July 11th – Sorvaeroy, Helligvaer

James fishing while we were creeping out of Bliksvaer - sadly no success!

It rained a little in the night and we woke to a rather grey and colder day. In the morning we went on a long walk to the other side of the island and ended up at a sandy beach having passed a number of very well-kept houses and a little church. We were told that one couple live on the island all year round and as he is 78 the summer residents are a bit concerned about what will happen when he leaves. Currently the ferry calls every day to deliver the paper if nothing else!

We had lunch back on Larry and then set forth for Sorvaeroy, Helligvaer (67⁰24.5N 13⁰54.5E), the largest and most populated of the Helligvaer islands – a group of skerries just to the west of Landegode.

The exit was rather longer and narrower than the way in but had the merit of being deeper, which, since it was once again near low tide, was an advantage! As soon as we got into the more open sea it was quite bumpy but fortunately Charlo had managed to lull the children into an after lunch nap and we were able to motor quite fast.

Sorvaeroy is almost a town in comparison with Bliksvaer and we were able to go alongside a very convenient little pontoon with a hookup and water (NOK 75 for a night with hook-up). The Coop was very close to the end of the pier. C & J took the children off to explore the village while C and I sorted out the dinghies. We had opted to tow Little Larry and the Tinker Tramp but by the time we got there Little Larry was very low in the water. I bailed for quite a long time. C assured me I was making headway but towards the end I could see water bubbling in almost as fast as I bailed out – it turned out the new bung had disappeared from the drain-hole – luckily we are carrying a spare so C was able to replace it and we decided not to tow the dinghies again if going any distance.

A chilly evening so we had the fire on and were very snug. 2 other boats came in to the otherside of the pontoon and a little local ferry came and went from our side .