Netherlands Trip - Roompot      6th June:

    We both slept well, took advantage of the showers, and put the world to rights under a watery sun. I managed to pay the harbour master, who informed me that the Stationsbrug was still broken. He advised that our plan to travel via the North Sea to the Roompot was far quicker than picking up the Kanaal door Zuid-Beveland, which would take the best part of a day. We opted for the sail around to the Roompot, though we would have to wait until early afternoon to catch the ebb tide.
    Meanwhile, a large motor cruiser approached the Keersluisbrug, obviously unaware that the bridge was not going to open in a hurry. We shouted across to the owner informing him of the current situation.
    "But I've just this minute booked a berth for the night at Middelburg," he lamented. I guess the folk at Middelburg must have thought he was approaching the town from the Veere end of the canal.
    We learned that he and his wife had just come across from West Mersea, not far from Duonita's port of Tollesbury. Rex engaged in harmless banter by suggesting to the motor boat skipper that he had heard that West Mersea men never went anywhere. This was part of the very old Tollesbury/Mersea rivalry. The chap was not amused at all.
    "I can't afford to hang about for bridge repairs," he whinged.
    "Then your only options are to go back out into the North Sea and head up to the Roompot, or travel up the Westerschelde and pick up the Kanaal door Zuid-Beveland to take you into the Oosterschelde. The latter option will take you the best part of a day. We are heading up to the Roompot on the ebb tide."
    The chap vacillated, then decided to follow us to the Zeekeersluis. His boat, powered by two large, fuel-guzzling engines, created a hell of a din in the lock. Once out of the lock he certainly wasn't going to hang about, and rapidly shot off into the distance.

Leaving Vlissingen

Oranjemolen

De Gevangentoren

    We were still fighting the remnants of the flood tide as we passed by the entrance to the pilot basin. The water was being channelled at a very fast rate over submerged rocks here, creating choppy water and vicious changing currents.
    The shoreline around Walcheren drops very steeply, and even large ships were to be seen passing close to the shore. The route north along the coast had three channels carved into it by the ageless tides. We chose to follow the middle one which was shallower and may deter larger vessels. Rex was uncomfortable with the inner channel; the red buoys were perilously close to the shore. We did spy a dredger and bulk carrier head down this inner channel. Behind us we could see an endless convoy of huge containerships, predominantly coming down the Westerschelde from Antwerp.
    We swept around the Westkapelle, the westernmost point of Zeeland. The actual village of Westkapelle - is situated behind a huge 5-kilometre-long sea wall, the Westkapelle Zeedijk.

Tall lighthouse of Westkapelle

    Westkapelle has had a turbulent past. The first sea defences were constructed in the 15th century. Down the centuries, these were raised and strengthened. On 3rd October 1944, the dyke to the south of town was destroyed by British bombers - an event still known in Westkapelle simply as "'t Bombardement" ("the Bombardment") - to flood the German occupation troops in Walcheren and so make liberation easier. 180 inhabitants were killed in the bombing and the village was all but wiped off the face of the earth by the bombs and the incoming sea. On 1st November 1944, during the Battle of the Scheldt British and Norwegian commandos performed an amphibious landing on the northern and southern edges of the gap made in the dyke. During these landings, only six people remained in the village; the rest of the survivors had been evacuated to other villages nearby. It took until 12th October 1945, more than a year later, to finally close the gap in the dyke.
    A visible reminder of the Second World War is the brackish lake formed by the inrushing flood when the dike was bombed. An M4 Sherman tank was placed on the dyke as a memorial to the war and to the village's liberation. Behind the lighthouse, placed in a semicircle, are the graves of the war dead.

Short lighthouse of Westkapelle

    No matter which way you approach Westkapelle, you'll always see the village's most abiding landmarks, its two active lighthouses: the best of their kind in Zeeland.
    The oldest lighthouse, built 1458-1470, 52 m (171 ft) tall, visible from 28 nautical miles (52 km; 32 mi) and standing prominently at the entrance to the village, is the remainder of a church that burned down in the 18th century. In 1818 the light was added to the top.
    The other one, standing on the outer slope of the dyke, was built in 1875 of cast iron, is only 16 m (52 ft) tall and has a visibility range of 13 nautical miles (24 km; 15 mi).
    Together they form leading lights, that lead vessels coming from the northern part of the North Sea into the narrow and busy shipping lane directly under the south west coast of Walcheren, that brings them into the Scheldt estuary.
    Then it was just a long slog to the large sluice gates at the Roompot. Very quickly we were in the Oosterschelde, and Rex handled the tricky navigation through the shallows, littered with yellow buoys to ensure craft ventured nowhere near the sluices, and eased us into the marina.

Rex Skilfully Navigating through the Shallows

    We tied up to what appeared to be an obvious visitor's pontoon shortly after 5pm, and I marched off to find the harbour master before he clocked off for the day, passing a smiling couple on the way. Alas, I discovered he had finished for the day. Well, might as well head back to the boat, I thought, but now I could not get back through the gate; it needed a keypad entry. But sailors are never defeated, I climbed down some superstructure and jumped down onto the pontoon. Nobody batted an eyelid as this spectacle!
    On my return back to the boat I found Rex exchanging wise cracks with the same fellow I had passed on my way to find the harbour master. I then discovered he was the harbour master, a jovial chap in his forties. He advised us to go alongside a long pontoon inside the marina, and moor there overnight, facing into the wind for comfort. We could settle up with him in the morning.
    There is not a great deal to do in the Roompot except look at the beach; it is basically a large holiday park. Admittedly, if we hired bikes, we could have an explore of the country side.
    Rex, Meryl and I had visited the sluices during our trip in 2014. Half way across the Oosterscheldedam that connects Noord-Beveland and Schouwen-Duiveland, an artificial island was constructed to facilitate the construction of the dam. This island was Neeltje Jans, named after a nearby sand bar. We had gone with the specific purpose of visiting the Deltaworks Expo sited on this island. With the Dutch history of coastal flooding problems, and the large flood of 1953 with its terrible aftermath, the subsequent creation of the Deltaworks project aimed to ensure the whole of the Netherlands was adequately protected.
    There is only one eating establishment in the vicinity, the Beach Club Bestevaer, so that was where we ended up for beer and food. When we visited here in 2023, we had been served by a Spanish waitress who spoke very little Dutch. Today we were served by a Croation waitress and a Portuguese waiter, who were both challenged by the Dutch language too. Well, they certainly like to portray a cosmopolitan atmosphere in this restaurant.