Cruise Highlands Route/East Greenland 2022

We set off in May from Jastarnia marina to Kołobrzeg Harbor and further West through the Baltic Sea and the Danish straits to Stavanger.

From Stavanger, we will sail across the North Sea to the Orkney Islands, then mythical Pentlad Firth Strait and on to the Caledonian Canal entrance.

When sailing along the Caledonian Canal, we will cross the Highlands region, the northern part of Scotland known for the production of the most famous single malt malts, where traditional methods of whiskey production are cultivated to this day. In 1822, King George IV visited Edinburgh. The town mayor, Walter Scott, toasted his health to the best whiskey, Glenliviet, then smuggled out of the Highlands. King George ordered that only Glenliviet to toast his health "loyal toast" from now on! Elizabeth Grant, in Memories of a Highland, describes Glenliviet whiskey as "a long wooden whiskey, as smooth as milk and with a real smuggling flaw!"

After crossing the Caledonian Canal and greeting the Lochness monster, we will visit the island of Islay. The smuggling of whiskey from Islay to the neighboring provinces of Scotland was on such a scale that the Excise Office requested a special vessel to constantly patrol the Islay shores and intercept contraband. Illegal distillation and smuggling continued to flourish long after John McDougall obtained a license in 1815 and opened a legal distillery in Ardbeg. Smuggling, which could not be stopped by any customs action, only declined towards the end of the 19th century.

From Glasgow, we will sail back through the Caledonian Canal to Iverness and then through the Orkney Islands and Faroe Islands to Iceland, where we will stop a little longer to sail around this picturesque island.

In mid-August, we will set off towards Scoresbysund in eastern Greenland and return to Reykjavik after three weeks.

From Iceland, we will sail south to La Coruna in Spain and then across the Strait of Gibraltar to the Mediterranean Sea to end our 2022 cruise in Estapona marina in the beginning of October.