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Published: September 20th 2015
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It was now getting time to leave Sweden and head to the southern shore of the Baltic, and then leave the Baltic through the Kiel Canal. Our last stop was an overnight in Sandhamn, Sweden which was a very laid back stop. It was nicely situated on our trek south and offered a very well protected harbor. We will be sorry to leave Sweden as it has been an enjoyable stay, but time is marching on and we plan to over-winter Tsamaya in Lelystad in the Netherlands so must keep moving.
We had a very good weather window for our crossing passing the southern coast of Sweden and across the Baltic heading for Heilgenhafen, Germany. We had been there earlier in the season shortly after entering the Baltic so knew it was a comfortable distance to the start of the Kiel Canal. It was a pleasant overnight passage arriving in Germany in the late afternoon. The marina in Heilgenhafen is quite a distance in from the entrance of the channel therefore this time we decided to just anchor out. We always enjoy being “on the hook” and it would save us some time as we wanted to get part way
through the Kiel Canal the next day. While sitting at anchor we noticed that there were numerous jellyfish surrounding the boat so spent time watching their movements. Guess some may think we are easily amused, but they really are quite interesting to observe.
Just as the sun was starting to rise the next morning we raised anchor and headed west toward the Kiel Canal. We had some wind to sail most of the way which is always a plus! It does get tiring to hear the sound of the engine when the wind doesn’t cooperate. It was easy to spot the bay leading to the east end of the canal due to the heavy line of traffic of freighters coming and going. At times like these you feel like you are back on land merging into a major freeway.
We got to the entrance of the Kiel Canal in plenty of time to get to the anchorage we were planning on stopping at inside the canal, but we had to keep circling quite a long time waiting for the canal to open up for pleasure boats. Typically there are 2 sides of the locks open, but only one
was open today, making it a much slower process as the commercial boats have priority. There wound up being quite a large crowd of pleasure boats doing “the dance” waiting to enter. Just like being in a supermarket with busy checkout lines, there are always those that try to jump the line! Fortunately the green light finally went on telling us we could enter the canal. We sorted ourselves out and all that were waiting made it into the lock. The platform that we have to tie up to in the canal is at water level therefore it is somewhat tricky to come up to – it is harder to see from the helm and it is a longer jump down to a floating surface to tie up the boat. This was the first time that Janice wasn’t so graceful and slipped on the wet, slimy surface which then scared Bob as he couldn’t see her being that she was at the level of the water. Fortunately Janice didn’t lose the line, she got herself up and Bob hopped off the boat quickly and got us secured. Always need a little excitement once in a while – if everything went
Interesting to see When they Are Moving
delivery of supplies to build a gas platform smoothly what would we talk about!
We made it to the designated anchorage within the canal and found a good spot for the night. The next morning we planned on going only as far as Rendsburg. We had stopped there on the way in to the Baltic, but didn’t take the time to explore the town. Others we had met while on the Baltic rally told us about their time there so we decided to add it to our list of places to check out.
We checked into the marina and found that there was a festival going on – good timing on our part even though we hadn’t planned it. Rendsburg was a very pleasant town to explore – had a chance to visit two churches – one during the day and the other one we actually had a chance to go to as we attended a concert in the evening. As with most festivals there were plenty of food and beverage vendors, and souvenirs to buy. In wandering around we found that there was a technical school that had an open house for kids – it was full of clever educational activities– many were interesting and
would have tempted any adult as well! Janice was successful in keeping Bob away and letting the kids have their time playing! They had a small museum that we wandered through documenting the history of the printing process, complete with very clear descriptions at each phase of development. As Rendsburg is on the water of course there had to be some water activities including dragon boat races and a duck race. We weren’t quite sure what to expect of the duck race, but quickly found out that they had LOTS of very small rubber ducks (many of them dressed for the occasion!) One day there was a car show with some that we recognized, but most being European were unfamiliar to us.
One very pleasant surprise we had was running into friends that we had made this past winter in London. We were walking back to the boat one evening when Peter (from SV Scooter) came out of the marina restaurant and we were soon sitting down with them catching up on our travels. The next evening we enjoyed continuing our visit with Wendy, Peter and their daughter on Tsamaya. You never know when paths will cross again –
this is part of the fun of the cruising life!
Scooter and Tsamaya left about the same time heading toward Cuxhaven the next day. As the fuel dock was handy to our location we took advantage of the situation and filled up with fuel as we have been using plenty being a motorboat through the canal. We stuck together for some time, but as they are a little longer than we are they passed us and made it in the marina in Cuxhaven before us. We normally try not to go back to the same place twice as there are so many places to explore, but when you do a circumnavigation of the Baltic you understandably cover the same path going in and out of the Baltic unless you decide to take the long way around Denmark. No time for that this season. Being familiar with the marina was helpful in getting a dock as we knew where the more protected ones were. Sometimes there are definite benefits to going back to the same place.
The next stop will be the Netherlands. We had hopes of meeting up with some German friends, Gabi & Horst whom we had
met when in Trinidad, but with the weather predictions it appeared that we would continue past them this time. Hopefully we can connect with them another time. All sailors understand that you need to take advantage of the weather windows when you can.
Our travels in the Baltic have ended, but we will continue to have great memories of the wonderful places we have visited and the people we have met during the Baltic Rally and in our explorations of the numerous countries we visited this season. We had never been part of a rally before, but it was an excellent experience as it allowed us to meet many other sailors and also relieved us of making the arrangements for the various places we were to visit. We must thank John and Jenny again for all that they did to make the rally a wonderful experience. On this trip around the Baltic the only country we missed was Latvia. Not too bad for one season of cruising and we aren’t done yet!
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