Much excitement, but no Schiermonnikoog

It was all pretty well planned, and in the beginning it worked: we left Dokkum early. The two bridges before we got to the first lock (at Dokkumer Nieuwe Zijlen) operated immediately. Just before the second one, we saw this vessel at the canal side:






If you look carefully, its name is "Jac. P. Thijsse". That's my great grandfather, who had the word "onbekommerd" as his motto and that's where the name of our boat comes from! Even more surprising was that a man emerged from this rather dilapidated vessel and shouted that he liked the name of ours! Unfortunately, the (remotely controlled) bridge had just started to open just for us and we could not really stop for a chat.

There were two locks on the programme (our first two this season) and again, there was no wait for either one. Perfect! So by 1pm we were back on salt water, what we like most. Only another hour to 'Schier'! The fishing boats were also going out:





Now Schiermonnikoog is approached over a flat that falls dry at low tide. 2:15 was high tide, all planned. But you still need to go through a channel, marked with 'prikken', little dead trees stuck in the ground next to the channel, to mark it. We have done this many times before, so we look for the first 'prik'. Nothing..... Lets get the binoculars to see if there are prikken a bit further. Nothing.... By now we have drifted onto the shallows, run aground. Drop the anchor so we can't move further. We are not worried as its an incoming tide and it will rise another 45cm and float us off. We have a bite to eat and I call the marine traffic information on the VHF. Where is the demarcation? 'No sir, the demarcation has not been put back after the winter, we have no information when it will be replaced'. So, in spite of the almanac claiming the harbour is open from 1 April, there is no demarcation. Half an hour later we are afloat again, winch up the anchor and decide to go back to the lock. It's too far to go to the next island, Ameland, in this tide. And the wind forecast for tomorrow is not that nice. Back in the lock we talk to the skipper of a yacht that went to Schiermonnikoog, using the track in his plotter that was still there from last year. He tells us that there were no facilities available (power, water or ablutions) and that he was still expected to pay harbour fees!

As we needed provisions, we made for the nearest town, which is Zoutkamp. A small place with a friendly yacht harbour, still in 'winter mode'. This was the view from the galley window just before sunset:





The plan is now to travel back through Friesland to Harlingen and approach the islands from the other side, or even just limit ourselves to Vlieland and Terschelling. I tried to phone the harbour master at Schiermonnikoog, but the phone just rings. The island still exists, we were half a mile from the harbour. So near and yet so far.....

(As there is virtually no 3G signal here, this post may well be late....)

Location:Zoutkamp