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.

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

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!

Verwaaid

I don't know a really good English word for 'verwaaid'. It means that it is blowing too hard to leave port. We have seen on the weather forecast for about a week already that it would be blowing today, so we planned to be on Spiekeroog, which is a nice place to be 'verwaaid'.
Last night we still had our dinner outside, in the cockpit of Hans and Jet's boat, the Waterbufvel.





After dinner Lyn and I went for a walk, like we try to do every night. You see all sorts of nice things in the dunes, like this pheasant lady with her chicks:






And then during the night it started blowing, steadily increasing to 30 knots now, around 35 or more in the gusts. For the Dutch readers, that's 7 to 8 Beaufort. At high tide, that's now, the harbour is quite exposed to the Southerly wind. There are white caps on the waves in the harbour, the yachts with masts are under a considerable angle and we are 'rocking and rolling' quite a bit. But it's comfortable on board, Lyn plays the piano and I plan the trip for the next few days and read a bit. We'll go to Wangerooge tomorrow afternoon (the wind is supposed to drop after midday) and to Bremerhaven on Monday, all weather dependent of course. As they say: the skipper with patience always has fair winds!
This picture, taken from Onbekommerd's front deck, does not do justice to the weather conditions, but here it is anyway:

Location:Spiekeroog

Langeoog and Spiekeroog

We spent 2 days on Langeoog. When we arrived, the weather was still OK, we cycled around a bit (excellent island for cycling) and in the evening Lyn set out to take a few sunset pictures:





The second day, the weather was cold and grey with rain on and off. Lyn had some work to do and spent the day behind the laptop. I did a few small chores, cycled to the town to buy bread rolls and read.
This morning started cloudy again, but it was a lot less cold. We left after 12, about 2 hours before high tide and took the longer route to the next island, Spiekeroog. During the 2 hour trip, the sun came out and with virtually no wind, it was textbook motorboat weather.

Lyn steered us into Spiekeroog channel:





Hans and Jet followed us in:





And we met a fishing trawler on his way out:





We're off to see the village now. We really enjoyed Spiekeroog last year and look forward to it. We plan to stay 2 or (probably) 3 nights. Will report back in a day or 2.

Location:Spiekeroog harbour.

On Baltrum

Baltrum is a very small island. In fact, we walked around it in 2 1/2 hours today. Lyn remarked that it was the first time we walked around an entire island!
When you arrive, you have to report to the harbour master. That's normal. Except that the harbour master is also the air traffic controller of the island's airfield. So you report to...... the control tower:

Walking on the beach, there are of course lots of birds:

And from the Eastern side you can see the next island, Langeoog, very clearly. We'll go there tomorrow.

Finally,there are stunning sunsets (today at 21:54 !):

On Juist

We had a nice three days on Juist. Around the harbour on this car-free island, life is completely governed by the tides: from about 3 hours before to 3 hours after high tide, the harbour is accessible, otherwise it's 'dry'.

So the ferry only comes and goes at high tide, and the the taxi-stand is 'maned':

In between tides, the little dredger tries to keep the yacht harbour somewhat accessible:

It's a great place to walk and that's what we did:

And on the beach, you find interesting shells. These are called 'razorblades':

This morning, we set off to Baltrum, skipping Norderney in the process as it has cars and we 'don't do cars' this week.
The passage between Juist and Norderney was a bit hairy with some heavy seas. The boat handles it fine, and so does the crew, but the contents can sometimes get a bit thrown around when you are inside a 'washing machine'.
In the crossing between Norderney and Baltrum, we passed a famous resting place for seals:

We'll spend the next two days on Baltrum, an island so small you can walk around it in less than 3 hours. More to follow.