Jun. 29, 2009 - Day 2 - Oostende

First thing it was quite foggy and so we waited 'til about 09.00 hrs before departing. Kim had worked out that we needed to be at our first waypoint on the south side of the Westerschelde for about 10.00 hrs. We then turned west and headed out down the estuary. The visibility, by now was several miles, but quite hazy. We hoped as the day wore on the haze would burn off.      It didn't!

An hour later we were in thick fog and visibility was down to about four hundred meters.

We were about half a mile outside the channel on the shoreside, keeping in shallow water. There was no wind to speak of so it was full ahead under engine. On one occaision we saw a large container ship appear out of the fog on our starboard side, about a quarter of a mile away, going in the same direction as us, but it soon disappeared again.

By 12.30 hrs we were at Zeebrugge and called up Port Traffic Control for clearance to cross the harbour entrance. This was granted straight away and we hurtled across at full spead about 200m away from the harbour entrance. It was all a bit disconcerting, but as we cleared the entrance the port controller came on the radio to inform us we were clear of the entrance and to wish us a safe passage. Obviously they had been able to see us on their radar.

By 14.30 hrs we were approaching Oostende and the fog was still just as thick. Another radio call, this time to Oostende Port Control and we were given clearance to enter. Wendy got a bit of a shock as a largish tug appeared out of the fog and entered ahead of us. As we went in, close to the western breakwater we could see nothing on our port side, having to rely on our chartplotter and visual on the starboard side only.

Then came the real shock - as we progressed in to the harbour, the fog cleared. By the time we got to the RYCO marina, about half a mile from the harbour entrance, we were in blazing sunshine.

After tying up and having a celebratory beer, we went for a walk into the city centre to inspect the Mercator Dock and Montgomery Dock, which we had chosen to pass in favour of a quieter night at RYCO. Up at the Mercator the fog was still swirling around and it was fleece weather! So back to the boat and a serious rethink of our plans to stay two nights. It has to be said that at this point we had already paid for two nights.