Högbonden is an island about two miles from Bonhamn. During the height of the tourist season (when, I assume Bonhamn bristles with people) there is a daily ferry to the island. But we are here before that so Nina called a local fisherman and he agreed to take us out to the island and pick us up when we were ready. At about 10:30 in the morning we found ourselves on a rocky craggy little island with a lighthouse on top, and a restaurant where Nina had special ordered lunch for us a week before. The kids quickly found tadpole pools to entertain themselves with. We found a sauna hut but didn’t fire it up.
We walked around to the treeless rocky side of the island where thousands of gulls and ducks and geese nested. Vivian and Felix counted about a hundred eggs laying on the rock or in very shallow nests. Here’s a photo of a beautiful speckled specimen with a little dried fish waiting beside the egg for the young one.
We climbed back up and hiked towards the top of the island. The kids found an unused cable car system that had been used a long time back to build the lighthouse and to bring in supplies for the families that lived up there. Jo and I joked that this would be the perfect deserted island for our episode of Naked and Afraid (we’ve never seen the show but have heard enough about it to talk like pros). And then we walked around the last corner before the lighthouse and ran into a large group of people (ok - six or eight) sitting around and sipping coffee - apparently there for a yoga retreat.
A bit disappointed, we nevertheless enjoyed a great lunch and coffee and dessert and then the sun came out (we were freezing during lunch - everyone except Evan who opted to stay in his t-shirt) and we found a beautiful deck and lay around for an hour or longer and ate chocolate. Then we called our fisherman friend and hiked back down to the pier and hopped on his boat. The sea was a bit choppier and the wind had picked up, so for the return journey Chris tightly clutched Nora and Evan while Jo hung on to the side of the boat apprehensively for the 10 minute ride back to Bonhamn.
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