This is "Onbekommerd"!

Saturday, May 30, 2015

Rendsburg, almost on the Baltic

We have been 'off line' for a while again. The stretch between Bremerhaven (from where I posted last time) and Rendsburg (where we are now), has very poor 3G coverage from O2, our ISP in Germany and in the places we stop there is no WiFi either....

Anyway, after the 'epic voyage' described in the last post, we first had two easy days along the Geeste, a river connecting the Weser and the Elbe. Actually it is called the 'Elbe - Weser Schiffarhtsweg' in German and consists of the Geeste and two canals, but that's semantics: everyone calls this 'the Geeste'. The total distance is about 60KM, but its a very narrow waterway and there is a 8KM/h speed limit. You can't go much faster anyway as it is relatively shallow. Having said  that, they have done a lot of maintenance since last year and it is definitely a bit deeper (1.5m instead of 1.1 m in places...). So it takes two (easy) days to cover the distance, one could go on to Brunsbüttel if the tide on the Elbe is right, but it was not this time. The first night we spent at the quiet lock at Lintig, about halfway and the second night in the Otterndorf tidal harbour where you get stuck in the mud a bit at low tide.

This morning, we took the incoming tide to Brunsbüttel. The weather continues to be incredibly unstable, lots of rain showers most days and also today. In the showers it was quite windy, but nothing drastic. After about an hor and a half we got to the lock in the Kiel canal. The issue here is that there is no place to tie up when you have to wait for the lock, you just float around in a 'waiting area' on the river, which is in the tidal current and in the wind. After about half an hour we got the sign to go into the lock (an interrupted white light on the lock island) and we locked without any problems (together with a coaster and a few yachts). Then it was 60 KM canal motoring to Rendsburg, which is about 2/3 along the way to Kiel where the canal ends in the Baltic. We take 10 KM shifts steering Onbekommerd, which makes it easier. On the way there is lots to see, mainly big ships coming your way or passing you.

Here are some pictures of the last few days:

Lock in the Ems - Jade canal


 Ems - Jade canal: quite scenic!



The Wilhelmshaven lock: Just us and that even smaller boat in the corner! 



'Prikken' route over the shallows 


The Container pier in Bremerhaven is claimed to be the longest in Europe. 



Not quite sunset, but a pretty picture just before reaching Bremerhaven 





In the lock at Brunsbüttel




Always something interesting to see in the canal! 





The AIS not only shows you the positions of other ships, it also gives their speed and course so you can calculate when they will catch up with you. And if they are predicted to come close, there is a red  indication. The AIS is one of our most useful navigational investments!


Tomorrow, we will continue to Laboe, which is on the Kieler Förde. We are then on the Baltic! The wether currently looks good for a continuation to Bagenkop in Denmark on Monday. By the time we'll have a bit of a rest!

Wednesday, May 27, 2015

Not Wilhelmshaven but Bremerhaven!

We set off from Aurich at 8:20 this morning, with the plan to be in Wilhelmshaven late afternoon. It's not that far (about 23 nmiles), but there is a 4 knot speed limit, 3 locks, numerous bridges and a lunch break from 12:30 to 13:30 during which nothing is operated. So it's usually a full day. But today everything clicked, the 'system' was efficient and there was no lunch break! So by 3pm we passed the last bridge into the Wilhelmshaven port. Now the plan was to spend the night there and then have a very very early start because of the tide. Think 5am! But as we were so early and the wind was very light, we looked at our options and found that if we could get a locking through the big sea lock in the next hour, we could do the crossing over the shallows to Bremerhaven today! Called the lock on the VHF and surprise!, they could lock us in half an hour. So we went to the lock, which was waiting for us and two even smaller motor boats (I'll post a picture later). By 16:20 we were out on the Jade. That was even a bit early, we got stuck for about half an hour on the first shallow, the 'Kaiserbalje'. But with upcoming tide that was no problem. After the shallows of the 'Hohe Weg', we got onto the Weser and the still incoming tide helped us to Bremerhaven. We called the lock when we were 10 minutes away and this too was waiting for us.
Twelve hours and 35 minutes after we left Aurich, we tied up in Bremerhaven, tired but pleased that we are here.

Some sleep now, tomorrow afternoon we'll do a short stretch up the river Geeste to a place called Lintig where it's unlikely that there will be any internet connection.

Location:Am Leuchtturm,Bremerhaven,Germany

Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Into Germany

From Groningen, it was an uneventful few hours to Delfzijl. We were extremely lucky with the lock there, as it was open and waiting for us and a few more boats when we arrived. As is was 'Pinksteren', a public holiday weekend in the Netherlands, there was a 'Pinksterfestival" in Delfzijl and the harbour was packed. We found a place alongside another boat and listened to the (good) band which was almost next to the boat. Quite loud! But that did not last long and we had a good night's sleep after having visited the 'kermis' (fun fair).
The following morning we left at low tide and motored up the Eems to the lock at Oldersum, bypassing the big lock at Emden where we have had long waits in the past and also the railway bridge which only opens a few times every day. The Oldersum lock was waiting for us (we had announced our arrival on the VHF) and from there it was only another hour and a bit (including a difficult lock) to the mooring at the Kesselschleuse where we have been before. Now we were in Germany.
This morning we set off on a short trip to Aurich along the Ems - Jade canal. That is very relaxing as it is extremely well organised: once you are 'in the system ', every bridge and lock keeper knows that you are coming and the bridge or lock is ready for you!
So now we are in Aurich, tomorrow on to Wilhelmshaven and then over the shallows to Bremerhaven.
Internet is slow, so pictures will have to wait until another day.



Location:Tannenbergstraße,Aurich,Germany

Sunday, May 24, 2015

From Schiermonnikoog to Groningen

Again, I have not done a lot of posting recently.
Our route took us from Schiermonnikoog via Zoutkamp to Groningen.
Later today we'll move on to Delfzijl and from there into Germany, we'll take our regular route towards the Baltic.

Here are some recent pictures:

The flotilla in Ameland


On our way between Ameland and Schiermonnikoog.....

We were a bit early at the shallows and got stuck!


The entrance to the harbour at Schiermonnikoog falls dry at low tide!

Afloat at high tide

And on the ground at low. Cooking at an angle is a bit of a challenge, but its part of being on the 'Wad"

At Zoutkamp it was the opening of the (shrimp) fishing season. All fishing boats 'dressed' and also beautifully painted.

Thursday, May 21, 2015

Schiermonnikoog

We had a great trip from Ameland to Schiermonnikoog today. We were a bit early for the first shallow spot (some say 'the water was late'), so most of us ran aground but only for a few minutes. After that it was an easy, sunny trip and we were in "Schier" exactly at high tide. The harbourmaster was waiting for us and gave us nice places in a very quiet harbour.
The harbour has silted up quite a bit and we are currently 'stuck-in-the-mud' at a bit of an awkward angle. Such are the joys of 'Wadvaren'! When the water comes back tonight, we'll come upright again and try to reposition the boat so that it settles a bit more upright at the next low tide tomorrow morning.
We'll leave here around midday, back to the mainland: lock at Lauwersoog and then on to Zoutkamp.



Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Ameland

Today, conditions were good to carry on, so we set off to Ameland. There were a total of 6 Valkvlets in our flotilla, more than we initially expected but it's nice to do these short, informal club tour extensions together!

We set off relatively early, at 8am, to catch the tide. A moderate wind helped the tide and soon we passed over the first of three shallows. At the third shallow, you pass right next to a sandbank on which there always are lots of seals resting and they did not disappoint us this time! Unfortunately the internet, both Wifi and 3G are really slow here, so you will have to wait for the pictures until things improve.

By the time we got to Ameland, around midday, the wind had picked up quite a bit to just over 20 knots (6 Beaufort). Out on the water that was no problem at all, and we also managed to tie up all 6 boats against the wind in a neat row. Again, picture to follow.

Tomorrow the wind is expected to drop again and we'll continue to the next island, Schiermonnikoog.

It would be nice if the temperature improved a bit, it's still very cold especially when the sun disappears and the wind blows! But inside the boat it is cosy and warm!

Saturday, May 16, 2015

Terschelling (with pictures this time!)

My apologies for the silence from this side. We have been quite busy with the Valk Yachts Club, socialising, taking trips to the other side of the island and the 'farewell dinner' last night. And the iPad app still does not allow me to post pictures (bad job, "Blogpress"!) so I had to wait until I had an opportunity to get out the laptop and do a 'proper job'.
Enough of the excuses, here we go:

As mentioned, we had a get together of the Valk Yachts Club here on Terschelling. The 'official' club spring tour this year goes South, all the way to Maastricht, but there was also a Northern 'pre-tour' to Terschelling. That was good for us, as the South part does not really fit into our plans, but it would be a pity to miss out altogether. We get on well with every member of the club we have met. In the end, there were 13 boats here, most of them visible on this picture:



As you can't see Onbekommerd an that picture, I took an extra one:

There you can see our dinghy as well! We had a small leak in the bottom, getting wet feet, but that is fixed now.


Jur and I used the dinghy (here with the electric outboard motor) to put a cork into Anna's boat's anchor chain bin's drain.

Yesterday we took a 'huifkartocht' to the Boschplaat. A 'huifkar' is a horse drawn cart, which could be covered with a 'huif'. But as it was not raining, it was open for the occasion. It was very cold in the wind.... The Bochplaat is the Easternmost part of the island, it is a nature reserve and one needs a special permit to go there during the bird nesting and breeding season.

Here are some pictures:


That's a huifkar (without the huif).





You really are close to the next island (Ameland) when you are on the Boschplaat.


Seagull eggs

There were thousands of seagulls and other birds too. Unfortunately the huifkar shakes quite a bit and it's difficult to take nice pictures. 



At one stage, you stop for coffee (the water is being boiled in a kettle in the fire) and eat your sandwiches. It is a full day's trip.


Last night we had a farewell dinner with the whole group in a restaurant here in West Terschelling. 

Early this morning (6am), four boats left (one had already left late yesterday afternoon when we came back from the huifkartocht).

Now there are 6 of us left here. Our own plan is to leave here on Tuesday morning for the trip to Ameland, Gwilym and Janine will join us here on Monday. Some of the other 5 may well join us, it's a non-organised extension of the Valk tour.

In the meantime spring has still not really sprung. Today is overcast and a bit rainy. And the temperatures are not predicted to go beyond 13C in the next few days.....


Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Terschelling

After 4 nice days on Vlieland, we moved one island East to Terschelling this morning.
The weather is still quite unsettled: one day it's cool, the next day windy, then a bit overcast and so on. Our plan originally was to move across this afternoon or tomorrow afternoon and use the high tide to take the short cut over the shallows. But the forecast was predicting increasing winds so soon after getting up (and before breakfast) Lyn noted that as the wind was gentle now we might as well take the longer 'deep water' route. So on the last bit of the outgoing tide we left Vlieland and picked up the incoming tide to Terschelling where we tied up just before coffee time.

Quite a few of our Valk Yacht Club friends had arrived yesterday, so we had a good quick get together with them during the morning.


We'll be here for the best part of a week, I'll report (hopefully with a few pictures) on proceedings.



Location:Dellewal,West-Terschelling,The Netherlands

Friday, May 8, 2015

Back on salt water! Vlieland

We are very happy today, being back on salt water. The canals, lakes and rivers in Friesland and in Holland are all very pretty, but for us the real stuff is going onto he bigger water and especially salt water. It feels and sounds completely different, sort of a 'foamy' feel and (especially) sound.

We left Franeker around 12:30, from there Harlingen is less than an hour away and with high tide there at 1:30, we did not want to be out of the lock before then: it would just have meant pushing against the tide for some time. It all worked to plan and at 1:45 we were on the Waddenzee. It was quite busy, with boats coming back from Vlieland and Terschelling (the school holidays end this weekend), but also some other yachts taking advantage of the nice weather to go 'out'. Add to that a few ferries and commercial traffic and it ended up being quite busy!

 The ferry 'Friesland', on its way to Terschelling, passes us.

With tide tidal current behind us, we did up to 10 Knots at times (a knot is 1.85 Km/hr), even at a low engine speed of 1400 rpm when we usually do 6 knots). One only really notices the current when looking at the buoys one passes:




We'll be on Vlieland until Monday at least. Walk and cycle a bit. If the weather is kind, we'll mare the short (about an hour) trip to Terschelling early next week.


Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Marrekrite, Grou and a few pictures

We spent two nights at a 'Marrekrite' place in the Princenhof. "Marrekrite" is an organisation that maintains litterally thousands of mooring places 'in the wild' in Friesland where one can tie up, free of charge, for up to three nights in a row. Of course there are no 'facilities' apart from (usually) a rubbish bin. But a wonderful way to spend a few quiet nights and we gladly buy their little banner every year to show our support!

The evening of the first day, the wind dropped completely and we even sat outside on the front deck to drink our coffee! The second night was quite a different kettle of fish: it was blowing a near-gale and raining.

This morning we left and came to Grou, just an hour away.

Here are some pictures:

First night: sailing in the Princenhof 


The dinghy, now with an electric outboard motor. It was leaking a bit of water through a loose weld in the bottom. We fixed it today, hopefully it holds!


Mr and Mrs Duck came looking for a bit to eat after we arrived in Grou.


Tomorrow we will go to Franeker, then on Friday (very little wind predicted) catch the outgoing tide to Vlieland.

Monday, May 4, 2015

A motor for the dinghy!

Faithful blog followers may remember that in August last year we finally 'commissioned' the little inflatable Zodiac dinghy which had been hiding under our berths for many years (see the 'Bagenkop' entry in last year's blog). We had decided that the dingy would be quite useful when lying at anchor or elsewhere 'in the wild', just to go ashore and do shopping for instance. We more and more enjoy staying away from formal marinas and 'roughing it'. But the dinghy is not easy to row. So we decided to get a little outboard motor for it. Now outboard motors generally need petrol and once filled with petrol (the small ones have an integrated tank), need to be stored upright. All in all a bit of a hassle, apart from the safety issues carrying petrol on board (which is much more flammable than diesel).

So we decided to get an electric outboard, which finally happened yesterday. First we had to charge the battery, which took about 9 hours, but today dinghy and motor were married. We'll get some pictures in the next few days and report back on the experience.

We are currently on an 'in the wild' place in the 'Princenhof', near Eernewoude. The weather was very windy all day, but the wind suddenly dropped and it turned out a beautiful evening. We had coffee sitting on the foredeck, listening to the cuckoo and other birds.
The forecast for tomorrow talks about lots of rain. We have some work to do and will stay here for two or even three nights.

More later.


Location:Boarnsterhim,The Netherlands

Saturday, May 2, 2015

Back in Friesland

On our 'tourist day' in Amsterdam, we first visited the Rijksmuseum. We had been there last year already, but it's so magnificent that we gladly went back to see some of our favourite Vermeer paintings and some other things we particularly wanted to see. Unfortunately, the special 'late Rembrandt ' exhibition is completely booked out and we had to miss it (although there are quite a few Rembrandts to see there outside the special exhibition!
Next we went to what used to be called the 'Amsterdams Historisch Museum', but now just 'Amsterdam Museum'. We were there about 10 years ago and really liked it, enough so to decide we wanted to see it again. This was a big disappointment. With the name change, the museum (dedicated to Amsterdam 's history, has been completely 'dumbed down'. Just push buttons everywhere, that start all kinds of multimedia shows, which stop you thinking for yourself and spoon feed you a certain reading and explanation of historical events. All of which is in illogical and hard to follow sequences. Sorry, this museum revamp went the wrong way!

Today was a perfect day to cross the IJsselmeer back to Friesland. Including three locks, it took us exactly seven hours in windless conditions. The IJsselmeer was like a mirror (with quite a few other boats on it).

In Stavoren we topped up with 220 l of diesel and did some shopping. The weather is expected to warm up a bit after tomorrow, but with that comes rain and wind. We'll spend some time inland in Friesland before going to the Wadden Islands.


Location:Schans,Stavoren,The Netherlands