Netherlands Trip - Middelburg      23rd June:

    It was a bad night for me. At 03:45 I had to sprint to the toilets on shore, and again around 7am. Rex had been mopping up residual jobs on board.
    Then at 08:45 we spotted what looked like a Marechaussee van up near the Spijkerbrug. It then shot down along the other side of the Binnenhaven, and I managed to wave to them as they passed opposite us. By good fortune, the occupants spotted me and waved back. Good, they must be looking for us. They made their way back to our bank, and we were up on the roadside waiting for them. Two tall, young fellows emerged from the van with engaging smiles. They relieved Rex of his crew form, and scrutinised our passports before stamping them.
    "I see you came in via Breskens, and you are leaving for the UK today?" asked one of the young men.
    "Yes."
    "How long does it take you to reach the UK?"
    "24 hours to reach Harwich."
    "Now we have fine weather, you are leaving."
    More laughs were exchanged about the football tournament, and with that they zoomed off to their next port of call - I think they mentioned the coffee shop.
    Before beginning our 24-hour crossing of the North Sea, I decided to stretch my feet with a short walk around the environs of the Prins Hendrikdok.

Lange Jan

D' Ouwe School

    With a few farewells and 'safe journey' from surrounding craft, we slipped our lines at 10:05 and passed through the Spijkerbrug at 10:15. The harbour master shouted, "Safe journey," to us and waved us off. All quite touching.
    We joined a few other boats waiting for the Stationsbrug to open, then the Schroebrug, and then we had a delightful trip down the Kanaal Door Walcheren. Armies of cyclists and joggers passed along the bank. In a short while all we had to do was negotiate two more bridges, and then we were passing the marina where we had stayed 18 days earlier.

Kanaal Door Walcheren

Propellor Thrashing The Water

    After a lot of gilling about, we all entered the large sea lock in Vlissingen, and in a short space of time we were out on the Westerschelde. Rex was in fine spirits until a Dutch yacht slewed around in front of Duonita, then slewed back. Rex screamed blue profanities!
    We crossed the busy shipping channel at the mouth of the Westerschelde, passing behind a huge container ship that was sitting high in the water. In fact, it was so high that almost half its propellor was out of the water, spewing out hundreds of litres of water per blade behind it as it thrashed the sea.
    Once across, we spent the first few hours fighting the tide, as we crept along the Scheur Channel parallel to the coast, in the company of many other pleasure craft and commercial traffic that were passing up and down this very busy route. Then, when we were opposite Zeebrugge, we turned sharply to starboard, effectively skirting around the colossal Hinder windfarm. This huge expanse of spinning turbines prevented vessels from heading straight out into the North Sea from the Westerschelde.

Mirana on her Way to Amsterdam

    With the wind farm and a cable laying ship to our starboard, and a ships anchorage to our port side, we made a course for the shipping lanes ten miles further out. A large cruise ship, Mirana, which had left Zeebrugge, was also sailing past the anchorage in order to head around the back of the windfarm. It was on its way to Amsterdam, where it would arrive around 6am. It gracefully sailed past us 0.5nm away.
    Occasionally we crossed 'shallow' banks only 10m deep, with 30m deep water either side of them. Their presence was betrayed by turbulent waters as the tidal current swirled over them. The shipping channels were surprisingly easy to cross with little traffic to contend with.
    I sat on watch, mesmerised by the setting sun. By midnight, there was still a warm afterglow in the sky.