We’d received many, many recommendations to visit Kosterhavet National Park, just south of the Swedish border with Norway. We finally arrived on a sunny September Saturday in time for the annual Koster Swimrun. The event, held annually in September, is a roughly 19-mile (30 km) race around the Koster Islands 3 miles (5 km) of which involves swimming between islands.

After anchoring in the beautiful Tjalleskar archipelago, we ran the tender out to watch the participants run and swim, and then to the Ekenas to see the race finish.

Below are trip highlights from September 21,2019. 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.

Grebbestad Position: 58°40.69’N, 11°15.33’E Early morning view to Grebbestad, that we visited by bike yesterday.

Ramskar Light Position: 58°45.65’N, 11°0.98’E Light on the island of Ramskar in the southern end of Kosterhavet National Park, Sweden’s first marine national park.

Cormorants Position: 58°46.29’N, 10°58.89’E Cormorants on the Segelskaran islands in Kosterhavet National Park.

Harbour Seal Position: 58°46.84’N, 10°59.36’E Harbour seal sunning in the Segelskaran islands. They breed here in the summer, and during that period approach within 100m of shore is prohibited.

Ursholmen Lighthouse Position: 58°49.88’N, 11°1.17’E The distinctive twin towers of Ursholmen Lighthouse at the western edge of Kosterhavet National Park.

Sculpture Position: 58°50.95’N, 11°1.44’E Unusual sculpture on an islet in the Stora Sockna archipelago.

Stora Sockna Archipelago Position: 58°50.95’N, 11°1.44’E Looking across a few of the multitude of islands and islets in the Stora Sockna archipelago within Kosterhavet National Park.

Shim Take 2 Position: 58°51.39’N, 11°1.68’E We’d added a shim to the cell phone mount to move the volume button above the attachment points. But the two-sided tape we’d used wasn’t secure enough, so we re-attached it with small screws. Adding these two screws involved fully dissambling the phone holder, which we’d been trying to avoid.

Dirona Position: 58°51.40’N, 11°1.41’E Dirona at anchor off the Tjalleskar archipelago in beautiful Kosterhavet National Park. We’d received many, many recommendations to visit Kosterhavet and so far are quite impressed. The scenery is spectacular.

Koster Swimrun Position: 58°52.35’N, 11°0.43’E We ran the tender out to watch the Koster Swimrun. The event, held annually in September, is a roughly 19-mile (30 km) race around the Koster Islands 3 miles (5 km) of which involves swimming between islands (see course map). Here the leaders are swimming from the island of Arholma to the South Koster.

From Run to Swim Position: 58°52.01’N, 10°59.69’E Competitors entering the water at Jutholmen to swim to Arholma. They swim with paddles about the size of ping-pong bats attached to their hands.

Coast Guard Position: 58°51.91’N, 10°59.78’E Besides the many spectator boats, several official boats were out on the course, including this Coast Guard ship.

Tethered Position: 58°52.52’N, 11°0.62’E Competitors exiting the water on South Koster. Some of the teams were tethered together for the race—we’re not sure the purpose. The yellow and pink ovals attached to their hips are flotation. When swimming they just use their arms for propulsion, with the flotation wedged between their legs.

Tender Position: 58°53.69’N, 11°2.86’E Our tender moored at Ekenas to watch the race finish.

Finish Line Position: 58°53.68’N, 11°2.81’E The Koster Swimrun finish line at Ekenas.

Third Place Position: 58°53.68’N, 11°2.81’E A happy pair after finishing third overall and first in the mixed teams. A great summary of the race (in Swedish) from Team Adventure, who placed third in the mixed teams, is at Race report Koster Swimrun 2019.

Warming Position: 58°53.70’N, 11°2.82’E Competitors in the Koster Swimrun warming up by the fire.

Hotel Ekenas Position: 58°53.71’N, 11°2.83’E Enjoying a beer on the patio at Hotel Ekenas, overlooking the Koster Islands. It felt and looked just like the Gulf Islands in British Columbia on a warm September day.

150 Hours Position: 58°53.79’N, 11°2.88’E We’ve wound up over 150 hours on our “new” tender.

Rafted Position: 58°53.64’N, 11°0.80’E The marina on North Koster is unbelievable packed for this late in the season. Almost every boat is from Norway—we’re very close to the Norwegian border here.

Kosterbris Position: 58°53.58’N, 11°0.57’E The ferry Kosterbris arriving from Stromstad on the Swedish mainland.

Cable Ferry Position: 58°53.56’N, 11°0.66’E An unusual automated cable ferry between North and South Koster. We could see no sign of an operator or cameras monitoring the vessel. It appears that when a passenger is ready to go, the ferry automatically crosses. Ferry traffic and recreational boats just need to avoid it, because we can’t see anyway for it to avoid them.

Kostervag Position: 58°53.57’N, 11°0.70’E The ferry Kotervag arrived shortly after the Kosterbris. We were surprised to see two ferries arriving so close together, as we believe they both cross from Stromstad. Perhaps they sold more than one boat load.

Rock Wall Mooring Position: 58°53.42’N, 11°0.31’E A pleasure craft moored against the rocks along North Koster.

Sunset Position: 58°51.40’N, 11°1.70’E A beautiful sunset in the Koster Islands.

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.