The Royal Swedish Yacht Club, formed in 1830, is one of the oldest yacht clubs in the world and an active competitive sailing organization. Represented by Artemis Racing, they competed in the 2013 and 2017 America’s Cup events. The club has had an outpost at Sandhamn for more than a century and currently maintains several marinas there with space for 400 boats, some in a beautiful park-like setting and others in the center of town.

For those familiar with the Pacific Northwest, Sandhamn is a bit like Roche Harbor in the San Juan Islands. Both are beautiful and fun-to-visit towns with historic hotels, and both are massively crowded in the height of the summer season. We spent a wonderful day there in the quiet off-season, touring the waters by tender and the islands on foot, including a stop for lunch on the patio of the historic Sandhamn Vardshus.

Below are trip highlights from April 23, 2019 at Sandhamn, 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

Coffee Position: 59°12.82’N, 18°45.04’E James inside enjoying a morning coffee while underway for Sandhamn with another fabulous sunrise.

Swans Position: 59°13.71’N, 18°48.10’E We’ve seen swans, often in fair-sized flocks, nearly every day since arriving in Sweden. We’ve rarely seen so many.

Mist Position: 59°15.71’N, 18°54.99’E The Tallink ferry Romantika approaching out of the mist en route to Stockholm on an overnight from Riga, Latvia.

Romantika Position: 59°16.51’N, 18°56.48’E The Tallink ferry Romantika lit up in the morning sun. We’ll be taking a Tallink ferry in a few weeks on an overnight trip to Tallin, Estonia from Helsinki, Finland.

Nearing Sandhamn Position: 59°17.33’N, 18°55.64’E Nearing the village of Sandhamn, an exceedingly popular boating and summer vacation destination. The year-round population is about 100, but this swells to 2,000-3,000 in July and August.

Seal Position: 59°17.35’N, 18°55.71’E One of the first Swedish seals we’ve seen since arriving in the country.

Trollharan Position: 59°17.39’N, 18°55.70’E Beautiful trail ashore on Trollharan. Much of the area is wonderfully maintained by the Royal Swedish Yacht Club, who have had an outpost at Sandhamn for more than a century. Formed in 1830, the organization is one of the oldest yacht clubs in the world and an active competitive sailing organization. Represented by Artemis Racing, they competed in the 2013 and 2017 America’s Cup events.

Berths Position: 59°17.39’N, 18°55.75’E Royal Swedish Yacht Club berths on the island of Lokholmen. The organization maintains several marinas at Sandhamn with space for 400 boats.

Heinecke’s Tower Position: 59°17.38’N, 18°55.73’E The view looking south across our anchorage at Sandhamn from Trollharan.

Off Sandhamn Position: 59°17.33’N, 18°55.71’E At anchor with the village of Sandhamn as a backdrop. For those familiar with the Pacific Northwest, Sandhamn is a bit like Roche Harbor in the San Juan Islands. Both are beautiful and fun-to-visit towns with historic hotels, and both are massively crowded in the height of the summer season. We’ve been looking forward to visiting for a long time.

Sandhamn Seglarhotell Position: 59°17.33’N, 18°55.22’E The iconic Sandhamn Seglarhotell, formerly the Royal Swedish Yacht Club clubhouse, is a landmark in Sandhamn.

Sandhamn Ferry Position: 59°17.34’N, 18°55.04’E A regular ferry serves Sandhamn—we saw this one arrive several times during our stay.

Pilot Boat Position: 59°17.34’N, 18°54.93’E Sandhamn has been a pilot station for Stockholm since the 1600s.

Villa Position: 59°17.41’N, 18°54.67’E A villa, with a marvelous view to sea, built around 1900. Sandhamn has long been a summer retreat for the wealthy.

Breakfast Position: 59°17.40’N, 18°55.03’E We’d set out in the tender right away on arriving to take some pictures in the morning light. We brought along a picnic breakfast and found a great spot overlooking the town.

Krosko Position: 59°17.60’N, 18°56.51’E On the north side of the island of Krosko is a lovely, nearly landlocked anchorage. The entrance is shallow—we barely got the tender in.

Shallows Position: 59°17.67’N, 18°55.59’E The Royal Swedish Yacht Club maintains a large marina on the east side of the island of Lokholmen. This channel is too shallow even for our tender, so we’ll head around to the main entrance on the other side to have a look.

Cabins Position: 59°17.54’N, 18°55.28’E Condominiums on the island of Telegrafholmen. Anyone buying one must also joint the Royal Swedish Yacht Club, who maintains a marina and a guesthouse on the island.

Lokholmen Position: 59°17.55’N, 18°55.69’E The Royal Swedish Yacht Club marina wrapped along the shores of Lokholmen has berths for about 200 boats, most with power. It must be crazy busy here in the summer.

Uprooted Tree Position: 59°17.54’N, 18°55.54’E A huge tree uprooted recently on Lokholmen. A big storm must have recently hit—over the course of the day we saw this several times and they all looked fresh.

Heinecke’s Observatory Position: 59°17.54’N, 18°55.58’E In the early 1900s, wealthy Stockholm financier Kurt Heinecke bought the islands of Lokholmen and Trollharan and built a villa and an observatory tower on Lokholmen. Heinecke was a Swedish Yacht Club official and later sold the properties to the organization.

Lokholmen Marina From Above Position: 59°17.54’N, 18°55.58’E Looking down into the marina basin at Lokholmen, with the channel we tried to enter visible in the background.

Tender Charts Position: 59°17.33’N, 18°55.64’E We frequently hit bottom in the tender, but 95% of the time not because we don’t know the water is shallow, but because we really want to find a way through anyway. We’ve never really felt a need for a chartplotter on the tender, but with so many unmarked obstacles hiding just below the surface here, a chartplotter is just about a requirement. Here we used heavy-duty velcro to mount an old cell phone running the Navionics chartplotter app. This works really well and is easy to read.

Sandon Position: 59°17.30’N, 18°54.91’E Ashore on the main island of Sandon. The main town, Sandhamn is at the northeast corner of the island. We’re anchored directly east of the red dot, off the island of Trollharan.

Sandhamn Vardshus Position: 59°17.36’N, 18°54.88’E We had an excellent lunch on the deck at the historic Sandhamn Vardshus (Swedish for “inn”). An inn, in various forms, has been at this location since the mid-1800s.

View to Sea Position: 59°17.36’N, 18°54.65’E Looking east to sea between buildings as we walk around Sandhamn.

Docks Position: 59°17.38’N, 18°54.62’E If you have waterfront on Sandhamn, you have a dock.

Big RIBs Position: 59°17.33’N, 18°54.52’E Two large eco-adventure RIBs with a pair of 300HP outboards each.

Flasberget Position: 59°17.34’N, 18°54.35’E Flasberget’s nearness to town makes it the island’s main swimming area.

Pine Forest Position: 59°17.25’N, 18°54.26’E A beautiful pine forest, with trails throughout, covers much of the center of Sandon.

Power Line Down Position: 59°17.22’N, 18°54.14’E We saw many trees blown over in the pine forest on Sandon, and most looked recent. A big storm must have passed through in the past few weeks.

Trouville Position: 59°16.91’N, 18°54.07’E Looking north along Trouville, a long sandy beach along Sandon’s south shore.

Fluid Position: 59°17.02’N, 18°55.08’E We’ve seen these 1,000L (264 gallon) fluid containers used all over the world, often for diesel transport. Look how big one of those containers is beside Jennifer, and imagine that Dirona holds the equivalent of 6.6 of these below deck in diesel. And, on our big ocean crossings, we carry the equivalent of 10.3 of these containers of diesel.

Heinecke’s Tower Position: 59°17.18’N, 18°55.33’E The view to our anchorage from Sandon below Heinecke’s Tower on Trollharan. The tower also was built by financier Kurt Heinecke.

Trident Position: 59°17.17’N, 18°55.33’E Trident mounted on Sandon.

Pilot Tower Position: 59°17.22’N, 18°54.71’E At the base of a distinctive white tower, visible from our anchorage, spinning a large radar and carrying communications gear. The tower was built for the sea pilots in 1962.

Bell Tower Position: 59°17.22’N, 18°54.72’E Jennifer standing under the bell tower for Sandhamn chapel. We don’t often see the bell tower separated from the church, and this particular tower is between a school and a church, so it could be used for either or both.

Town Position: 59°17.31’N, 18°54.67’E Looking across the red-painted houses in Sandhamn. We didn’t see a single automobile on the island, only all-terrain vehicles. The town roads mostly are footpaths that wind between the houses and are fun to walk along.

Boardwalk Position: 59°17.29’N, 18°55.04’E Walking the Sandhamn harbour-front boardwalk as we return to the tender.

Happy Hour Position: 59°17.33’N, 18°55.64’E Happy hour in the cockpit, with the evening sun lighting up Heinecke’s Tower.

Sandhamn at Dusk Position: 59°17.33’N, 18°55.64’E Sandhamn aglow at dusk with mirror-smooth waters. We’ve had exceptional weather during our time in the Stockholm Archipelago.

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.