We made it to the Netherlands!

We have been liveabroads for 6 weeks now and sailing for 5. So a quick recap: we left Poland and we entered Germany about 20 minutes later.  ;P From there it was a rough week of crazy wind where I was nervous even on the canal. After being holed up in Peenemünde for then a jump over to Denmark to avoid a crazy wind warning before back to Germany. I then left Patrick for a week to go to the Smarter Artist Summit in Austin, and in complete honesty, fully enjoy not having to wear a parka!

At least here the parka is opened! Hoora for May!

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Then “shit got real”. Up until that point everything had been our old stomping grounds. We had spent the last 2 years sailing from Borgstedt to Denmark and back to Poland. We knew where to anchor, we knew what to expect, and more importantly, we had no tides!

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Heading down the Kiel canal and towards the North Sea was a very different feeling. Tides! Gah! It kind of said “real ocean” not the baby pool you guys were playing in in the Baltics. (Not that the Baltics do not come with their own challenges, but in terms of learning to sail it is a very gentle place to learn!)/

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Now we were ready, or Patrick was, I was mostly afraid.

And I am happy to say, that it has been fantastic. We made it to the Netherlands! Not without some drama of course, but the best kind of drama. The kind that ends with no one hurt and an intact boat!

Although internet is still elusive, when we are ashore and in a cafe we have regular fast access! And when you do something really stupid that involves flashing lights in the middle of the night, then the Dutch are really quite nice about it. Just a smile and “no worries”. I really love this attitude!

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And if you are on the mailing list then check your email for the full story on our entry into the Netherlands and the full story behind out Noordgut flag! If you are not sign up here!

This flag was rather expensive!

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As was this anchor place:

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Now I am enjoying some writing time to work on my Creative Mermaids project before heading back to go for a bike ride with the kids. And I have to say, I am a little in love with the Netherlands!

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3 Replies to “We made it to the Netherlands!”

  1. Great adventure guys. I have my own storys about tides and currents. We get 15foot tides here. I use a great app. For my phone Navionics…15 $ a year…good backup to my chart plotter. Looking forward to your updates
    Ray

    1. Hey Ray,
      great hearing from you. Where is your boat located?
      We mostly relay on Navionics on phone and tablet too. And as backup Open CPN on the laptop…
      Cheers Patrick

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