Dordrecht-Antwerp

We left Dordrecht on Friday instead of Thursday, we had to wait for the paint we ordered  a little longer, we did not mind because Dordrecht is very nice. We liked it so much that we even have applied for a berth, we'll see what happens.
The water outlet on the side was broken in Dordrecht so espessially for us the waterboat came to the harbor water to fill up our tanks. They normally provide for the big boys who sail on the rivers and so their hose was a bit too big for us and the filling took very long.

the waterboat Dordrecht

The trip to the Biesbosch is very nice and you pass a few beautiful buildings on the edge of Dordrecht as well as the Ark of Noah. We had heard of it but never seen it before, the thing is really huge, we should look inside some other time.

Noah's Ark

Although we had the intention to stay a few days in the Biesbosch  we left after a night and decided to come back on the return journey. Than we go through the Biesbosch on the east side, where it is hopefully better sailing for us. The water was verry low, so we got stuck on the sand banks that 'walk' so you can not exactly see the depths on the map and moreover a berth was not so easy to find. it made the sailing was very restless here.
We did, with the small boat, make a trip to the Biesboschmuseum wich was rewarding.
Panache was thrilled that Edje (the name of the dinghy) was back into the water because this is his by far his favorite place.

Panache in Edje

After the Biesbosch we went to Willemstad, a small fortress town like Naarden. Because of the Easter day and beautiful weather it was very busy, so we left the next day.
Instead of going to Antwerp, we changed the route to the Grevelingenmeer.
We spent lots of holidays on Schouwen-so when the children where little so we were on familiar ground but now from the water.
There are many berths for large ships on the Grevellingen but in the working port of Bommenede in Zonnemaire we found a good place very convienend as we wanted to visit friends in Zonnemaire.

Bommenede

After the Easter we were there all alone, only occasionally did the fisherboat  Bru 6 drop off a few crates of oysters.

the Bru 6

Next to our ship, we could see some oysters grow in the midst of all the jellyfish that swim there. The water is so clear that even with our simple camera tI could take pictures of it.

Oyster from Zeeland

the jellyfish

We thought there were a lot of jellyfish around the ship (little ones), but were later in the lock were surrounded by large pink jellyfish clouds. Later the weed filter (where the engine cooling water passes through) proved completely clogged with a thick layer of jellyfish slime.

jellyfish clouds

Thursday the 28th we left direction Antwerp with a first stop in Tholen.
The time there was well spent because on the quay, I could repot all the flowerpots, the violets were really faded, especially after I had accidentally watered them with the brackish water from the Grevelingen, oops error!
Like the windows that I had cleaned and the next day you could not look through them because of the salt haze that covered them, oh well practice makes perfect -:)

Friday I had to watchTV to see all the dresses and hats in England, that was just enough so I skipped Queen's day on Saterday.

Saturday we went further and were soon on the Rhine-Scheldt canal, after the quiet in Zeeland where we big among the small boats were once again surrounded by the large commercial vessels.

Kreekrakloc

In the Kreekraksluis entered behind us a ship with the same size bunk strapped to it's side  so it fitted thight into the lock, scraping along the sides. The entire ship was packed with cars and asit  later passed us we realized how many trucks on the road that would have been, that calls for water transport.

What I found funny was the playground that was made on the back deck, a big cage with a play house a few chairs and a sandbox, so much for life on board with small children.

playground or prison?

And then there was the moment that we actually for the first time crossed the border with  't Majeur. Weird maybe, but we found it a really memorable moment, it is that we do not drink while boating otherwise we had surely popped the champagne.
It's nothing special really but it was a milestone for us and really really different from crossing the border by car.
The boundary is marked by a traffic light on both sides of the water and luckily they were both green otherwise we would have wondered what to do. We changed the Amsterdam pennant now by a Belgian and then later a French.

the border

In this blog I have already mentioned a few times that we are regularly impressed by the big guys around us, although we are getting a bit of used to them it is still exciting. Well, now we have really seen some!
In the port of Antwerp, that starts just after the border, we were surrounded by the real  seaships, all huge and piled with containers .
On the Waal were long, low ships with a few layers of containers, here are the ships themselves already very high and wide and then even those containers.

We are now in the Willemdok in Antwerp, a nice part near the center and very much in development. When we come back a few years down here will be very trendy. We were brought to the harbor master to a place where he wondered if we would fit in well, indeed we have no room to spare and the flagpole does not fit anymore. He asked me if my husband could sail and after my confirmation he said: "then we try it." Later we heard from someone else that he had said "he knows how to drive ". Michel was happy with that and I as proud as a peacock.

Willemdok in Antwerp

From our berth, we have a beautiful view on the MAS, Museum on the Stream, an entirely new museum building and unfortunately not open until next week. It's a beautiful building, I think, although in Antwerp controversial, but yeah I don't live here.
What I've read about it I think it is worthwhile to come back and go there.

Friday we leave here, considering the tide so we have the Scheldt downstream to the point where we go to Brussels.
The next blog will be after the inclined plane of Ronquieres and Strépy-Thieu, another milestone.