It was a struggle to get the boat ready for a sea passage this morning, after more than a month inland - even folding the bikes, closing the windows and finding places to stow all the items which had found their way out of cupboards. We locked out of the Mercator dock which, as we had been warned, took almost an hour by the time both bridges had lifted. We had been joined in Oostende by friends Jeff & Gerry on Virginia Lady and together we made our way out to sea, bound first for Zeebrugge where we intended to top up with tax free diesel before leaving Belgium.

Having been inland for some time we were expecting one or two problems to crop up and sure enough as soon as we got up to 15 knots the starboard engine showed an overheat alarm. An initial inspection of the water inlet did not shed any light on the problem so we continued into Zeebrugge on one engine. By the time we had arrived in the harbour the engine had cooled down and despite further inspection we could find no blockage.

We were expecting a fuel berth at Zeebrugge and had called the harbour master to check that he could supply us. When we arrived the supply turned out to be a shore based tanker who had been booked by another boat. He was nonetheless happy to fill us up at a very reasonable €0,32 per litre, and with both engines up and running we made our way back out to sea. The final leg of our passage was up the well-buoyed Wielingen channel into the Westerschelde. Although this is supposed to be a busy commercial waterway we were in very poor visibility and saw only the occasional ship loom up out of the mist.

Avoiding the frequent ferries which ply between Breskens and Vlissingen, we turned into the Buitenhaven and waited a few minutes before being able to enter the lock. As the exit gates opened a long announcement came over the tannoy in Dutch, followed by the brief English translation... "Quickly to the first bridge". There are five opening bridges on the stretch of the Kanaal door Walcheren to Middleburg, whose opening schedules are given in the ANWB Wateralmanak (Deel 2). We had arrived just before the evening rush hour shut downs but still managed to make the three mile trip without too many delays and were greeted at the yacht haven reception pontoon by the harbour master.

Cruising Statistics

Distance: 42 nm

Total to date: 2021 nm

Avg Speed: 9 knots

Duration: 4:30 hours

Diesel: 238 litres, €0,32/litre

Mooring: €13/night

Electricity: €3/night

Tourist tax: €0,50pp/night

Locks

Mercator

Vlissingen

Bridges

Keersluis

Sloebrug

Soubrug-draaibrug

Schroebrug

Stationsbrug

Spijkerbrug

Waypoints

Oostende ldg line
51 15.03N 02 53.62E

Zinker NCM
51 18.17N 03 01.58E

Zeebrugge Z SHM
51 22.73N 03 09.97E

Vlissingen HSS NCM
51 25.91N 03 36.19E

Vlissingen entrance
51 26.40N 03 36.15E

Charts

1801.2
1801.3
1801.4
1803.8