30th May
We had a good night’s sleep. Chris went to the Marina Office to check the weather and if all ok we would leave today for Nieuwpoort. Weather was forecast as NW 5-6 decreasing later to WSW 4-5 so all looked good. Chris had said the previous night that we should leave at High Water to catch the tide at about 12:00. We were slowly getting the boat ready for sea when Chris realised that we needed to be at Nieuwpoort at High Water, not leave Dunkirk at High Water! With a brief discussion with the crew we managed to leave at 09:45. As we came out of Dunkirk we were joined by three other yachts. Obviously Chris said our timing was spot on, as we were all going the same way.
The wind was coming from our Port Quarter and soon we had the sails up and making about 6kn through the water. The tide was giving us an additional push of 2.5 kn. Although Nieuwpoort is directly in line along the coast we had to navigate our way through some channels to avoid the Trapegeer Sands, which has caught many a yacht. This was passed as planned and we carried on to Nieuwpoort. Just before Nieuwpoort we were expecting to find a North and a South Cardinal buoy very close to each other marking a very shallow hump. We could only see the large South Cardinal buoy so we had to bear away to be safe. However shortly after we saw the North Cardinal buoy, but it was so small you could not see it until you were very close. Phew!
We could see the two long piers at the entrance of Nieuwpoort and we started our approach. The sea was now getting a bit lumpy and we could see yachts coming out between the piers dipping their bows into the waves and slamming into the next. Once we passed the piers the water calmed but the wind was still blowing 15-18 kn., so we decided to get well into the harbour before preparing the boat for the marina.
We called the VVW Marina for a berth and were given one at O18 (Oscar 18). This is the largest marina in Europe and has 1,000 berths. It is always fun trying to find the right pontoon without a guide. We thought we had found N but it turned out to be H and after reversing down a couple of wrong turnings, we sought some help and were then followed to our berth by that very kind Belgian gentleman, who also took our bow line and helped us tie up without any fuss. It wasn’t till he walked away with our thanks that we both realised how much adrenaline had been flowing! We certainly earned that cuppa and chocolate that followed.
The rest of our day was spent on fairly normal things like cooking, eating, clearing up and taking a stroll around the impressive marina which appears to be one of the biggest in Europe. Our first impressions were very good (and it’s less expensive than Dunkirk and Ramsgate, too).
Day 2
The strong wind and rain did nothing to entice us from our bunks early on Sunday morning, but eventually we emerged for tea and biscuits and a shower. We used up the remainder of Dunkirk’s pain de campagne for our toast and marmalade and after tidying up and checking tomorrow’s weather, we headed out with waterproof jackets and umbrella to see what Nieuwpoort-At-Sea was about. We received brief directions from the Marina office and started walking towards the main road with the wind and rain behind us, pushing us along.
After 20 minutes or so, we arrived at Nieuwpoort Stad tram stop. Chris crossed the track to the ticket office and came back with a day ticket for two for 10 Euros. We jumped on the next tram and got off at Nieuwpoort Bad (which was the beach stop). From here we could see where we had sailed in from the North Sea and there were plenty of yachts sailing, too. We decided to have lunch here, but it proved quite difficult to find somewhere that didn’t want an arm and a leg just for lunch. However, eventually we found just the right place and both enjoyed a very hot and tasty Belgian dish of Lasagne Bolognese with a glass of shandy. We know how to live and the waitress got a tip! We then walked back to the tram stop and jumped on the next tram going to the end of the line at De Panne. We felt that this would at least give us an idea of what the area was like.
The area we passed through seems to be Belgian’s holiday area and as we went from tram stop to tram stop we saw large, quite attractive apartment blocks for rent with nice promenades and beaches and shops and restaurants, not unlike other European holiday destinations. Once at the end of the line, we found out that we just had to stay on the tram and it would return us from whence we had come. We arrived back to the boat ready for a nice hot cuppa and a warm-up.
The only excitement of the day was hearing a large motorboat’s engines close to us and upon investigation we were able to assist him in coming alongside his berth and tying up without mishap, which he was struggling to do in the strong wind, despite his use of a bow thruster. With good old BBC Radio 2 on in the background, Chris (with a little help from Carole) has plotted our course for tomorrow. Not too late to bed tonight as it will be a 9 am start tomorrow to make the most of the tide to Breskens in The Netherlands.