Yesterday we were in Sweden, and today we made Denmark!  It is small, in the big scheme of things, but it feels like substantial movement, the first step in a long journey.

A last night in Sweden – moonset looking west from the coast.

We spent last night in a small anchorage surrounded by silence (at least after Alexander finally gave in to sleep after a toothache/headache/nerves induced tantrum) and a beautiful crescent moon – a fitting end to our stay in Sweden.

Today’s passage was a lot easier.  (And yes, we just called our relatively short day-sail a “passage” because that’s what it felt like, setting out across an open sea with the wee ones in tow.)   Sima and the kids took some motion-sickness meds this morning.  Combined with somewhat forgiving seas and some previous mini-passages under our belts, it was a more comfortable day for all.  (Maybe Paul should have taken something too.  He has a pretty good head cold, and so felt a bit knocked out all day.)

Aylin awakes from a nap, seemingly a bit surprised to find that she’s out to sea.

The kids napped for the first three hours, awoke at about 1, and announced that they were starving.  They proceeded to stuff themselves with rice and yogurt.  Hunger is always a good sign, and they were both fine for the rest of the day.  We’re all getting our sea legs.

A second serving of yogurt cures all ills.

And the result of the short trip was a crossing of borders. There is something special about first stepping off the boat and into a new country.  It is a real deep feeling of accomplishment to look around and realize what you’ve done.

We walked to the nearby grocer.  Sima noticed that, though we hadn’t sailed all that far, we really were in a new country.  “The architecture’s different.”  And it is — the simple homes of Sweden, with their bright red, yellow, and blue hues, have been replaced by the stubby, low-to-the-ground, earthen colored houses of Strandby.  The language is similar to Swedish (“Strand” is the Swedish word for beach, and “by” means town, and so we are in Beach Town), but also different, so it is fun reading street signs and seeing the differences from Swedish to which we had grown so very accustomed.

The “Boat Hotel” across from our slip in the fishing harbor at Strandby, Denmark.

And just like that, progress has been made.  70 miles down, 4619 to go to the Caribbean.