1st and 2nd June
Alarms went off at 7 this morning and after our usual tea and biscuits, showers and pre-departure preparations, we untied and left Nieuwpoort about 9.20 with the sun shining and a gentle breeze. On leaving the entrance of the harbour we noticed a yellow sign with flashing lights on one of the moles, but it was very difficult to read. We looked about and thought everything looked ok and carried on. About a mile outside the entrance we began to turn to starboard, when out of nowhere a small motor boat appeared which came quite close. We had completely forgotten about the firing range, but were quickly and politely reminded to head straight out for 2 miles before turning. Oops! That must have been the flashing sign!
We motor sailed until we were past Ostend, by which time we were getting a good push from the tide and were able to turn the engine off and maintain a good speed under sail alone. We sailed on well past Zeebrugge and were about 5 miles from Breskens when we had to switch the engine back on and put the sail away as we were pushing up to 4 knots of foul tide. Breskens was in sight, but it took a while longer to get there, but eventually we did. We tied up at the visitors’ pontoon and advised our arrival as required on the radio at the hammerhead, but before two minutes had passed, the friendly harbour master appeared on his bike to check we knew where we were going and to let us know that the Office was closing at 5 pm if we needed the Wi-Fi code. We managed to find our berth and tie-up with 5 minutes to spare for Chris to leg it to the Office in time.
We paid for two nights here as there are strong winds forecast again for tonight and tomorrow. Once settled, we headed up to the restaurant to check it was open for dinner. Disappointingly, a lady advised there was a private party taking over the restaurant this evening and Tuesday they were closed. So we headed off to find the supermarket for some vital supplies (milk being one, as the good dated bottle that had been opened earlier had curdled Chris’s tea – yuk). On the way, we passed the small fishing dock where there was an interesting looking boat called the Tasty Lobster (see photo) and a couple of fish and chip cafes, which could be tomorrow night’s dinner. We settled on buying the fresh ingredients for a Spaghetti Bolognese, although once back on the boat and cooking, we googled a translation for the meat pack and found it was a mixture of beef and pork. Whatever it was, it was very tasty! Chris also found a one litre bottle of huiswijn rood (red wine – Spanish) for €3.99, which was very drinkable. I suspect it will be a very quiet evening as a good third of the bottle disappeared quite quickly. We have BBC Radio 2 (Paul Jones) on in the background and the washing up must be done before bedtime.
As we settled down for the night, we both commented on how calm everything had become. Perhaps the weathermen had got it wrong and that strong wind and rain had moved on to somewhere else. Unfortunately that was not to be the case, as in the wee small hours the heavens opened and the wind howled and the boat rocked and rolled for the rest of the night and throughout most of the day, with just a brief break from the rain in the afternoon. During the dry period we took a stroll out and had a look round the chandlery shop and Carole visited the laundry to do some washing and reading. Chris returned to the boat and did a few work and boat jobs and had a “fuddle” lunch ready for when Carole returned.
After a catch-up call with Sally and the children at home late afternoon, we had a cuppa and discussed tomorrow’s sail to Vlissingen and on into the Dutch canal network. We also researched the best ways to box moor (needed in Middleburgh) and reminded ourselves of how we should moor in the Dutch locks. When we have visited Holland before, we have always had an extra person on board, which is very helpful when mooring. However, so far we’ve been fine, so fingers crossed for tomorrow.