Today has been a day of looking after the boat. Light winds and rain showers as we wait for the promised northerlies on Wednesday. We have cleaned the forward cabin and dried out mattresses and all the stuff we store under the bunk. We have also defrosted the refrigerator, there was more ice than food in the small freezer compartment and fixed a number of smaller things.

There was no wind as we left Oye yesterday morning after a slow breakfast. The wind picket up dead on the nose again as we entered the main fjord. OK we taught, we will turn 80 degrees to the SW as we leave the fjord and should have some nice sailing then.

That was not to be. Instead, it started to rain as the wind was coming “around the bend” and stayed on the nose until we reached the sound to Alesund, that opened to NW. Finaly, we were able to sail – for an hour until the next mountains blocked the wind.

We took an inland rout SW and decided to go between the islands of Gurksoya and Hareidlandet.

There is a narrow and winding channel starting SW of Eika. It crosses what used to be the world’s deepest road tunnel, 260 m below the water.

Looking at the chart, we would not have chosen this route but, we had had a nice conversation with a sailor born and raised in the area at Oye and he assured us that it would not be a problem.

Despite this, our speed through Dragsundet was very slow and cautious.

The entire 8 nm of fairway is clearly marked and no less than 5 m deep and with 20 m clearances under bridge and cable at Dragsundet, so we did OK. From this nice channel we continued a little bit further north to Borgaroya (Borgarøya). This island has been home to trading posts since 1616 when a merchant from Bergen started the business. The grandfather of our friend from Oye had been running it in his days.

Now the place is owned by the municipality of Ulstien and the local sailing club has been instrumental in arranging a nice pontoon with electricity and water. A quiet dock in beautiful surroundings.