After Karlskrona, we spent a couple of nights anchored at the Hastholmen-Ytteron Nature Reserve at the eastern edge of the Karlskrona Archipelago. Much of the area we’d travelled through was a restricted military zone until 1997. Just west of where we anchored is the island of Torumskar, where an international incident occurred in 1981 when a local fisherman discovered the Soviet submarine U137 aground there. After two weeks of investigations and diplomatic negotiations, the ship was refloated and left Swedish waters.

Below are trip highlights from March 30th and 31st, 2019 at Hastholmen-Ytteron Nature Reserve, Sweden. Click any image for a larger view, or click the position to view the location on a map. And a live map of our current route and most recent log entries always is available at mvdirona.com/maps

3/30/2019

Sunrise Position: 56°7.40’N, 15°38.43’E Another spectacular sunrise. We really enjoyed the anchorage east of Tjurko Island.

Bridge Position: 56°8.51’N, 15°44.56’E Passing under the bridge between Mocklo and Vasternas islands.

Shallow Position: 56°8.07’N, 15°46.49’E The waters in this area are quite shallow. We saw as low at 7.4ft at one point.

Steps Position: 56°6.57’N, 15°46.64’E We’ve seen these concrete steps at several places along shore. It is common practice in Sweden to anchor off the stern and bring the bow to shore to get on and off the boat. Likely these steps are to help with that.

Cable Ferry Position: 56°6.07’N, 15°46.93’E The cable ferry skipper slackened the line as we crossed, then passed behind us.

Packless Shaft Seal Position: 56°4.64’N, 15°47.40’E Since the propeller shaft was replaced last year, we have a bit of a shaft vibration. The only solution is to pull the shaft yet again and either get it aligned properly or, if that is not possible, replace it. We hate the idea of replacing a one-year-old and fairly expensive prop shaft but that is the likely outcome. We’re trying to limp it along until the next time we lift Dirona out of the water. The Packless Shaft Seal (PSS) leaks a bit underway due to the vibration but it’s mostly not a problem. Recently the amount it’s leaking has gone up and there is carbon in the leaked water, suggesting the PSS seal is starting to wear fairly aggressively. The PSS seal appears to be adjusted excessively tightly and, as a consequence, it’s showing accelerated wear. Here James is backing off the PSS bellows tension but we suspect that moving it back to the correct tension will allow the out-of-true prop shaft to cause even more leaking. More than likely we’ll be struggling to find the balance on this one and, hopefully, won’t discover that wear over the last year has rendered the PSS no longer able to seal effectively.

Hastholmen-Ytteron Nature Reserve Position: 56°4.64’N, 15°47.40’E Anchored for a couple of nights in the Hastholmen-Ytteron Nature Reserve. Much of the area we’ve travelled through was a restricted military zone until 1997. Just to our west is Torumskar Island, where an international incident occurred in 1981 when a local fisherman discovered the Soviet submarine U137 aground there. After two weeks of investigations and diplomatic negotiations, the ship was refloated and left Swedish waters.

3/31/2019

Spares Position: 56°4.62’N, 15°47.41’E The generator temperature sender is producing erratic results, so we’ll replace it with a spare. This Really Useful Box, stowed under the stateroom stairs, contains most of our small Northern Lights replacement parts.

Changing Antifreeze Position: 56°4.63’N, 15°47.41’E In order to change the temperature sending unit, some antifreeze needs to be drained. It’s due for a change anyway, so here James is draining all the coolant to be replaced with a fresh load of Coolgard ES Compleat premix.

Click the travel log icon on the left to see these locations on a map, with the complete log of our cruise. On the map page, clicking on a camera or text icon will display a picture and/or log entry for that location, and clicking on the smaller icons along the route will display latitude, longitude and other navigation data for that location. And a live map of our current route and most recent log entries always is available at mvdirona.com/maps.