Fjords at Dawn

The Stockholm Fjords do not look as I expected. To me the word fjord conjures images from Norway where mountains plunge directly into the sea. These are more gentle. They are rocky islands covered in trees, with an occasional structure or light house.

It was profoundly peaceful watching them slide by while a chill wind lifted my hair. I tried to capture the experience of seeing an island and watching it pass with this photo set.

Wind in the hair was lovely until one lock kept landing in my field of view, so I contained it with a headband. I also added some layers of clothing against the chill. Then I sat on my balcony and watched the fjords in solitude. I think a few of my neighbors were also awake, but none of us disturbed the other.

After a long, quiet time, the sun rose to cast rosy light on things I passed.

I really wanted to have one of these houses on islands with a boat dock in the back garden.

But I am reliably informed that these little towns are regularly buried in ice during the winter, which would be much less pleasant. Perhaps there are rentals.

These fjords are a distinctly different navigational experience than the deltas which form and shift around the US. Using deltas is a constant fight to keep channels clear from accumulating silt. These passages are rock, not dirt and sand. The path way through them is narrow for a ship as large as ours. The way was marked with green cones that reminded me of traffic cones, which is exactly what they were.

We entered the fjords at 3:30 am and navigated slowly until we reached port at 8:30am. Five hours making our way between islands.

Once the sun was fully above the horizon, there began to be an accompanying flock of seagulls. They hovered near the balconies hoping that people would toss them food and also to coast on the wind of the ship’s passage.

This meant I had lots of opportunity to photograph seagulls in flight. From both above,

and below

Then we pulled into port and the visit to Stockholm began.

4 thoughts on “Fjords at Dawn”

  1. If you want some of that feel closer to home (once you have recovered from this trip), its just a couple hours drive north of Toronto in the Muskoka’s and beyond.
    Lots of rental cottages directly by the lake (because there are so many) with similar glacially carved features as the fjords. Some lakes are very busy and even have a steam ship or two doing tours around the lakes. Other lakes are more peaceful with few power boats, and there are even some where all power boats are banned, making them very peaceful if more of a RodneyB style camping expedition.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_Municipality_of_Muskoka
    https://www.ontarioparks.com/park/silentlake

  2. I feel I must clear up something here: who on earth told you Stockholm has fjords? Fjords are a Norwegian thing, as you so correctly remarked (and Scottish, and Greenlandish, but …)

    Stockholm prides itself on its archipelago, and rightly so since it is one of the larger in the world (if you count the number of islands).
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_archipelago

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