Fall break

 

The kids had fall break from school and I also had the opportunity to take a day off, so on Thursday afternoon we drove northwards. The wife dropped off at her former home to meet up with some friends, but I continued to Vaasa with the kids. The next morning my brother would take the kids by boat to his cabin at an island in the outer archipelago, while I chose to take the kayak. The weather was the brilliant, the best one can get during fall.


The water was almost 30 cm below normal, so I expected to get some new scratches in the kayak.

My brother and the kids.

Really nice paddling.

Closing in after almost two hours.

I'm trying to get used to a normal paddle for the winter. The paddle is a nice and light carbon fibre thing, but I really do like my Greenland paddle a lot more. Unfortunately, my fingers were too cold with the Greenland paddle the entire last winter, so I'm trying a paddle that allows using pogies.

The stove was on mainly to dry the cabin.

After lunch and coffee it was time to take a walk around the island in the splendid fall weather.

Low water indeed.

This small skerry with the characteristic rowan tree (I assume) has looked the same for as long as I can remember, which is almost forty years.

During the summer the island is full of birds, but now there is almost nothing left.

The cairn is not marked on any maps or sea charts.

The air was exceptionally clear. I've never before seen Storskär, 25 km away, from there, but in that direction there isn't anything else before Sweden, another 100 km to the west. It should be well under the horizon, though, but some optical phenomenon lifted it up.

Only some bones remaining of a moose.

Only very few remaining flower, in this case a tansy.

Some birds still flew by.

Really nice fall colors.

And then the sunset came.

Then it was time for dinner and to relax in the cozy cabin.

The sunrise was about half past eight in the morning.

After breakfast it was time for the cranberries, of which there were unusually much.

After lunch it was time to turn back. It was a short, but intensely nice, visit to the island.