Sint Annaland

Yerseke proved pleasant but not very exciting - a little, mostly modern, Dutch town with almost everything closed on Mondays. We ate dinner at the little fish restaurant on the quay with the crews of Merlot and Anrheg - a really nice spot with nice ambience, but possibly because three of our number ordered lobster which is cooked fresh from the tank, we had a very long wait for our dinner. Sam and I had mussels which were pleasant but came with no bread to mop up the juice, and although we ate some chips I'm not quite sure that they were ours! Great company though and a very pleasant evening.

This morning we had a major logistical exercise springing 16 yachts off the long quay with the wind blowing them hard on, then a short but painful plunge to windward, almost directly into the north-westerly for 10 miles and as it was gusting up to 20 knots and wind was against tide, it was very choppy. Only 15 miles altogether however and now we are in Sint Annaland, a huge marina attached to another small town which we haven't explored yet. The plan was to have a group barbecue tonight but with the wind still howling, dark grey skies and drizzle, Sam, Ben and I opted out and had a very delightful Cobb barbecue on our own in Kalessin's cockpit tent. Not very sociable but definitely better for Sam.

The wind has finally eased and is forecast to be much lighter tomorrow - just as well, as we will be heading down the Grevelingenmeer straight into it most of the way to Marina Port Zeeland.