On a summer’s day, the 30,000 islands that bask between the island-city of Stockholm and the Baltic Sea are alive with sun-seekers and merrymakers. The islands and islets are dotted with red-painted cottages and waterside saunas. Every shore has a dock and a boat or two. The optimistic blue-and-gold flags of Sweden flutter from poles, and kids splash along the rocky shorelines. White-sailed yachts of every description criss-cross the waterways, with friendly, relaxed and suntanned faces beaming as they wave a welcome to your ship. Summer is one long, sunlit celebration in Sweden, and nowhere is that spirit more delightfully displayed than among the islands of the Stockholm Archipelago.