Sea Kayaking in the Sankt Anna Archipelago
After a long trip to the Sankt Anna Archipelago on the south-east coast of Sweden, we finally rocked up at the Kajak Paradisetheadquarters and collected our kit. We had booked a large double kayak and camping kit for four nights and five days and were soon sitting on the grass with one of the girls from the centre, going through everything we had been given.
There wasn’t much familiarisation needed as we have both kayaked before, so we jumped in, adjusted our footrests and made sure our PFDs fitted OK. We were then given paddles, spray decks and spare cockpit covers for the nights. The kayak we had been given was actually a three-person ‘family’ kayak, with the middle child seat removed to provide more storage space.
Expedition Kit Check
We then went through the rest of the kit.
There was a tent, which we’d work out how to pitch later in the day. The camping kit included sleeping mats, plus a spare, a sleeping bag for Anna (I had my quilt with me) and a couple of camp chairs, plus the one I’d brought. Along with this basic camping equipment were some nature-friendly soap and a toilet kit consisting of a trowel and toilet paper.
For cooking, we had a Trangia stove with three gas cylinders, pots, pans, a kettle and kitchen utensils. There were plates, bowls, cups and cutlery, plus soap and sponges for cleaning them, a lighter, matches and other cooking equipment. There was even a little bag of salt, pepper and spices.
We’d use very little of this as we had freeze-dried camping meals with us. They are easy, lightweight and only require water, with no washing up afterwards. In reality, we’d only use a tiny amount of gas, the kettle and the lighter, but we took the rest of it with us anyway.
We also had the kit we had brought ourselves: clothes for paddling in, plus spares, camp clothes for all weather eventualities, sleeping clothes, waterproofs, electronics and charging kit, binoculars, wash kit and other essentials such as medications, glasses and phones.
Before long, it was all packaged up into multi-coloured dry bags and stowed away inside the kayak. We left our other luggage with KajakParadiset and were then given various maps of the archipelago, a compass and some suggestions as to where to go.
We had a tentative plan anyway, but it would all be weather dependent, as well as dependent on how fast we paddled and how we felt each day. I think they could tell we knew what we were doing to a certain extent, so they then left us to it.
Day 1 – Towards Missjö
We manhandled the kayak to the water. It was extremely heavy now that it was fully laden. We jumped in and set off across the bay.
Once out of sight, we pulled up to readjust a few things and then set off following our original plan, which was to get to Missjö and then see where we would like to camp. We were about an hour later than we had expected thanks to the late taxi, but we seemed to be making good time in the kayak and were slowly getting our bearings.
We made it towards Missjö and then started paddling into the wind along a little channel. The wind had been increasing all afternoon and was quite strong now. As we left the channel into slightly more open water, it was only getting stronger, the sea conditions were worsening and the chop was increasing.
Rather than take too much of a risk on our first day, we decided to turn back and go around the top of the island, where there would be some shelter.
Camping
As we did, we happened upon a really sheltered little bay with a lovely campsite nestled behind some granite outcrops under some pine trees. It would make the perfect camp spot, protected from the increasing wind.
So, although it was still quite early and we’d only paddled just over five miles, we decided to set up camp. It would give us plenty of time to work out the tent, get to grips with the camping kit and get ourselves sheltered from the wind.
It didn’t take too long to set things up, so we were soon relaxing and exploring the island we were on. It was lovely in the sunshine, out of the wind, and we soon adjusted to having very little to do other than watch the world go by.
We had seen a few other groups of kayakers as we left Mon and made our way here, but now we had the place to ourselves. You can’t tell from the photos as we were in a very sheltered spot, but the wind continued to pick up, so we studied the maps and made some likely-looking plans for our first full day tomorrow.
It hadn’t taken long, but the chores, task lists, things to do and the usual responsibilities and worries of basic ‘adulting’ were already far behind us.
Out here there was just the sea, the islands and the wildlife. There was nothing to trouble us other than where the wind was coming from, which island we would choose to camp on and where we could dig a hole to have a poo!
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