Baltic Trip - Brunsb�ttel      5th - 6th May:

5th May

A Sailing Boat off the Frisian Islands

Another Sailing Boat

    Once out of the Ijsselmeer, we motored across the Waddenzee following tortuous channels through an area which was normally criss-crossed with mud flats. We picked our way through a gap between Vlieland and Terschelling, and skirted the Frisian Islands. At first we were under sail at a speed of 0.6 knots in the direction of Scotland, and then under motor power on course, but into the face of the wind. The tide was with us which helped to make good speed, but with wind over tide, the seas were undeniably lumpy.


6th May
    Mid morning saw us motoring past the German element of the Frisian Islands. In the distance lay Norderney Island, where the German invasion of East Anglia had been planned many decades ago.

Ship Entering a Lock at Brunsb�ttel

    The skies were cloudless, and a hint of sea mist on the horizon hid any ships that may have been travelling along the nearby shipping lanes. By late morning, large vessels were starting to appear out of the mist like ghostly apparitions.
    Near the start of the Elbe estuary, we came across a small ship stationary in the water. A group of people were huddled together in the bow, all dressed in black. Flowers and wreaths were being dropped into the now calm sea. A short while later, the ship gave three short blasts of its horn. We had just witnessed either a burial at sea or a commemorative event.

Brunsb�ttel Marina

    The journey up the estuary was a long one, past an endless sandbar on our port side populated with waders busying themselves scooping up their evening snacks. Sadly my knowledge of ornithology is rather limited and to me they were mostly just "birds". It seemed an endless journey, probably because we were going against the tide.
    We reached Brunsb�ttel in darkness. Brunsb�ttel is the Elbe estuary end of the Kiel Canal, and for some inexplicable reason we were granted a whole 305m x 46m lock to ourselves. The rise in water level while we were in the lock was hardly noticeable. Since we were not allowed to progress along the canal during the hours of darkness, we tied up to a pontoon just past the lock gates and settled down for the night around midnight.