Day 57, July 15. A surprise bonfire

From: Burevikshällorna
To: Ole-Vipersagrundet
Distance: 56 km
Total distance: 2225 km
Wind: N-NE 3-8 m/s
Weather: Cloudy and foggy, 17 C
Fog today again! Not as bad as the one I had yesterday, could see about a kilometre today, but still... I want to see what this part of the coast look like, it's so far north that I don't think I will bring the kayak up here again (any time soon anyway) and large parts of today I saw nothing but a grey wall surrounding me 😢.
Well, first things first, started by taking a detour into Skelleftehamn for some final grocery shopping. Needed more fruit and bread desperately. Paddled through this little passage when I left:

Met two kayakers just north of Skelleftehamn, there are not many other kayakers out there so I started talking to them and they were finishing a trip the started last summer from Haparanda to what should have been Skelleftehamn but ended in Piteå due to bad weather. Just as I left them to paddle their last few kilometers the fog rolled in so now it was time to let the compass and my watch get to work. Measure distance to next head, recalculate distance to minutes, take out the course and vanish into the grey. My idea is that I keep my direction for as long as I calculated that the crossing will take and if I don't see land at that point I will take out my phone to check my position or head west (that should make me get to land pretty quickly). Today my navigation was spot on so did not have to use any of the safe cards. But still, boring paddling...
In the middle of one of the crossings when the fog temporarily lifted a yacht stopped me and asked me if I was the Blue ribbon-paddler, it was the sister of one of the kayakers I talked to earlier today and they heard I was going to be out here so just stopped by to say hi! Who said people from Norrland are silent and unsociable??? I found it to be pretty much the opposite so far! Everybody up here has been super nice and ready to chat.
Stopped at a beach in Romelsösundet to make dinner and then continued on for a few more hours. Ended up on an island without mosquitos! And also got to inherit a burning bonfire from a family that had taken their boat out to this place to have dinner! Thank you! Stayed up pretty late by the fire since it will be raining up until noon tomorrow.

Today's route: