Vlissingen to Dordrecht via Sint-Annaland

Lock to the Kanaal door Walcheren

We stayed three nights in Vlissingen altogether and really rather enjoyed it. I managed a morning run, a visit to a chandlery to get some slightly useless paper charts, and several visits to the enormous Albert Heijn supermarket which was very close by. The marina is very new, in fact many charts don’t even show it, and it’s very close to the city centre, but the facilities are a bit minimal.

On the Thursday, we went with Tom and Anne from Aeolus to visit the sea museum, which was good fun. On Friday we had a visit to the VTS (Vessel Traffic Service) which controls all the vessels, from big cruise ships to tiny sailing boats, in the extremely busy Westerschelde. There was possibly a bit too much PowerPoint, but apart from that it was fascinating, and salutary to realise that they are keeping an eye on all of us, especially those who broadcast on AIS, which they prefer. We also found a good spot for a meal out with several other Westerly crews, and I managed the statutory bucket of mussels.

Saturday 7 June saw us heading up the Kanal door Walcheren, which always requires you to be in a procession of boats to get through the five bridges, and across the Veersemeer. Then it was out through the Zandkreeksluis into the Oosterschelde and possibly the windiest conditions I’ve ever been out in on purpose. The wind peaked at just under 35 kn. Kalessin was fine of course, but I can’t say I enjoyed it, and I was very glad to get to the marina in Sint Annaland.

As ever with these trips there is a need to go into bigger marinas to accommodate us all, and Sint Annaland is certainly one of those, surrounded by an almost completely new village with a Jumbo supermarket, a filling station, and not very much else. We were supposed to move on Sunday to the historic town of Willemstad. However Sunday’s forecast looked even worse, if possible, and after considerable deliberation, some of it early in the morning, I decided not to go. Instead I went for a run (which gave me a good look at the white horses galloping down the Krabbenkreek), transferred some diesel from cans to the tank and did various other odd jobs around the boat.

Monday 9th looked much better in spite of the prospect of 33 miles, two locks and the Dordrecht rail bridge. We left at 6am and squeezed into both the Krammersluis and the Volkeraksluis with all the other Westerly yachts in our party. A nice sail from Willemstad to the Dordchte Kil meant that we just missed the 1300 bridge, and tying up on the waiting pontoon was a bit challenging, especially for Janet who had to leap off with the lines - quite painful with her dodgy hip. But finally we got into the Nieuwe Haven and moored up next to Orotava exactly as planned. We were last here in Kalessin in 2009 and by car just two years ago, only a few months before Sam died.