Netherlands Trip - Willemstad      14th June:

    We arose bright and early to another glorious day. Over a cup of coffee, we sat in the cockpit with all the charts and almanac, and tried to formulate a plan for the next few days. A hard and fast objective was to sail to Scheveningen. One option would be to sail directly from the lock 50 miles up the coast to Scheveningen. However, tide times would mean reaching the port very late in the evening. An alternative would be to visit Willemstad, then head up the Haringvliet to Hellevoetsluis, then from the lock at Stellendam, Scheveningen would only be 30 miles away. After due consideration of tides, we opted for the latter.

Zierikzee Sint-Lievens Monster Tower from the Oosterschelde

    We set about washing salt off Duonita's windows, topping up the water tank, checking the oil, buying in provisions and all the usual tasks. With all chores completed, we headed back out into the Oosterschelde and steered a course around the north channel of the Roompot, eventually joining several other yachts just off the channel to Zierikzee. We were all gilling around waiting for the Zeelandbrug to open: 5 mins to and 25 mins past the hour. Zeelandbrug is the longest bridge in the Netherlands. It connects the islands of Schouwen-Duiveland and Noord-Beveland in the province of Zeeland. It was built between 1963 and 1965, and at the time of its completion, it was the longest bridge in Europe. It has a total length of 5,022 metres, and consists of 48 spans of 95 metres, 2 spans of 72.5 metres and a movable bridge with a width of 40 metres.

View of Zeelandbrug

    Eventually we all piled through and went off on our separate ways. We headed north of Tholen up the Keeten Masgat to the Krammersluizen, which separated the salt water system of the Oosterschelde from the fresh water system of the Volkerak. The channel was very busy with barges of all manner of sizes surging through the water. One notable barge was an enormous double-decker tractor transporter. The gentle, sloping banks bristled with wind turbines; Don Quixote would be on cloud nine here.

Just Part of a Giant Mussel Farm

Approaching the Krammersluizen

    Whilst waiting in the Krammersluizen lock, I chatted with a Dutch chap in the yacht ahead of us, and learned that our plan to sail into the Haringvliet was a non-starter. He claimed it was closed, but he did not know the details. I thanked the chap for the information, and informed Rex. I shall not write down his response, suffice to say he was disappointed and had a face like a bag of spanners. (We later discovered the details: the Haringvlietbrug over the entrance into the Haringvliet was broken, and therefore there would no access via that route into the Haringvliet).
    The Krammersluizen separates the salt water of the Oosterschelde from the fresh water of the Volkerak. The locks were part of the Deltaworks project and officially opened in 1987. The locks for inland shipping are 280 meters long and 24 meters wide, so they are suitable for large pushers. A second lock for pleasure craft was opened in 1994. Because of the need to prevent an exchange taking place between fresh water and salt water, the locks are technically complicated. The locks are therefore designed so that no salt water flows into the Volkerak and just a small amount of fresh water enters the Oosterschelde. The operation simply applies a fundamental law of physics, denser salt water sinks to the bottom of a lock while the less dense fresh water floats on top. By deploying a complex system of pipes and pumps, salt water from below is pumped out, or from above fresh water is pumped out, depending on the destination of the ship.
    Once through the lock we made our way up the Volkerak, opting to follow the very narrow north channel around Noordplaat island. Again, there were numerous barges streaming along the Volkerak. As during previous times when we sailed up this stretch of water, thousands of swans paddled in the shallows. As we approached the Volkeraksluizen, two barges entered the same yacht lock. As we gently nudged in, I spotted an electronic sign stating that the Haringvlietbrug would be closed for repairs until the 1st November. Drat, that really had dashed our plans.
    The Volkeraksluizen allowed us access to the Nieuw Hollands Diep. The first two inland locks were put into operation in 1967. It soon proved to be of insufficient capacity, with long waiting times as a result. In 1977 the complex was expanded with an additional lock for inland and a separate recreation lock for yachts. In addition, even an inlet sluice constructed. The waterway is an important link in the Scheldt-Rhine Canal, providing the only shipping route between Rotterdam, Antwerp and Germany. The locks are the largest inland locks in Europe and on the basis of passing tonnage (over about 240 million tonnes), the largest inland locks in the world.

Inside the Krammersluizen

Giant Tractor Carrier

    When the outgoing lock gates finally opened, one of the large barges departed. The boat behind it was a large motorboat with a motley crew of landlubbers. The man at the controls decided he'd beat all other craft out of the lock and proceeded to try and follow the barge out. However, he did not have any appreciable forward speed, so his rudder was in effect useless, and the craft just wanted to plough into the side of the lock. After several abortive attempts he managed to limp out of the lock. The chap in front of us was trying to unhook his rear line from a lock side bollard, but completely screwed up the operation, and he realised he would have to feed 30m of rope through by hand. Oh joy!
    At last, we were out into the Hollands Diep, and we worked our way around to the Batterij Marina at Willemstad.

Aerial View of Willemstad

    Willemstad was a small historical town in North Brabant, a province in the southern part of the Netherlands. It was well placed, lying on the Hollands Diep, close to the Haringvliet and Volkerak, it could control passage through these three stretches of water, hence the reason for its fortifications. The town was described as an unaffected example of 16th century fortification architecture, and as such had been placed under the care of the Dutch building preservation service.
    In the midst of the sixteenth century, it was decided to create one of the last big polders in the north-east of the North Brabant province. At the end of 1564, the polder was complete and a town was founded in the extreme north-west corner of the polder. The surveyor, who fixed the ground plan, had consulted earlier ground plans which showed how towns in the provinces should be built at that time. However, for whatever reason, many towns were not built according to the original plan. Willemstad was an exception to the rule and was built to the plan as originally designed. This new town was at first named Ruigenhil (Rough Hill). The street map for Willemstad had remained the same. Since the town was strategically situated at the border of the provinces of Holland, Zeeland and North Brabant and at the confluence of three waterways, in 1583 it was decided to build walls around Ruigenhil. Fortification engineer, Abraham Andriesz, received orders to plan for the walls. The works were constructed line symmetrical around the old street plan. The existing access road was flanked by two bastions, and in the wall the land gate was built. Because of modern weapons, old medieval stone walls were no longer an effective protection for a town. The stone walls with towers were gradually replaced with lower earth walls, on which artillery could be placed. In the walls, at regular distances from each other, defensive works, the bastions, were built that were shoved to the outside so that the entire wall could be covered by canons and muskets. This arrangement of the bastions with five points and bended flanks was the most easy to defend. The new fortifications were completed by Adriaan Anthonisz. In the second stage, these fortifications were even expanded with two bastions outside the dykes, which were for protection of the harbour. The seven bastions were named after the seven provinces of the Dutch Republic: Groningen, Overijssel, Friesland, Utrecht, Zeeland, Holland and Gelderland. The net result was a town completely surrounded by a city wall in the shape of a 7-pointed star completely surrounded by two concentric "canals", one of the most attractive examples of the old Dutch system. In 1584, the town of Ruigenhil was granted to William of Orange and from then on was called Willemstad (William's Town). The town received city rights in 1585, but to me it was still a very small town.

Oude Raadhuis

    In the berth next to us lay a Belgian boat with a fancy ensign indicating that it hailed from the Royal Brussels Yacht Club. The crew were a silver haired, bearded, stocky gent, and a tall, very well suntanned man. They informed us that it is possible to sail all the way from Antwerp to Ghent, then enter another canal that led all the way to the Royal Brussels Yacht Club. Like us, they too had been caught unawares by the temporary closure of the Haringvlietbrug.

We Preferred the Bellevue Restaurant by the Town Harbour

While the Belgian Chaps, Shown Above, Wanted to Savour the Delights of Voorstraat

    The pair worked for the University of Brussels, and were taking two weeks out to sail around Holland. "We get about in this old boat," the silver haired chap told me. "I am still learning to sail. I used to do a lot of windsurfing, then I stopped surfing and only recently bought this boat," he added.











    The duo headed off to town for the evening, and shortly afterwards we did likewise. Soon we were standing by the Oude Stadhuis (Old Town Hall), a majestic building, dominating the Binnenhaven area. During the Renaissance, relations within society changed. It was no longer the church being built in the town centre, but the town hall, which was symbolic for the shift from clerical to secular power. By coincidence we ran into the two Belgian sailors by the Oude Raadhuis. We intended to have a drink and dine in the Restaurant Bellevue overlooking the town harbour, but they thought they'd try the delights of Voorstraat, the main drag through the town. We wished each other luck for the evening.







    The tall Dutch girl who took our drinks order in the Bellevue was keen to push us to order food straight away, but we bided our time. The waitress who served us was not Dutch, but spoke excellent English. The young fellow who eventually served our food spoke excellent English too, and charmed us with his broad grin. "I come from Slovakia," he told us. "I studied in an international school, which is where I learned most of my English." Since school he had taken on a multitude of jobs all over Europe, and was now working in Holland for no particular reason.
    During the course of our meal, an incident must have taken place on the Hollands Diep just east of Willemstad. Four rescue helicopters, or perhaps the same one four times, attended the incident. We never did find the cause of that.

Town Harbour

Rex Posing with D' Orangemolen in the Background

    We strolled back via a path along the Hollands Diep. A long river cruiser had pulled in for the night. I waved and called, "Hello," to a couple sipping drinks on their balcony, but they chose not to reply. Hmm…, something I said?
    It had been a long day, so a whiskey nightcap, and glorious sleep.