Käringöns Hamn, Västra Götaland County, Sweden

Thanks to Lucy Bromwich and Adrian Healy for this fab photo!

“Go north!” all the Swedish sailors said. “Go north!” While we knew we would have to set our compass point southward at some point, we couldn’t resist a few more northward miles to see what the Swedes call “the pearl” of the Bohuslän archipelago.

A bonanza of sun and unusual southerly winds egged us on. The passage to Käringön through the fjords was stunning. You could practically reach out your hand to starboard and touch one village, and reach to port and touch another. My beautiful skipper let me stay at the helm while he watched the plotter and the depth sounder studiously through the narrows.

Tiny Käringön is home to 60 people, quite a few of whom stopped to chat with us on the car-free island of footpaths leading to the port. “You can walk anywhere, you know,” a bespectacled, tall and tan white-haired man explains. “You can stay overnight!”

Sweden’s Right of Public Access means anyone in Sweden is allowed to camp anywhere for one night, as long as you leave the place as you found it. You’re allowed to pick berries and fish in any pond. Property is considered communal.

A chic Norwegian woman in white shorts, Vuarnets and a ski hat hops off a Halberg-Rassy 41 as she and her husband dock next to us in the charming marina, so clean that people bathe in it.

“Käringön is unique,” says a kindly, white bearded Swede who has homes in Mallorca and Stockholm as well as here. “The nature, the friendliness.” Does he worry about too many visitors? “We need them to sustain the people here. People have to work. It’s a delicate balance.”

There are seven shopping carts in the honor-system grocery store, a fish market, and plenty of swimming areas surrounded by whale-size granite boulders.

“Our summers are short, but you get used to the cold,” says a sporty septuagenarian. Sweden may be known worldwide for ABBA, Volvo and IKEA, but the country’s real genius is preserving the culture and nature of its more than 267,000 islands. During this Baltic voyage, we’re so glad we sailed far enough north to explore just a few. 🇸🇪😎💕❤