something was between us. We managed to get it all out and be friends again and we all hugged after some tears. It was like a cleaning thunderstorm rain after a hot day that makes the temperature go down to bearable and makes everything smell intensely!

Not to forget I awarded my absolutely most dedicated crew so far Lorena for helping repairing, learning 5 knots, perfecting tacks, checking the bilge, rescueing the boat from the mooring line with a dinghy boat hook action, swimming naked in just 15-16 degrees of water, securing the boam, crossing Ålands hav, getting sea sick, steering and even tacking, reading see charts, planning and checking night harbours in the harbour book!
Also the "Smutje"Rainer was excellent always looking after the food and drink supplies as well as dishing up one meal better than the other and creating new sandwich styles for each lunch on the go!
They both will be missed!

2 hours intense cleaning followed topped off with a shower to get ready for dinner. Then we wandered around to find some restaurant that both fit our budget and looked appealing, which turned out to be difficult. We ended up at the Sjökvarteret and had a simple, but good dinner just before they closed. Our last drink together we enjoyed on deck with the background music of a life band in one of the harbour restaurants, not the best music!
A full moon rose and when we decided to go to bed at 23.30h it was still so light, very amazing!

Bjarne has already left this morning to catch his ferry at 7.15, Lorena and Rainer are momentarily getting ready to take the one at 9.15h.

My new crew arrives at 14.10 today and then the next days exploring Ålands archipelagos starts!

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