16th September 2017
Well what a contrast with yesterday! We woke up to a calm and still morning. This was not what we wanted as we had a long way to go to cross the Little Belt and reach a safe berth for the night! We wanted a decent south westerly breeze. Instead we had a light Force 2 southerly and it was going to be a slow crossing but that is sailing for you!
A new day in Lyo harbour
We left Lyo Bugt on a bearing of between 270 and 285 following the light fluky winds to get as much speed as possible. After about 10 nm miles we reached the north cardinal buoy marking the shipping lane off Als where it passes between the Sondue Stenvon reef and the south cardinal off the Hesteskoen reef. We passed a large blue freighter as we crossed the shipping lane. The wind was now SSW and we sailed on 285 for 5 nm towards the Nordborg lighthouse, then for a further 6 nm on 235 to the mouth of the Als Fjord. It was Saturday and with evening approaching we soon found ourselves in company with other yachts and quite a few dolphins!
The Fyn to Als ferry
Sailing across the Little Belt
Just crossing the Little Belt and making landfall on Als
Sailing towards the Nordborg Light
We held our course for as long as possible to get deep into the Als Fjord, tacking on the 5 metre contour line onto a bearing of 160 for 2 nm before making the turn into the Stegsvig. The Fjord is quite wide but very shallow and it is important to steer towards the White House at what seems to be the end of the Fjord. However this marks the entrance to a well buoyed channel but very narrow channel into Dyvig Fjord. In places the channel is less than 10 metres wide and no more than 2.5 metres deep but opens up into a wide and very pretty and tranquil lake. At the far end is a smart hotel and mooring pontoons. In season, it is normally packed with boats rafted up 4 deep but we found a berth almost at the hotel’s front door!
In the Stegsvig, sailing towards Dyvig
Negotiating the narrow channel to Dyvig
In to Dyvig
The hotel was timber clad and had the feel of an alpine chalet. On the door, a sign proudly proclaimed that it was what looked liked ‘Denmark’s smuggest hotel’. However on translation it turned out to be ‘Denmark’s chicest hotel’. I still prefer my translation! This was our last stop over of our 2017 cruise and we treated ourselves to supper in the ‘smuggest’ restaurant surrounded by stuffed animals made up from various species, it was as if Dr Frankenstein had been practicing his technique in a zoo! All a bit grisly really!
Denmark’s ‘smuggest’ hotel!
The last supper, surrounded by bits of stuffed animals!
but for the Grace 