Wednesday 11 April

It’s been a quiet day, but a lot seems to have happened.

We planned to set off on the shorter trip to Scheveningen at a reasonable hour this morning, but it was later than planned by the time we had queued for fuel. At least we were diverted by a seal bobbing about in the water.

The voyage along the coast was fairly routine, enlivened only by a passing Dutch warship, and a couple of birds that rested on Equinox for a while. We arrived into Scheveningen just after lunchtime.

The harbour here is the home to a considerable fishing fleet and the yacht marina is tucked away inside the second, inner harbour. To get here we had to negotiate a disconcertingly narrrow channel, so we were glad that we had contacted the local traffic control first to ensure that no large fishing boats were trying to go in the opposite direction.  Although not as large as Ijmuiden, the marina is sizeable and has a good number of larger yachts.

It is a joy to be in the Netherlands, both of the marinas we have visited have been vastly superior to anything we have experienced for a while. The facilities have been first rate, and we have been made to feel thoroughly “at home”.

In the afternoon we set of in search of a chandler. Although reasonably close as the crow flies, we had to walk all around the outside of the harbour, which was a considerable distance.  When we arrived, they had the 2 things that we really needed, a curtesy flag for Belgium and flares. It is customary to fly a small version of the flag of whatever country you are visiting, and although I had stocked with most that I thought we would need, my planning had never got as far as Belgium. We tried unsuccessfully to get one in the last two or three places we have visited, but Belgium must be the in place this year, so no one had any stock left. Anyway this chandler had one, so we bought that and ones for Spain and Portugal that we expect to need later in the year. As for the flares, we had discovered that some of ours have gone out of date over the winter, but the chandlers at Fehmarn did not stock them. The French authorities adopt a very strict stance on these, and will fine you if you have out of date flares. It’s ok to not have any, but out of date is unacceptable. This chandlers had what. we needed, and could dispose of our old ones. The only problem was that they were still on the boat. We agreed to go back and fetch them, and the guy suggested that the harbour office would have bikes that we could borrow that would speed the process, which is what we did.

The chandlers also recommended a fish shop. Our search for this started unpromisingly as we headed down a fairly industrial road, with large trucks parked on either side. They must have been there to take the fish away from the fish market. We found the shop, which had a restaurant attached, and I must say that it was the best fish shop I have ever seen, by quite a long way. The assortment of fish was incredible and all of it was beautifully displayed.  There was a very steady stream of customers while we were there, and we left clutching our evening meals for the next 2 days, bream and brill.

All in all a very pleasing day, a shortish sail, followed by acquiring the 2 things that we really need and a food for a couple of days.

Distance covered today - 28 nautical miles

Total distance covered - 418 nautical miles

Steve (and Tricia)