Wednesday 28/06/06

We left Norderney yesterday morning at 1000 for the next leg to Delfzijl in Holland. I suppose it was quite a technical trip due to the two areas of shallow water (Memmer Wattfahrwasser and Oster Ems) and the winding channels. All went better than planned though and we tied up in Delfzijl at about 1600. The main thing to note about the trip was that we saw many seals: One of them came very close to check us out but, of course, as soon as he saw a camera he dissapeared!

So, a new land and a new courtesy flag! To celebrate we decided to head into town for a cold beer in the sunshine. However, this turned out to be too much to expect of Delfzijl and we ended up buying beer from a supermarkt and enjoying back on the boat.

We had a good chat to an English guy from another boat, and I managed to sell him some used charts - my second success after swapping charts with a Canadian in Norderney!

Today we left Delfzijl and made our way through the lock into the Ems canal. 26km and 4 bridges later and we were in Gronigen. This is more like it! Sun, cafes, little streets - and wall-to-wall totty!!!

Norderney

The least interesting island so far, but maybe that is due to the rain! Aat least there is the posibility to refuel here and this free internet connection. The trip here from Baltrum was without incident - and no so shallow as the on from Langeoog toBaltrum where we were almost touchingth bottom!1

tomorrow its time to rock n roll on to Defiljl in the Netherlands! Were really looking fwd to our first new country!1

Keep tuned blog-fans, more from Holland.

Baltrum

Aafter 4 days in Langeoog due to strong Westerlywinds, we finally left last Saturday fortheshort hop tothe next island to thewest: Baltrum. Thesmallest island in th chain, very quiet, no cars, lots of sand dunes, not many people, lots of sand dunes. It was really nice, but one afterrnoon was enough to walk around the entire island and still find time to watch Germany win their footy game.

Great Escape

Sails arrived and we left the next day for the 17M trip to Gluckstadt. All went well, the most notable factor being the searing heat.

We slipped lines the next morning at 057, bound for Cuxhaven.

For most of the trip we were clse hauled making over 7 knots over the ground. Before we turned N for the final approach to Cux, we were regularly making over 10 kn (8 over the ground!). In fact we were too fast and arrived 1.5 hrs too early. This meant the final couple of miles to Cux were uncomfortable with big waves created by the wind over tide situation.

Cux was ok but we didn't want to be stuck there another week so we took a weathr window and made for Langeoog on the East Frisian coast. The 60M passage was made mostly under motor due to head winds - we couldn't hang about because we had to hit high water at Langeoog. Really nice here! Nature is nice, people are nice and the harbour is good.

At last we have escaped. At last it feels like holiday!!!!!

More soon!

Still waiting.......

Getting pretty sick of the same old harbour but at least we've been fairly busy. Also we've been buzzing around on our "Stridas" (folding bikes) which we have named "Silver Arrow" and "Fury" - while Susi was in the Post Office I had a little crowd of 5 interested people asking me about the bikes. Check them out for yourselves at www.strida.com They have been indispensable since we sold our car to the harbourmaster.

Sails have been promised for Thursday 8th June (which Crusader Sails seem to think is mid-May!!! I'll wait to see what the sails are like before I give you my final opinion of the company as I know what I say could have a big impact on the future of their business!).

The weather continues to be pretty shite. In particular last night and today were very stormy with strong wind warnings for the Elbe. I hope things improve soon because we would like to get going next wkend.

Tonigfht I'm celebrating 291 clicks - keep 'em coming!