After getting ourselves and Onbekommerd ready for another 'crossing', we set off around 9:30. The weather was as promised: sunny and no wind to speak of. Ideal!
A bit over an hour later we noticed the horizon disappearing. The visibility decreased and soon we could not see more than 50m! The two yachts that had left the harbour just before us disappeared from view too. Fortunately we were not near any shipping routes. We could see up to 2 miles on the radar (including the yachts mentioned) and on the VHF there were several yachts closer to the shipping lanes asking the big ships to look out for them on the radar. This lasted for over an hour and then the visibility improved slowly. First we could spot the yachts and a bit later a big ship in the shipping route quite far away. We had already changed our course so we would pass West of Kiel lighthouse so we did not have to cross the Kiel - Baltic route at all, only the much quieter Kiel - Flensburg one.
Soon we saw Kiel lighthouse, which is quite a landmark. And to the East of it there was a lot of shipping. By this time it was nice and sunny again:
From the lighthouse it is about 6 miles to Laboe, one of the popular stopping points for yachts coming from or going to the Kiel canal. So that's where we are now, back in Germany and the Danish courtesy flag has been replaced by the German one. Laboe is not a 'guest harbour' at all. Like so many (if not all) German harbours it has no guest places but a system where a green shield indicates that the normal occupant is away and the place available for guests. Now it is out of season and mid-week, so there are very few places available as the owner is 'at home'. I think we have the last one (and we arrived at 2pm).
We'll stay here tomorrow and take the ferry into Kiel itself, which we have never seen. On Friday we'll go into the canal, to Rendsburg which is not quite halfway to Brunsbüttel which is where it connects to the river Elbe.
Location:Laboe
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