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The Blindleia is a natural channel that extends along the eastern coast of Norway from Lillesand southward to just above Kristiansand on the southeast corner of the country. The Blindleia contains about ten miles of inland cruising. Unlike the manmade Intracoastal Waterway in the US, there are some places that the channel is only a few meters wide, where two boats cannot go through at the same time. The water is deep, and the rocks are steep on both sides, creating a beautiful tour of the Norwegian coast.
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We
anchored here our first night in the Blindleia. We climbed rocks on
islands around the anchorage.
Lillesand
is a cute resort town. The summery look of the patrons in tee shirts is
misleading, because the temperature is in the 60s. The Norwegians we met
were so eager to wear summer clothes that they were willing to be cold
if they could only be sleeveless. If it's 11:00 AM and the sun is out,
everyone is walking around eating ice cream.
We
couldn't resist buying reindeer meat in Lillesand. Here's our roasted
reindeer dinner. Before you ask, it tastes like roast beef.
As you can see, some of the passages are quite tight. Passages were
often only about 25 feet wide, but the water could be 20 feet deep or
more. Swept Away's beam (width) is about 14 feet, and those brown areas
on either side of the opening are rocks, by the way.