Netherlands Trip - Ijmuiden      16th June:

    On my way to the showers, I called in on the harbour master, a jovial chap who was proud of the town, and loaded me up with umpteen brochures on the museum, Lightship 12 North Hinder, Fire Museum, Droogdok Jan Blanken, coastal batteries etc, plus reprints of paintings made by a local artist.
    He seemed to think the lock would be open by 7pm, hmmm … yet another opening time to ponder over. We agreed on us staying an extra night if necessary.

Coots with Young and a Swan on her Nest by a Bank in the Marina

Cormorant at the Bird Sanctuary

    I thanked the man and headed back to the boat, meeting Pieter on the way. Together, we admired the coots in the shallows with their young, plus the swan on her nest on the bank. He mentioned that he also saw a beaver along the bank. "Is this fresh water, salt water or brackish?" I asked. "It is sweet water," he replied. "The fisherman at the end of the jetty measures the salinity every day. There are thoughts about allowing some sea water into the Haringvliet to allow different fish to take up residence, but nothing has been decided yet." As we walked past his boat, Miriam asked for details of my blog, which I duly provided to them. They may let me know the next time they sail to the East Anglian coast again.
    After 10am, I made a final check with the lock keeper. He was still adamant it would be 1pm, and advised we arrive at the waiting pontoon around 12:45. Not long after the call we were waving farewell to Pieter and Miriam who were off for a sail.

Heron at the Bird Sanctuary

Pieter and Miriam off for a Sail

    We pushed on and arrived at the waiting pontoon at 12:40. A couple of yachts were already waiting on the pontoon. A large trawler from Brixham sneaked out from Stellendam fishing harbour and crept up alongside us, closely followed by a Dutch trawler. A fourth yacht joined us as the small bridge over the lock opened followed by the lock gates. The two trawlers slowly glided in on the port side of the lock; the four yachts had enough room to squeeze up on the starboard side. After what seemed like an eternity, the seaward lock gates opened, closely followed by the 14m high road bridge.
    We rapidly disgorged ourselves out of the lock, the two trawlers peeling off to wharves on their port sides to unload fish we assumed.
    A long traverse along a curved channel took us out into the North Sea, thus avoiding treacherous shallows. Then a course of 17 degrees was set, and soon we were passing a vast anchorage on our port side, and Europoort surrounded by windfarm sentinels on our starboard. The sun beat down on us mercilessly, the sea was kind to us, the tide was with us, but the wind, as always, was on the nose.

    We passed Scheveningen and Den Haag and barged through the middle of an anchorage with eight moored ships on either side of us. An enormous forest of wind turbines stretched far into the distance west of the anchorage. Katwijk, Noordwijk and Zandvoort drifted by on the coastline. A trawler headed for our stern with foam spewing out on either side of its bow. Is he going to ram us I thought. No, he altered his course at the last minute to shoot past us.
    The industrial complex of Ijmuiden was visible many miles away, high plumes of billowing steam betraying its location long before the superstructures of the vast steelworks became visible. As night fell, it became a myriad of lights. We took note of the traffic entering and leaving the port; a large cruise ship heading in, preceded by a slow-moving bulk carrier that required 16.7m of water below her waterline.
    But our entry into the port was fairly trouble free, mind you it was 01:30. By 01:45 we had located a berth for the night, and by 2am we were in our bunks.