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Houseboat life is never uneventful

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Houseboat life is never uneventful, indeed never. In the summer, you'll see all sorts of craft moving through the water: sauna rafts, submarines and people standing on boards and paddling. In winter, it's the icebreakers, skaters and divers that make you look up from your breakfast table. And then there are all the animals of course... and all the unexpected drama.

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Natural phenomena and wildlife

It is not easy to photograph, the sea smoke, but it is there. It's like a thick white fog that lies just above the surface of the water. According to SMHI the weather phenomenon of sea smoke occurs when water surfaces come into contact with much colder air.

The smoke often occurs when it is colder than 20 degrees below zero and when the water surface does not freeze for some reason, which it does not in our marina because there are propellers moving around the water.

Sjöröken är svår att fånga på bild, men den ser fascinerande ut!
The sea lion is difficult to capture on film, but it looks fascinating!

The ice-free water here in Pampas marina also attracts ducks. We usually have ducks here, but when the ice settles on Lake Ulvsunda it becomes even more crowded with ducks in the marina - everyone wants to be here! I have seen the heron a few mornings too. He always lands in the same place, on the jetty just outside our kitchen window.

Änderna gillar de isfria vattnet i vår marina
The ducks like the ice-free waters of our marina. Sometimes they get some bread from us.

People on the ice

When Lake Ulvsunda froze over, they started coming - all the skaters! Some whiz by on long-distance skates and others sweep the ice clean so they can engage in some kind of sport. I always think it looks nasty when the skaters get too close to the houseboats (where there is open water) or when they skate even though it is above freezing. But I hope they know what they are doing... We were even more surprised one evening when a cyclist rushed past on the ice!

Vissa skridskoåkare åker nära husbåtarna, men dessa håller sig närmare Hornsbergs strand på Kungsholmen (andra sidan vattnet)
Some skaters skate close to the houseboats, but these stay closer to Hornsberg beach.
Ser ni honom? Cyklisten på isen på helgnatten...
Do you see him - the cyclist taking the shortcut across the ice on the weekend night?

Drama in the water

Late one weekend night, sitting up in front of the TV, we heard the loud sound of boat engines. In the middle of the night? When there was ice on the lake? We opened the patio door and went out onto the deck and right in front of us it came in: the icebreaker with a large towed sailboat behind it. We don't know what happened to the icy sailboat, but at least it needed help into the harbour! 

Another day, when Peter was at home, he suddenly saw a diver outside the kitchen window. What was he doing there? Well, there was a water leak in a pipe that runs along the bottom, so the diver was there to fix...

Kolla! En dykare utanför köksfönstret!
Look! A diver outside the kitchen window!

But it's even worse when a water leak occurs indoors! One morning, one of the small houseboats was upside down in the water. A water pipe had sprung a leak and no one was home. Luckily, there are neighbours looking out for each other and staff at the marina. The water was quickly pumped out, but unfortunately there is always water damage that needs to be repaired...

Det är inte bra när huset ligger på sniskan i vattnet...
It's not good when the house is upside down in the water... but it was all fixed quickly!

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