MV Dirona travel digest for Amsterdam to Denmark 2019

Position: 52°23.00'N, 4°53.62'E

The IJ River at 5am as we get underway. After a couple of weeks of high winds, conditions have finally settled down and we have calm conditions predicted for our 200nm run from Amsterdam across the German Bight.

Position: 52°25.49'N, 4°47.51'E

Dawn looking back to Westpoort about a half hour after getting underway from Amsterdam. The weather is clear and calm, but cold at 35F (1.6C). We had frost on our decks this morning. We'll likely see more of that as we head north to the Baltic.

Position: 52°25.75'N, 4°45.63'E

Several barges and commercial boats were underway in and around Westpoort. Two tugs came out to assist an arriving cargo ship into port.

Position: 52°26.82'N, 4°41.51'E

The indoor ski run SnowPlanet has a 128ft (39m) vertical drop, almost certainly the largest in The Netherlands. :)

Position: 52°27.86'N, 4°38.51'E

Industry at Velsen-Noord at the western end of the North Sea Canal from Amsterdam to sea.

Position: 52°27.86'N, 4°38.51'E

A beautiful sunrise behind us.

Position: 52°27.90'N, 4°37.84'E

We aren't sure what this large structure under construction is. Perhaps it is for the new sea lock being built. It will be the largest in the world at 500m long, 70m wide and 18m deep.

Position: 52°27.89'N, 4°37.13'E

The complex of four sea locks that separate the North Sea Canal from the North Sea. Recreational craft use the the oldest lock and smallest southermost lock, Zuidersluis, built in 1876.

Position: 52°27.88'N, 4°36.43'E

The gates opening for Zuidersluis as we approach.

Position: 52°27.85'N, 4°35.49'E

The water level between the North Sea Canal and the North Sea was not very different. They are very efficient—the lock door had barely shut behind us before the one in front opened. We're almost at sea now.

Position: 52°27.85'N, 4°35.48'E

The capable-looking rescue boat Esvagt-Carina just outside the sea locks.

Position: 52°27.85'N, 4°35.48'E

The island fortress Forteiland IJmuiden was constructed in the 1880s to help defend the surrounding area and restrict shipping traffic heading for Amsterdam.

Position: 52°27.85'N, 4°35.48'E

The 141ft-tall (42m) rearmost of the IJmuiden range lights. The lights were erected in 1879 to help guide ships into the harbor of IJmuiden.

Position: 52°27.94'N, 4°33.52'E

The light on the end of the IJmuiden north breakwater as we exit the harbour and head for sea. We're loving being underway again—it's been such a long time since we were at sea.

Position: 52°28.62'N, 4°31.11'E

Golden sky viewed through the industrial area at Velsen-Noord.

Position: 53°22.26'N, 5°0.36'E

Conditions were a little lumpy as we departed the North Sea Canal, but then settled down. We had an easy run with clear and sunny skies until mid-afternoon when we entered a thick fog bank just off the sea entrance to Harlingen, NL (where we picked up our new tender last year). We could barely see this fishing vessel a few hundred yards away.

Position: 53°29.66'N, 5°18.57'E

In a positive current we're doing a booming 10.6 knots at 1.2nm/gallon. We were initially hoping to make Heligoland in time to fuel during their opening hours of 10am-5pm. But we eventually had to slow down as we'd arrive in the middle of the night.

Position: 53°43.50'N, 6°34.39'E

A massive windfarm complex to our north shortly after we crossed the border between The Netherlands and Germany. We're running just outside the busy traffic lanes to our north.

Position: 53°52.20'N, 7°29.90'E

We're well into the German bight now at 26 miles out of Heligoland now. Conditions have been wonderfully calm the entire run and we've made excellent time with a positive current.

Position: 53°59.70'N, 7°49.40'E

Fabulous pink sunrise as we near Heligoland.

Position: 54°10.41'N, 7°53.52'E

On the dock at Heligoland at 8:45am. As a German territory, Heligoland is part of the EU, but is not part of the EU Customs Union or VAT area. We're here at Bunker Station Heligoland to purchase duty-free diesel at a price of $4.25 per gallon. That's quite expensive by US standards, but still far less than the rest of the EU.

Position: 54°10.41'N, 7°53.52'E

The 150ft (46m) German search-and-rescue boat Hermann Marwede at its home port of Heligoland.

Position: 54°10.41'N, 7°53.52'E

Taking on 888 gallons of diesel at Heligoland. The fuel dock hours are officially 10am to 5pm, but they started fueling us at 9am and are super-efficient. We were able to depart just past 10am, in time to catch the last of the flood tide down the Elbe River and reach the Kiel Canal late this afternoon.

Position: 53°50.21'N, 8°50.06'E

The cargo ship Nol Tribute in the Elbe River.

Position: 53°50.58'N, 8°56.11'E

We made good time towards the Kiel Canal. The current changed from flood to ebb just as we passed Curacao Pearl, moored for-and-aft while bunkering.

Position: 53°51.85'N, 9°3.60'E

The car carrier Viking Destiny a couple of miles off the Kiel Canal. We're in a pretty thick fog and pleasure craft aren't allowed to operate in the Kiel Canal in restricted visibility. There's a possibility we might not be allowed to enter, but we're keeping our fingers crossed.

Position: 53°53.14'N, 9°8.42'E

We had a difficult time in seeing the signal mast on the left from a distance in the fog, but we got a white light to enter the lock.

Position: 53°53.49'N, 9°8.82'E

The lock doors closing behind us.

Position: 53°53.49'N, 9°8.82'E

In the small lock by ourselves. We made it!

Position: 53°53.52'N, 9°8.87'E

Large hydraulic rams control the lock doors.

Position: 53°53.52'N, 9°8.88'E

Construction for the new lock at the Kiel Canal, part of a construction project to allow near Panamax-size ships (280 m/32.20 m/9.50 m) to pass through the canal.

Position: 53°53.67'N, 9°9.06'E

We were planning to stay in recreational craft berths just inside the Brunsbuttel locks, where we stopped last October, but the berthing area was closed.

Position: 53°54.04'N, 9°9.24'E

We contacted the Kiel Canal via radio and they directed us to a berth just upstream from the recreational craft berths.

Position: 53°53.83'N, 9°8.85'E

Ferry loading as we walk into Brunsbuttel. Thirteen ferry crossings are along the Kiel Canal and they are heavily used. The ferries cross frequently and cars are often lined up as soon as they depart. This is one of the few times we've seen a light load.

Position: 53°53.77'N, 9°8.79'E

We had a good pizza dinner and German beer at Torhaus restaurant with a view to the ships locking through.

Position: 53°54.02'N, 9°9.24'E

We decided to try out the Washington Post for a month and see if we liked it. While doing that, we went and looked at how to cancel our current Wall Street Journal subscription in case we ended up preferring the post. Not so easy. The Journal has a nicely written web site that allows updating credit cards, adding newsletters, subscribing to extra cost item, or making any other change. It's easy to find where the auto-renew option is set. This option requests the WSJ to automatically renew every month. We didn't set it but they default to on which seems OK to us. The "auto renew" option looks like a web button but it actually can't be changed. We searched for other less obvious ways to change the subscription auto-renew status or cancel it entirely and couldn't find anything after searching for fifteen minutes.

We then searched on the web on how to change the auto renew option or cancel the subscription. We found the following Cancellation & Refund Policy that states: "In order to change or cancel your subscription, please contact Customer Service. We do not accept cancellations by mail or email or by any other means other than calling Customer Service." You can subscribe online. You can pay online. You can change absolutely anything but you can't stop paying without having to talk to a service representative, assuming one is available and you have the time. Of course, the WSJ service representative needs you to first explain "why you are leaving after having been a subscriber for a long time and presumably 'very happy'". A bit less happy now :-).

Presumably lots of people never bother to get online and wait for a customer service representative, so the Wall Street Journal will get more money this way. But it is kind of customer unfriendly. The cable company Comcast is famous for exactly the same tactic and this YouTube video of someone trying valiantly to cancel "the #1 internet service in the country" is priceless: Comcast's Embarrassing Customer Service Phone Call.

Position: 53°54.02'N, 9°9.24'E

From our berth we had an excellent view to the large ships entering and leaving the lock.

Position: 53°54.81'N, 9°10.98'E

The 488ft (149m) cargo ship Anina barely fits under the Highway 5 bridge. We got underway just past 6am on a foggy morning. Visibility wasn't great, but fortunately was good enough to continue and we weren't ordered back to our berth like last year.

Position: 54°4.54'N, 9°19.04'E

One aspect of satellite coverage that is seldom discussed is how many satellites there are to chose from at a given location. At first you might think "who cares?" But, there is significant upside to satellite providers that have many satellites to chose from. One advantages is system faults don't take you offline where there are many redundant satellites. But this advantage is slight—most systems aren't down all that frequently. Where it really helps to have a satellite plant with deep redundancy is when there are obstructions.

By far the most common problem with satellite coverage is obstruction. Geosynchronous satellites are all above the equator so the further you go towards the poles, the lower the satellite "look" angle and the more likely it is that a mountain or building or even a part of your boat gets in the way. With multiple satellites to chose from, the overall service is far more reliable. Here's you can that in this area our KVH V7hts system has six different satellites, each of which can keep us connected.

Position: 54°8.92'N, 9°21.68'E

An old Fischerhutte Ferry, permanently mounted ashore with a staircase leading up to the main deck.

Position: 54°10.12'N, 9°25.92'E

Passing the 528ft (161m) container ship Petkum. Its bow wake slowed us down considerably. At 2300 RPM we were barely making 7.5 knots, where normally we'd be doing just over 9 kts at that RPM.

Position: 54°13.90'N, 9°36.37'E

About to pass the 465ft (142m) oil/chemical tanker Sapphire. The ship had slowed mid-channel to take on a pilot on the starboard side, so we passed to port.

Position: 54°17.43'N, 9°39.91'E

Blog reader Torbjorn Curtsson of Sweden sent us this screenshot from a Kiel Canal webcam of Dirona passing through Rendsburg.

Position: 54°17.35'N, 9°39.44'E

Dirona passing under the Rendsburg High Bridge, courtesy of Torbjorn Curtsson. The bridge was completed in 1913 to carry rail traffic and a suspension ferry. The distinctive twin-peaked bridge outline forms the town's logo.

Position: 54°17.47'N, 9°40.13'E

The Bruckenterrassen Cafe sponsors the Ships Welcome Point, where an employee announces information about each commercial ship, plays the national anthem of the ship's country, and waves as they pass. The restaurant was packed, but it probably was too early in the season for the Ships Welcome Point to be operating. And they don't pay much attention to recreational boats anyway.

Position: 54°18.55'N, 9°42.74'E

The German super-yacht builder Lurssen has built many spectacular yachts over the years. Notable among them is the 414ft (126m) Octopus, that we've seen in San Francisco Bay, Hawaii and Sydney, Australia. Moored outside as we passed was the spectacular 312ft (95m) Kismet. The vessel currently is for sale if anyone has a spare $100M or so lying around. It's a nice-looking boat.

Position: 54°21.62'N, 10°1.60'E

Some of the ships we pass look just huge as they round the corner. The maximum dimensions for ships in the Kiel Canal is 772.6 ft (235.50 m) long, with a 106.6 ft (32.50m) beam and 22.97ft (7m) draft. This one has to be close to the limit.

Position: 54°22.20'N, 10°4.95'E

Amor picking up a tug assist to enter the sea lock.

Position: 54°22.30'N, 10°5.70'E

The 85-ft maxi yacht UCA was designed specifically to race in the 2003 DaimlerChrysler North Atlantic Challenge from Newport RI to Cuxhaven, Germany (we've spent time in both harbours). The ship did the fastest time of 13 days, 7 hours, and 13 minutes.

Position: 54°22.18'N, 10°6.80'E

Waiting for Amor to be secured in the lock before we can enter, with several large ships heading the other direction in the neighboring lock.

Position: 54°22.15'N, 10°6.99'E

What looks like a lock gate tied against shore.

Position: 54°21.98'N, 10°8.16'E

The smaller lock typically used by pleasure craft is being repaired, so we'll be sharing the large lock with the 597ft (182m) Amor.

Position: 54°21.99'N, 10°8.16'E

The lock master asked us to proceed to the front of the lock, past Amor. Slipping between that large ship and the lock wall with only feet to spare on either side felt very snug. The video Kiel Canal Baltic Sea Lock shows how tight it was as we entered the lock and passed alongside Amor.

Position: 54°21.91'N, 10°8.59'E

One of the two tugs that assisted the 597ft (182m) Amor into the lock rode through the lock with us. The lock master had asked us to move past Amor to the very front of the lock but the wash from the tug was stupendous. The tug was "moored" by driving the tug sideways into the lock wall. That does an excellent job of securing the tug without lines, but several thousand horsepower creates an amazingly powerful wash. We were getting pounded even with the thrusters on fully, so we backed up into the retaliative shelter of the larger ship where conditions were calmer. It was otherwise an easy lock through.

Position: 54°26.03'N, 10°10.44'E

We were planning to overnight at the pleasure craft moorings just outside the Kiel Canal locks, but the outer section was damaged, with no mooring allowed, and we didn't have sufficient depth to tie off near-shore. So we continued north and found a good anchorage off the beach at Strande. It was great to be at anchor again—our first time since leaving Denmark last year. And as a bonus we got to watch the pilot boat Holtenau come and go several times.

Position: 54°29.21'N, 10°20.06'E

We departed our anchorage off Strande, just north of the Kiel Canal, in a thick fog. Heavy ship traffic was visible on AIS but visibility was so poor we never saw a single one.

Position: 54°29.86'N, 10°23.13'E

The pilot house steering pump has developed a minor seep at the steering wheel shaft. Hynautic SeaStar steering systems are designed to operate at atmospheric pressure, but when the boat was new, bleeding the steering system was a real struggle. Hynautic recommend an overflow container to make it easier to bleed and less prone to pushing oil out the vent. The overflow Hynautic supplied was from one of their other systems that do run pressure. They said it was fine to run a small 5 PSI positive pressure to make leaks easier to detect. We've done that for 9 years. With a nearly 10 year old seal at the helm pump, any positive pressure now will seep oil. We'll plan to change the seal but, for now, we relieved the pressure and this appeared to correct the problem.

Position: 54°36.47'N, 10°42.17'E

Lowering our German courtesy flag as we leave Germany. You can see behind us that we're still in a pretty thick fog.

Position: 54°36.56'N, 10°42.30'E

And raising a Danish courtesy flag as we enter Danish waters.

Position: 54°48.44'N, 10°52.31'E

The Baltic Sea has no appreciable tidal exchange, so we were a little surprised to be in a 2-kt positive current. At 1800RPM we were making 10.1 knots, when normally we only do 8.25 knots at that RPM.

Position: 54°58.40'N, 11°52.09'E

After a peaceful night anchored off Vejro at the western edge of Smalandsfarvandet, we got underway in overcast condtions. Here we are passing under the Storstrom Bridge that carries road and railway traffic over the Storstrommen between Falster and Masnedo islands and is on the rail line between Copenhagen and Germany.

Position: 54°56.83'N, 11°57.58'E

The elegant southern span of the Faro Bridge disappearing towards Faro Islands. The bridge was completed in 1985 to reduce congestion on the Storstrom Bridge that we just passed under.

Position: 54°53.89'N, 12°1.86'E

The fog has lifted slightly, giving us a view to the town of Stubbekobing to our south as we pass through Gronsund.

Position: 54°57.25'N, 12°28.01'E

Moored for the night on the commercial docks at Klintholm Havn. We're pretty early in the season and are the only visiting pleasure craft here. And certainly the only US-flagged vessel.

Position: 54°57.18'N, 12°27.91'E

James paying for our moorage in the automated machine at the harbour office. The price is a very reasonable DKK 284 (USD 42.75) per night, including power.

Position: 54°57.73'N, 12°32.46'E

Out on the bikes to visit the famous Mons Klint chalk cliffs.

Position: 54°57.93'N, 12°32.85'E

It took just under a half-hour to reach the Mons Klint Visitor Center from the harbour. We're too early in the season for visitor center though—it doesn't open until mid-April.

Position: 54°57.98'N, 12°32.92'E

Walking the extensive stairs down to the beach below the cliffs. Several dozen visitors still were here with us on this sunny and calm Saturday afternoon, but nothing like the summer numbers. According to Lonely Planet, the area is so incredibly popular with visitors on midsummer weekends that "it's surprising the whole island doesn't tilt eastwards with the sheer weight of visitors".

Position: 54°57.95'N, 12°33.12'E

A first view to the spectacular chalk cliffs of Mons Klint.

Position: 54°58.03'N, 12°33.07'E

The chalk cliffs are constantly crumbling and we noticed several very recent-looking falls.

Position: 54°58.33'N, 12°33.04'E

Taking a break to enjoy the view beneath the cliffs.

Position: 54°58.11'N, 12°32.99'E

The view east along the cliffs from above. The waters below reminded us of the South Pacific.

Position: 54°57.32'N, 12°27.76'E

Beautiful beach view just north of the harbour after we returned to Klintholm Havn.

Position: 54°57.23'N, 12°28.08'E

On May 5th, 1945, the day of the Liberation of Denmark, a barge washed up ashore in this spot carrying 370 prisoners who the Nazis set adrift from Germany. The prisoners were near death from starvation and illness, but a remarkable 351 survived, due to Mons islanders who risked their own lives to save them. The memorial was erected 50 years later to remember the 19 prisoners who did not survive and to commemorate the selfless actions of the islanders.

Position: 54°57.23'N, 12°28.15'E

An excellent pizza dinner with a wonderful bottle of Barolo at Portofino Italian restaurant at Klintholm Havn. We were lucky to get a table—the place is popular and was almost completely booked.

Position: 54°57.19'N, 12°28.04'E

Walking back to Dirona after dinner, we stopped to watch a fishboat offloading their haul Klintholm Havn.

Position: 54°56.27'N, 12°39.19'E

Fabulous pink and purple sunrise as we are underway on an 80 nm run from Klintholm Havn to Ronne Havn on Bornholm.

Position: 54°56.32'N, 12°47.94'E

Our main RADAR is a 25KW Furuno DRS25A. We find it amazingly easy to use compared to RADARs we have used in the past and it's remarkably good at resolving small details like a fish boat working close to shore. Recently it's started to produce "Tuning Error" errors which just last for a second and then are gone, but they are getting increasingly frequent. The RADAR has just under 10,000 hours transmitting and we know that any magnetron with more than 8,000 hours is living on borrowed time so we've been expecting a problem for the last couple of years. We have a very nice Furuno DRS6A backup RADAR with under 1,000 hours as backup, so we're haven't been in a rush to preemptively fix the expected magnetron problem on our main RADAR until we actually see it.

We contacted Furuno and they said explained that a magnetron will always have some fluctuation in output. The system will auto-tune for these changes in magnetron output and the operator will not see any impact from these slight changes. But, as the magnetron ages, its output will start to vary more and more and, eventually, the auto-tuning system will not be able to adjust for its variation and a "tuning error" messsage will be produced. Furuno went on to recommend turning off auto-tuning which is what is being done in this picture. This works well and the errors stop. Of course, the magnetron problem is real and it will still need to be replaced.

Overall, we're super impressed with the quality of Furuno support—over the years we've had few questions but, when we have them, the Furuno team is amazingly good at resolving them. They're really a top notch organization. The downside of Furuno is the parts pricing is very high. For example, the video card in our NavNet 3D black box, was a $300 client computer part before discounting when it was first produced a decade ago, but currently from Furuno it's $1200. Perhaps the high price is because the graphics card is now a museum piece :-). Similarily, the recommended replacement parts price not including installation for our DRS25A is half the price of replacing the unit. So our current leaning is to replace it entirely even though it's an excellent RADAR with a high-hour magnetron.

Overall, we wish the parts were less expensive but, on the whole, we continue to really like Furuno and will likely buy a new DRS25A RADAR this summer. The equipment quality is good, it's very usable, and 9 years and 10,000 hours isn't bad for a RADAR.

Position: 54°56.05'N, 13°1.94'E

Lots of radar targets as we pass south of the Baltic 2 Windfarm. The 288 megawatt farm was completed in 2015 at a cost of €1.25 billion.

Position: 54°56.03'N, 13°2.54'E

Some of the 80 Siemens SWT 3.6-120 wind turbines in the Baltic 2 windfarm.

Position: 54°56.89'N, 13°28.79'E

The Finnish-flagged 503-ft (153.45 m) RO/RO Container vessel Seagard.

Position: 54°56.95'N, 13°30.48'E

The Italian-flagged 446ft (136m) oil tanker Aquamarina. Large ships in the area often have an orange stripe around the top of their pilot house, making them highly visible from a distance.

Position: 54°57.03'N, 13°32.60'E

We're in a very high traffic area as we pass through a relatively restricted section of the Baltic Sea between Denmark, Germany and Sweden.

Position: 54°57.38'N, 13°47.61'E

The Dutch-flagged 377ft (115 m) LPG tanker Coral Anthelia.

Position: 54°57.34'N, 13°47.78'E

Despite the heavy traffic, we were mostly able to run a direct course to Bornholm as we crossed the lanes. But we eventually had to divert course to pass behind the LPG tanker Coral Anthelia.

Position: 54°57.61'N, 13°53.13'E

The Dutch-flagged 354ft (108m_ general cargo vessel Lady Clarissa.

Position: 55°5.54'N, 14°40.41'E

Passing behind the outer breakwater into Ronne Havn on the island of Bornholm with the 396ft (121 m) ferry Povl Anker. The vessel is named after Paul Hansen Anker, who was active in the rebellion against Swedish control of Bornholm island in 1658. The owning company, BornholmerFaegen, operates three routes from Bornholm with two other ships and currently keeps the Povl Anker in reserve.

One of their other boats, the Villum Clausen, is in the Guinness book of world records for its top speed of 48 kts and the fastest distance in 24 hours achieved during the voyage from to Denmark from the Austal shipyard in Australia. This ship is named after an islander who shot the Swedish commander trying to escape arrest. Bornholmers seem to take their independence pretty seriously. :)

Position: 55°5.76'N, 14°41.55'E

Water is not available at our berth, so we're stopping off at Quay 23 to fill our tanks. Bornholm charges for water and power, so we're also picking up the tally card that water and power are charged to, and paying our moorage fees.

Position: 55°5.76'N, 14°41.55'E

The cargo vessel Freke R rounding the corner off our bow to enter the harbour. The ship doesn't have thrusters and the skipper has to apply a fair bit of power to maneuver in the tight quarters.

Position: 55°5.97'N, 14°41.58'E

Moored for three nights in the commercial port at Ronne Havn. There's almost no tidal range here, so we don't have to leave the usual slack in the lines when on a fixed dock.

Position: 55°5.93'N, 14°41.93'E

A golden evening sun lighting up the colourful buildings as we walk Ronne's cobblestone streets.

Position: 55°5.92'N, 14°41.85'E

St Nicolas' Church in Ronne was originally built in 1350, and has been renovated, extended and restored multiple times over the centuries.

Position: 55°5.95'N, 14°41.80'E

Looking across a small boat harbour inside Ronne Havn. The harbour entrance us just out of the picture on the right, and our berth is farther to the right.

Position: 55°5.98'N, 14°41.78'E

The 59 ft (18m) Ronne Lighthouse, built in 1880, was taken out of commission in 1989.

Position: 55°6.17'N, 14°41.99'E

Enjoy delicious Bornholm-brewed pints from Small Batch Brewery over dinner at Buffalo Steak House in Ronne.

Position: 55°5.97'N, 14°41.58'E

From our berth at Ronne Have on Bornholm Island we had a great view to the island's ferry traffic. This is the 518ft (158m) RoPax (combined freight and passenger) ferry Hammershus arriving at 5:45am after an daily overnight run from Koge, Denmark, just south of Copenhagen. The ferry was delivered in 2018 and has a service speed of 18 knots. It is named after Hammershus, a fortress ruin on Bornholm Island.

Position: 55°5.97'N, 14°41.58'E

As the Hammershus was arriving, the fast ferry Express I was loading beside us for a 6:30am departure for Ystad, Sweden. The (112m) fast ferry, built by Incat of Tasmania is one of the largest in the world and has a top speed of 40 knots, or 36 knots fully loaded with 1,200 passengers, 417 cars and up to six buses. We saw it's sistership, Express 2, while travelling the east coast of Denmark last year.

Position: 55°5.97'N, 14°41.58'E

The Polish research/survey vessel Imor departing Ronne Havn from Nordhavn (north port), where we also are moored.

Position: 55°5.97'N, 14°41.58'E

The fast ferry Express I returning to Ronne Havn from Ystad, Sweden. The ferry makes four runs daily this time of year and eight in the summer. The island is incredibly well-served by ferries from Sweden, Denmark, Poland and Germany and over 600,000 visitors a year.

Position: 55°5.97'N, 14°41.58'E

Spitfire getting his first smell of Bornholm Island.

Position: 55°5.97'N, 14°41.58'E

We use a forward speaker as a combination of loadhailer and fog horn, both supported by one of our Icom M604 VHF radios. This forward speaker takes a lot of water when operating in heavy seas and, as a consequence, only lasts about two years. We have a backup speaker at the stern of the boat that can be operated as a load hailer and fog horn by the other Icom M604 VHF radio. The forward speaker failed on our last foggy outing so here James is replacing it.

Position: 55°5.97'N, 14°41.58'E

The fast ferry Express I returning to Ronne Havn from the second of its four runs today from Ystad, Sweden.

Position: 55°5.97'N, 14°41.58'E

When the boat was new LED rope lights were installed behind the valence panels that surround the saloon. This LED rope light was always insufficiently bright and it's now showing darkening from overheating. We're replacing the LED lights with a new option that gives us control of color and brightness. Unfortunately, the old lights ran on 24VDC while these run on 12VDC.

Here James is attempting to locate the wire that feeds the rope lights in order to install a 24VDC->12VDC converter. He found the wire by measuring current to the old lights and switching the lights off on and on. When the correct wire is found, the current switches on and off with the appropriate light switch.

Position: 55°11.72'N, 14°42.14'E

"Welcome to our Bike Island" is the title of the bicycle trail guide for Bornholm Island. The island has more than 142 miles (230 km) of marked bicycle trails, so with some sunny weather we got the bikes down and set out to explore.

Position: 55°12.71'N, 14°42.44'E

Picturesque small boat harbour along the west coast of Bornholm Island. It must take a real pounding in big westerly winds.

Position: 55°13.56'N, 14°42.92'E

We'd gotten a bit of a late start to the day, so stopped about an hour in for a picnic lunch seaside. What a wonderful spot. The weather was a little cold at 45°F (7.2C) but we were dressed warmly and weren't cold.

Position: 55°13.75'N, 14°43.12'E

Walking the bikes up the 22° rise from sea level to the cliffs above.

Position: 55°13.78'N, 14°43.14'E

The reward for pushing our bikes up the hill was a view all the way to Sweden, We could see all the way to Sweden, 20 miles away, from the clifftop.

Position: 55°15.11'N, 14°44.63'E

This deer kept a very close eye on us as we cycled past.

Position: 55°15.87'N, 14°45.83'E

Following cycle route 10, a 65-mile (105km) bike trail that rings the island. We'd be taking about half of it, from Ronne to Svaneke.

Position: 55°16.24'N, 14°45.63'E

Hammershus is the largest ruined castle in Northern Europe and Bornholm's most visited sight. Its construction began at the beginning of the thirteenth century and it was abandoned as a stronghold in the 17th century. The ruin has been a listed monument since 1822.

Position: 55°16.34'N, 14°45.32'E

The top of Hammeren Lighthouse, viewed from Hammershus. The lighthouse at the northern tip of Bornholm stands 279ft (85m) above sea level. The light first went into operation in 1872 and was deactivated in 1990.

Position: 55°16.25'N, 14°45.31'E

Hammershus Castle needed a suprisingly large jail given the size of the fortress.

Position: 55°16.22'N, 14°45.32'E

Looking east across the stable ruins at Hammershus Castle.

Position: 55°16.30'N, 14°45.35'E

The dramatic new Hammershus Castle visitor center is built into the hills such that you can only see the viewing deck above it as you approach from the road.

Position: 55°16.30'N, 14°45.35'E

Two of these handsome black birds were singing amongst the Hammershus ruins.

Position: 55°16.27'N, 14°46.49'E

Jennifer standing on large rocks Moselokken Quarry. Stone from here has been used all over Denmark, including the famous elephants outside the Carlsberg brewery in Copenhagen.

Position: 55°13.42'N, 14°53.62'E

We've been seeing these large ravens throughout Denmark. They're beautiful birds.

Position: 55°13.52'N, 14°53.69'E

In settled weather, a tour boat runs from the town of Gudhjem to drop off passengers at this exposed dock along the east coast of Bornholm Island. From there, they can climb stairs and walk along the cliff tops and sea caves.

Position: 55°13.49'N, 14°53.79'E

Taking the stairs down at Helligdomsklipperne (Sanctuary Cliffs).

Position: 55°13.50'N, 14°53.79'E

The staircase and a water-side ramp led to this sturdy stainless-steel ladder.

Position: 55°13.50'N, 14°53.79'E

At the bottom of the ladder was an entrance to a large sea cave. Jennifer was inside in an instant.

Position: 55°13.50'N, 14°53.79'E

The cave extended about 50 ft (15m) into the cliff, with chimney opening above. This is looking back out from inside.

Position: 55°12.50'N, 14°58.32'E

Windmill at the town of Gudhjem, about a third of the way down the east coast of Bornholm Island.

Position: 55°8.11'N, 15°8.67'E

The harbour at Svaneke, our final destination for the day.

Position: 55°8.17'N, 15°8.43'E

The Svaneke Bryghuset (brewhouse) was a welcome sight. We'd cycled about 40 miles (65km) and were pretty tired, and the temperature had dropped later in the day, so we were getting cold as well.

Position: 55°8.16'N, 15°8.42'E

Svaneke brews organic craft beer in beautiful copper vats.

Position: 55°8.17'N, 15°8.42'E

James ordered us each a one-liter glass of craft beer. That's a lot of beer! And it wasn't even the largest size.

Position: 55°8.17'N, 15°8.42'E

Jennifer's beer is almost as bigger than she was.

Position: 55°8.17'N, 15°8.42'E

Our table at the Svaneke Bryghuset. We had excellent steak dinner and the beer was wonderful.

Position: 55°8.18'N, 15°8.47'E

On the bus for the 45-minute ride from Svaneke back to Ronne. We'd made reservations for the bicycles before we left this morning, so we could enjoy the brew pub confident that we wouldn't have a 20-mile pedal (32km) in front of us.