Germany
July 2024: Heikendorf to Norderney Island
When we purchased Tranquila, our first thought was - how do we shorten our North Sea passage as much as possible?
Turned out there was a way. To our very pleasant surprise we heard about the Kiel canal! It saved us almost 300 miles around the peninsula, which is not only a lot of time but also helped us avoid storm-prone seas!
Our journey into the canal went smoothly, given it’s one of the busiest canals in the world and the weather can really vary. We had an early start as we had 54nm to cover and weren’t allowed to sail after dark and had a speed limit of 8 knots. It was a very sunny hot day with no breeze, which made motoring through quite easy but that meant we couldn’t wait to stop for a quick swim! We discovered a small anchorage 3/4 of the way in and decided it would be a nice stop for the night especially after a full day motoring! After a quick swim at the small beach, we had to dash back to the boat as a storm brewed over us!
The next morning we were ready to complete the last leg of our journey in the canal and slightly anxious for what the North Sea had in store for us! As the lock gates opened for us to leave, we joked that it was like “Hells Gate” was about to open. The serene, flat and super calm couple of days motoring through the canal were suddenly gone. The current and wind started to swirl the boats in front of us and we had to be quick to leave the lock too!
From then on, it was a roller coaster of super rainy, cold and rough days at sea and others much calmer and pleasant. The days were long and usually involved 12 hours sailing, starting between 4-5am, as we had to time the tides to leave and enter marinas and locks along the coast.
Our first stop we sought refuge at after leaving the canal was Cuxhaven Marina - the beginning of our reliance on Marinas for a very long time given the extreme tides and weather in the North Sea!
Our first time hoisting a courtesy flag - Hello Germany!
We anchored in Heikendorf the night before our schedule Kiel canal passage and it was sucha lovely stop - cute restaurants, beach and playground. We had our first Flammkuchen, which we learned is NOT pizza ;)
The last sunset in the Baltic Sea before our passage to the North Sea!
Heikendorf was a beautiful spot but busy with constant ferries passing by - so we got the occassional waves on board! The sunset was gorgoeous!
We've entered the Kiel Canal, the world's busiest artificial waterway for seagoing ships. The Canal spans 98 kms, linking the North Sea and the Baltic Sea.
We thought the canal might be a relaxed passage, but you actually can't just turn the autopilot on and relax - so we took turns in steering but you have to keep an eye out for the ferries, ships, signs and bends in the canal!
The kids kept busy spotting the cows during the passage.
<3
More animal and boat spotting with Grandma!
The passage can typically take 6-8 hours and given the times for the locks, we decided to anchor in the canal for a night sleep (Badestelle Klein Westerland) as you can't cross the canal after dark. We were welcomed by a thunderstorm but managed to jump off for a quick SUP!
The exit to the North Sea was a bumpy one with a lot of current but we didn't have to sail too long - we had a spot at Cuxhaven Marina to fuel up and food provision.
We then sailed to Norderney Island and docked at another marina. Through the north sea, given the tides of up to 8m, we didn't have many options to anchor so we spent our days sailing from marina to marina - trying to manage the tides schedule.
The days began to get very long here as we were rushing against tides and the weather - this meant most mornings started between 4:30-5:30am and 10-12 hour sailing days sometimes to get from marina to marina.
It also started to get cold so our sailing gear came out of the closet!
The beanies too!