May 21: Utö – south shore

During a midday break Brian and I walked down to the south shore past the lighthouse and out onto the smooth rock at the edge of the water. We almost got Hitchcocked by the nesting gulls on the top of the rock but avoided attack by giving them a wide berth on the way out to the western side of it.

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From up higher before getting down to the rock, a sailboat in view in what had become a beautiful spring-summery day.

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View of the summit crew from the rock.

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A glimpse east to the shed by the southern road.

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The shipwreck, looking to be only a few yards away (it's actually a couple hundred yards away).

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Seaweed strata.

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The western end of the big rock is beachlike in its flatness.

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It's interesting how the seaweed bed starts where the water's just a few inches deep; I wonder whether that has to do with the tides.

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The rock slopes so gradually into the water that it almost seemed one with the water's surface, as if we could have kept walking out further and further over the water.

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Lurking lighthouse, from a different direction.

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Upon walking back around the rock toward the mainland, a vivid lichen discovery.

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The big rock from the east side.

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Around the same place, stairstep rocks! They looked manmade, but given their middle-of-nowhere location (relative to settlement on the island), I think they're a natural formation.

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Up near the lighthouse, looking out to Västra Udden (the western cape).

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High sun, leafing tree.

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The classic shot, high-contrast afternoon version.