A taste of Sweden's first marine park

From The Guardian (UK):

Chris Madigan discovers abundant sea life, colourful cold-water reefs and wild, car-free countryside as one of the first visitors to Sweden's first marine national park in the Koster Islands.

It was rush hour at Västra Bryggan, a tiny harbour of ramshackle brown boathouses in the sound separating the two main Koster Islands, off the west coast of Sweden. You could tell it was rush hour because there were people waiting at both quaysides for the little covered chain ferry, akin to a floating bus shelter. A group of retired ladies was doing Tai Chi on the shore and two cormorants had been disturbed by a fishing boat returning to its mooring.

The previous morning the scene had been different. A ferry had brought hundreds of people over from the mainland to a ceremony marking the inauguration of Sweden's first marine national park, Kosterhavet ("Koster sea"), centred on this archipelago north of Gothenburg and close to the border with Norway. With cars banned on the islands (only little tricycle mopeds called "flakmoppe" help with goods deliveries), the crowds had continued on foot to see King Carl-Gustav ring the bell marking the official opening. It was all very feudal.

Read the rest of this article at The Guardian