This is "Onbekommerd"!

Friday, June 29, 2012

Dyvig, den smukkeste bugt i Danmark

As you can see above, we are in Dyvig, the most beautiful bay in Denmark.
It's very beautiful indeed, also very quiet and quite remote. So the mobile Internet is slow, no 3G but only 'Edge'. Therefore only one picture today, of the marina where we are, in front of a hotel:






The trip here was also through very nice surroundings, ending in going through a narrow called "Stegløb". As the weather predictions for tomorrow are quite good, we'll probably stay here and explore the surroundings on bike. On Sunday we then plan to cross the Lille Bælt to Faaborg on the island of Fyn (Funen).

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Augustenborg

First of all, I need to make a correction: the place we were yesterday, was called Sønderborg, not Sönderborg! With these unusual vowels, one can get confused. One of these days we'll still get to somewhere starting with Æ!
Talking about Sønderborg, here is quite a nice picture Lyn took during our walk last night (note especially the windmill on the hill which has a historical significance as the battle in which Denmark lost Schleswig-Holstein to Germany was fought there):

The trip to Augustenburg this morning was very nice, no wind to speak of and some interesting clouds:

Augustenburg is a small town that was built around a palace built by someone called Ernest Günther, who named it after his wife, Augusthe. Later, one of the Danish kings established the head of that line as the Duke of Augustenborg. The palace, which is now a hospital, is rather grand:

The houses around it were built by those serving the palace in different capacities. Some have quite ornamental woodcarvings on their doors:

The town seems quite deserted, except that trucks full of rowdy students keep on driving along the road to Sønderborg, which runs quite close to the harbour.
All in all, nice to have seen it. Although the trip here, through the Als Sund and the Augustenberg Fjord is very nice, one visit is probably enough.

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Denmark!

At 12:09 this afternoon, Onbekommerd entered Danish waters. We took a picture of the chart plotter window on the laptop to show this:





The border runs through the middle of the channel in the Flensburg fjord: the green marks are in Denmark and the red ones in Germany.
The trip across was nice, all in all about 4 hours in 12 to 15 knots of breeze. Early on a few drops of rain and later a few waves over the bow, but the going was steady enough to allow coffee to be made just after 11!

After we had tied up in the Sönderborg marina, the courtesy flag needed to be changed:






We walked the 20 minutes into town to get a Danish SIM card for the iPad. On the way we noticed again how clear the water in the Baltic is:





This is taken from the boulevard, the rocks are on the bottom, under water!

Sönderborg is not all that special, but it has a nice waterfront:





You can tie up there as well, but the road along the quayside is busy / noisy and there are awkward mooring posts sticking out. The marina is less quaint, but more comfortable. We managed to get the card for the iPad so we are in comms reach again (although there is good free wifi in the marina as well).
The weather outlook for the next few days is quite favourable. We plan to go to Augustenburg, on the island of ALS, just like Sönderborg, tomorrow. It's important to arrive early at each stop: school holidays have started in Denmark (they start at midsummer) and with more boats on the water, the harbours tend to start to fill up from midday.

Location:Lystbådehavnen Ringgade,Sonderborg,Denmark

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

A day in Kappeln

As mentioned in the previous post, the weather 'out there' is not all that attractive, but much more promising for a few days from tomorrow. But Maasholm, although not unpleasant, has not a great deal to offer, so we moved back up the Schlei just for a couple of miles, back to Kappeln where we also stopped a few days ago.
Kappeln is nice, the local harbour consists of 32 berths where you moor in boxes, bow to the quayside and tie onto two poles at the back. This is it, seen from the water:





And from the shore:





Looks simple, but it isn't! The water is the Schlei, a 40KM long fjord. When the winds are westerly, the water blows out of the fjord, into the Baltic. When it's an easterly, obviously the other way around. The difference in level can easily be 30cm up or down, as can be seen from the barnacles on the mooring post behind Onbekommerd:





The problem is, that all of this brings with it a pretty significant current of sometimes a knot or more (for landlubbers: a knot is a nautical mile per hour, a nautical mile is 1852m). The effect when you try to enter a box is that you are pushed sideways by say 0.5 m/sec. So you aim for the middle of the box and there is no way of avoiding being pushed onto the pole! And the slower you move forward, the worse the sideways component of your combined movement becomes..... All of this produces the "Kappeln harbour entertainment". The tourists along the boulevard stand and watch how yachts have several tries to get into the box and the boat tied up. And the successful yachtsmen run around to help others. One is only at ease when both boxes next door are occupied and there is no more risk that an unsuspecting prospective neighbour will charge into you. Fortunately, the boxes are separated by ropes to reduce the chance of damage. When we first arrived here a few days ago, we helped to provide the entertainment quite well, yesterday was a bit better, but there is no way avoiding touching the poles. Everyone does and laughs about it. Fortunately, you see little or no damage and also Onbekommerd is unscathed.

Once tied up, you can walk the old stairs into the town itself:





There is good shopping, and you also see this:





A large fish smoking outfit. We treated ourselves for lunch:





A beautiful, fat, smoked eel. Once it had been cleaned, it tasted wonderful on fresh rolls:





Now Lyn is playing the piano in the 'studio':





And I am about to clean the bilge.....

Finally, these days with on-board Internet via the iPad, communications are so easy! Apart from blog posts and emails, yesterday we communicated with Sean in London via Skype IM and with Greg in Cape Town via iMessage. It all goes over the mobile phone network, many yacht harbours advertise that they have wifi, but so far we have found that few of those work well enough to use them on board. So the iPad with the German 3G card is a blessing, it works everywhere. We get 3Gigabyte for a month for €25, I have only used 1GB so far with heavy iPad usage. The only drawback is that it won't allow VOIP (that's voice over Internet), so normal Skype does not work, only the message facility. And then there is the Kindle to read books. Yesterday, before we left Maasholm (where the wifi was good), We quickly downloaded a few books as Lyn had run out of reading material. Many books (all of Dickens' works for instance) are even free!
Modern communication devices make our way of living a lot easier.

We'll have to get a Danish card for the iPad when we get to Sönderborg tomorrow. That will be the fifth one.....

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Still Maasholm

We are still in Maasholm. The plan was to go to Sönderborg today, but at 7 this morning it was already raining and the visibility was poor. In better known waters we would have made the trip, but the Baltic is a 'real sea' and we don't know it enough at this stage to take any risks. So we stayed put. It rained all day and it was cold as well. Comfortable inside, so no worries. And the bakery was open on Sunday, so we had fresh rolls for lunch. The only slightly bad moment was when the owner of our guest berth came back and demanded his spot. He had forgotten to put up a sign indicating he would return today, as is customary. So we had to start the engine and move the boat to another vacant berth. In the rain, of course.

The weather for tomorrow does not look all that inviting either. Maybe a little less rain, but possibly more wind than we like. We'll see tomorrow morning. If we can't go 'out to sea', we might go back up the Schlei to Kappeln as Maasholm is very small and has extremely limited shopping whilst we need some provisions.

In the meantime, here are a few pictures we took on our walk last night. Note the nice sunshine!



















Friday, June 22, 2012

Maasholm.

We are back at the mouth of the Schlei. Well, almost: at the actual mouth, there is a harbour called Schleimünde, which is small and in a bird sanctuary but also very unprotected from strong winds. As we were expecting some bad weather and also needed to to some shopping, we stopped in Maasholm, which is just a mile or two short of the mouth but is well protected and has (as we have discovered) one small 'supermarket'.

At the start of the 20 odd mile trip, we still saw some signs of Vikings:






There is an abundance of jellyfish here in the harbour. The neighbours think they are a pest, but Lyn got this nice shot:





We may leave tomorrow morning, but quite possibly we'll stay another day. The next port is likely to be Sønderborg, our first Danish port. That will require a Danish SIM card for the iPad as well as Danish Kroner (they don't use Euros). Arriving on a Saturday afternoon may not be the best option in respect of that and also the weather on Sunday morning may be a bit better. We'll decide tomorrow morning, but if there is no blogpost for a few days, it may well be because we are without an Internet connection. I must say that the German T Mobile card has served us exceptionally well, we have had excellent connections since Greetsiel on 31 May. The only problem has been that it blocks VOIP, so no Skype. We hope to get a good solution in Denmark as well.

Thursday, June 21, 2012

The Vikings at Hedeby

Between 1200 and 1000 years ago, there was a town called Hedeby, at the end of the Schlei, just across from the present day Schleswig. It was a Viking town, built to facilitate the trade between the Baltic and the North Sea. This is because from this place it is only 18 KM to the Treene river which, via the Eider river runs into the North Sea. It is therefore the easiest trade route, bypassing the long and dangerous sea route around Jutland. An ideal place to build a trading post. Between 870 and 1050, Hedeby grew to be the biggest city in North Europe. In 1050, and again in 1066, the town was sacked and eventually totally destroyed. The town of Schleswig was built a few KM North of its site. Rising waters destroyed what remained and the existence was completely forgotten until the 20th century, when archeological excavations unearthed very significant amounts of Viking artefacts, building materials, graves and even a complete Viking ship. There now is a very interesting museum nearby and on the actual site of Hedeby, a number of Viking houses have been reconstructed.







We cycled to Hedeby from our berth at Schleswig, a 6KM ride. It is midsummer's day today, 21 June, and it was sunny and relatively warm (maybe 20C). When we got back, the wind started to get stronger, up to over 20 Knots (6 Bft). We had already planned to stay here. Tomorrow we'll go down the Schlei again, probably to Maasholm and from there see when the weather is suitable to go to our first Danish port.

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Schleswig

It took three and a half hours to calmly motor up the Schlei to the 'end', at Scheswig. There has been a settlement here since 840 BC. The best landmark now is the 'Dom', the cathedral. Even the pilot tells you to head for the Dom, once you get to a certain mark (80 / Haddeby 1, to be exact).

From that mark, it looks like this:





And this is the inside of the Dom:





As many of the towns here, Schleswig has a 'pedestrian area', which means a street full of shops. This is useful when you need supplies, but otherwise not very attractive.
On the other hand, there are also streets like this:






We have not seen any Vikings yet (see yesterday's post), but there is a Viking Museum a short cycle ride away, which we'll visit tomorrow.

Location:Am Hafen,Schleswig,Germany

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Kappeln

After spending a day in Laboe, we did our first 'Baltic crossing' today. It was a nice quiet day, very little wind and a sea that was for the most part pretty flat. We set course to Schleimünde, the mouth of the Schlei, which is a fjord-like river or a river-like fjord, depending on which pilot you read.
First you pass Kiel lighthouse:





And some 20 miles later, in a NW direction, you get to the Schlei lighthouse:






We motored on to the town of Kappeln, an old fishing town turned quite touristy. You tie up right on the towns quayside:






As you can see, we are quite far North, we were a bit more East yesterday: Laboe is at 10 degrees 14 minutes East.


One of the attractions of Kappeln for the boating fraternity is a shop called Prätorius. If you prove you are on a boat (with your official Certificate of Ownership), you can enter an area where you can buy low cost beer etc. With prices of alcohol sky high in Scandinavia, many boats stock up here. So we joined the trend:






Tomorrow, we plan to move up to the 'head' of the Schlei, the town of Schleswig, which has a Viking history.

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Baltic!

This morning, we started (after buying 150 l of diesel) with the second part of the Kiel Canal. The shipping was a bit busier than yesterday, at one time we met a convoy of 4 big ships:





A bit after midday, we got to the lock at Kiel Holtenau. There was a one hour wait and then we finally moved into the Kieler Förde, the entrance (for us) to the Baltic. Immediately, the atmosphere changes, even the colour of the light is a bit different, it seems. This is the first impression:





As it happens, it is Kiel Week, the biggest regatta week in Europe. Not only are there lots of races, for classes from Optimists to 60 foot yachts, it is also a big sailing spectacle with participation of numerous square riggers as a highlight. We had to manoeuvre our way through all sorts of craft (including ocean going vessels on their way to Kiel or the locks).






Although it is very busy in all ports around here, we managed to find a place in our 'first choice' marina in Laboe, a fishing town at the mouth of the Kieler Förde. We went for a walk and found a fruit stall on the market where we bought an entire basket full of fruit for €10 (including the basket itself!). We'll be having lots of 'smoothies' the next few days. We tend to buy fresh food at least every 2 days and live quite healthily as a result.





We will stay here tomorrow and plan to go North thereafter.

Location:Fördewanderweg,Laboe,Germany

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Rendsburg

When we left Otterndorf at 9:30 this morning, the plan was to go through the lock at Brunsbüttel at the beginning of the Kiel Canal and spend the night there. But we are in Rendsburg. That is 60 KM further, and a day ahead of our non-existent schedule. So what happened?
We left Otterndorf and got onto the Elbe, taking advantage of the ongoing tide. The traffic of big container vessels was a lot less than expected, we met a very big one, which caused a 2m surge wave and a few smaller ones. Just before 11 we got to the waiting area for the lock, and half an hour later the indication came (an interrupted white light) that we were allowed to enter the lock. This is a serious canal, run by serious Germans, using serious rules! The lock is huge, and it has small floating jetties to tie on to, making the whole process quite uncomplicated:
Fortunately, there is a separate lock for pleasure craft, you don't have to share it with some of the seriously big ships that use the canal.
By 12, we were on the canal and headed for the small yacht harbour. This was quite busy, did not look attractive and was right next to the entrance of the 'new locks', where big ships go in and out 24 hours a day. Now that may be interesting / exciting for a few hours, but not through the night. So we decided to continue the 66KM to Rendsburg, the first reasonable opportunity to tie on for the night. The canal is quite interesting: now and then a big ship, which does not cause a lot of hassle quite a few ferries crossing the canal and quite a few yachts going in either direction. Sometimes, these all come together:
And then there are the bridges: the canal has several bridges, some from the time it was dug (1885 to 1895) and some much newer. Most are 42 m high! This is a particularly nice railway bridge:
But the most spectacular one is the railway bridge at Rendsburg, which also carries a 'suspended ferry'.
The 'cage' that hangs below the bridge and slides to the other side in a few minutes even carries a few cars!
I wonder if there is anything like this elsewhere in the world?
Soon after this bridge we turned off the canal and a few miles later tied up at the Rendsburg Yacht Club. We have some washing to do tomorrow morning, thereafter we plan to do the last 40KM of the canal to the Baltic and spend the night at one of the marinas at the Kieler Förde.

Friday, June 15, 2012

Otterndorf

We are in Otterndorf, on the river Elbe. After one night without tides, this is tidal again, with a drop of about 3m.

From Berdekesa it was a 4 hour trip to the Otterndorf lock, which - like the other 2 locks on the Elbe - Weser waterway - has guillotine doors: they open upwards and not sideways. In this picture you can see the lock door behind Lyn. After the lock door there is an arched bridge to make it more interesting!





As you can see, the mast is down here: the bridges on the canal were as low as 2.7 m and with our mast we are 5 m. With the mast down we are 3m and if we drop the radar antenna and the searchlight too, we get down to 2.5 m.

Otterndorf is not all that interesting. It's a 45 min walk to the supermarket. But its a useful point to wait for the right tide either up- or down the Elbe. Tomorrow we leave around 10 am to catch the ongoing tide to Brunsbuttel and the entry to the Kiel Canal.

Location:Medemsand,Otterndorf,Germany

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Bad Bederkesa

As reported yesterday, we are on our way from the Weser (Bremerhaven) to the Elbe (Otterndorf) and from there the Kiel canal. We left Bremerhaven at 7.30 as the first lock has a height restriction at low tide: we had to be there about 2 hours before high tide or wait until 2 hours after. The lock leads on to the river Geeste, which carries on into a set of canals and on to Otterndorf. The Geeste is a sometimes very small and quite picturesque river:





By lunchtime we got to Bad Bederkesa. It would have been possible to carry on to Otterndorf, but this seemed quite a nice place and we have plenty of time. We tied up, did some shopping, had lunch and cycled to the eel smoking place, which is reputed to be the best in Germany. It's quite small too, but they have wonderful smoked eels:





We bought one, plus a smoked herring and had them as (substantial) snacks with our pre-dinner drinks ('borrel' in Dutch). That was great! After dinner we cycled around the lake in which the eels are caught.

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Fedderwardersiel and Bremerhaven

The trip from Wangerooge to Fedderwardersiel was interesting. We started out over the shallows on the 'wad' south of Wangerooge. Then past Minsener Oog into the river Jade. It was a nice run into the river with both wind and tide behind us. We left the Waterbufvel with Hans and Jet behind us, they were going to Wilhelmshaven and then back home the inland route.
Soon we caught up with the Johanna Maria, a 'platbodem' with a Dutch couple from Franeker. They are on their way to the North Frisian islands, and are also calling at Fedderwardersiel and Bremerhaven. We took pictures of each other, you don't often get nice pictures of your own boat under way, so this is a popular thing to do when you know each other:


We then turned into the Kaiserbalje, another shallow that needs to be passed around high tide. By now the wind had picked up and we got some seawater over the bow.
After almost 4 hours we tied up in Fedderwardersiel, a small and very tidal harbour. Here you can see the difference between high and low tide:


.
The first image shows the harbour entrance shortly rafter we arrived, the second one at low tide. The scale on the right hand side shows the depth, 250cm at high and zero at low. The entire harbour falls dry and the boat sinks about 40 cm into the soft mud!

We stayed for a day, walked around, did some planning and admin. We had lessons in shrimp- peeling from Ike and Marinus on the Johanna Maria:




and made a pasta with extremely fresh shrimps (caught at low tide the same day).
This morning the tide was high enough to leave the harbour at 6.30, so we set course to Bremerhaven. First over the wad again, then up the Weser past the container berths and into the river Geeste where we are tied up now. We did some shopping, I had a haircut and we'll move on tomorrow, taking the inland route towards the Elbe and ultimately the Kiel canal towards the Baltic. We should be on the Elbe in two days.

Location:Haydnstraße,Bremerhaven,Germany

Monday, June 11, 2012

Wangerooge

We are now on our final East Friesian island, Wangerooge. The short trip yesterday was made special when we passed a 'pod' (is that the correct collective noun?) of seals. They were swimming some 10 metres or so off our port bow and were very curious. Unfortunately, their little heads sticking out of the waves are difficult to photograph.

After our dinner (the last one with Hans and Jet), we walked through the dunes to the North sea beach, from where you can see the busy shipping lanes to Bremen and Hamburg:






Of course we did not want to miss the sunset, although it was a bit overcast:







This morning we cycled to the town, which is about 5Km from the harbour. We did some shopping (we try to get fresh rolls and fresh vegetables every day). And treated ourselves to typical German 'Kaffee und Kuchen', sitting in an also extremely German 'Strandkorb':






It's low tide now, but when the water returns in a few hours we'll leave and set course to Fedderwardersiel (try to get your tongue around that one!), a small fishing village on the mainland, between the Jade and Weser rivers.
It's interesting that on these islands, and especially out of season like now, you keep on meeting the same people. We all talk with each other, compare plans on when to leave and where to go. Last night we even met someone we first saw last year and it was almost like meeting an old friend. This is a very nice way of life!