The Wild Wild West

Island hopping, wild camping, seafood safaris — Sweden’s wild west coast offers adventure by the bucketload. Words: Josephine Price

- Josephine Price

Per points out our route on a curled scrap of a map, so worn it seems likely to disintegrate in his hands. “This may be the last time we use this,” he concedes. It’s no problem, though. Per and his brother Lars know these waters. Within this swathe of the Bohuslän archipelago, they’ve hidden 40 lobster traps and today they’re taking me on one of their famed lobster safaris.

But the storm-tested fishermen look concerned at the elements. Outside, a fierce wind whips around the rickety hut.

There are around 8,000 islands scattered off Sweden’s west coast, and we’re plotting a path through a more protected, tranquil section as the previous night’s storm refuses to cease. Our vessel is a nine-metre, golden wood schooner dating back to 1952. Waves smash into the hull, engulfing us in a salt spray that immediately coats my lips and eyelashes.

“What’s the boat called?” I ask Per. He smiles: “Tuffa.” I ask if it means something in particular in Swedish. “No, it’s just what the boat does,” he replies. He purses then blows out his lips — “Tuff, tuff, tuff!” — mimicking the noise of the engine inhaling water and gushing it out again as we rise and fall with the crested tide, bouncing on each powerful surge.

As a slender eider swoops into view, Lars points out our first stop. Two buoys — a large red one and a smaller black one — mark the spot. He wastes no time hauling a trap from the seabed. It’s a tangle of black rope, scuttling with crabs and topped by starfish — but it’s empty. No lobsters, no ‘black gold’.