Netherlands Trip - Shotley      12th July:

Just Before Sunrise

Sunrise

    When I began the 4am - 8am watch, the sky astern was already awash with hues of red, orange, yellow and pink fading into pale blue. Ahead of us, the grey sky blended seamlessly into the grey sea, only a distant row of red lights of a wind farm betraying the presence of a horizon.
    Shortly after 6am Dutch time the sun revealed itself behind a bank of clouds, always a magnificent sight; the start of another day.
    The only ships in the vicinity were at anchor in one of the vast anchorages. I listened to the constant flow of messages on VHF Channel 16. One such message was from Dover Coastguard warning of a boat adrift on the Margate Sands. Often the calls are spoken so quickly and with foreign accents that they are impossible to understand. One interaction that fascinated me was between two ships. The rules state that the initial call should be made on channel 16, and then both parties agree to switch to an alternate channel to conduct the rest of the conversation. However, some users just hog channel 16, which is not very courteous to other uses who wish to call up on channel 16. This was one such abuse of channel 16. Both voices seemed to be Indian, one of which I could follow, the other I found incomprehensible. The conversation progressed between the two, then one cried out, "What are you doing?" There was a mumbled response. Then the intelligible voice cried out again, "But I have my chains!" I presumed the two ships were in an anchorage, and one rogue ship was either entering or leaving and creating mayhem in the process.
    Then I spotted rising above the horizon the large white dome of Sizewell nuclear power station and I guessed we were about twenty miles off the Suffolk coast. In the channel near the coast there was more shipping traffic; nothing untoward though. Soon we were berthed in Shotley Marina, 26.5 hours after slipping our lines at Ijmuiden.

Felixstowe Dock

Fives Darts Board

    Evening was spent at the Bristol Arms where numerous other sailors were enjoying food and drink. Our young waitress, who was learning her trade, came from Ukraine. The bar area began to become boisterous with a ladies darts match taking place. They were playing on a Fives board, the only scores available being 5, 10, 15, 20, doubles, trebles, outer and inner bull, with all thrown scores being divided by five. "Why?" you ask. "No idea," is my reply, but these boards are used a lot in Suffolk. Indeed my wife and I used to play in a Fives League before we were married. We actually won team trophies one year.