The forecast for the day was that we would have fairly extensive cloud cover but with occasional sunny periods and with an air temperature of 19°C. I forgot to take much note of the wind, largely because we were only going a few miles down the coast to a harbor called Dyvig, so we could motor if we needed to.  As it was the first day of a new month and we were only going a few miles, we decided to have a bacon & egg breakfast – we tend to not have them often, treating ourselves on occasions such as today. Despite all our casualness, we were still ready to go by 09:45 and were now faced with the problem of extricating ourselves out of the box. By now the wind was blowing quite strongly but fortunately, straight into our faces so there was no danger of the sides of the boat coming into contact with the wooden poles – provided we were careful and all went according to plan. Sadly our exiting wasn’t perfect, as the boat next to us had put his ropes over ours and as she was a big, heavy Nauticat of 18 tons or more and as the wind was now at about  20 knots, there was no way that Julie could free our warp. Fortunately, the owner of the Nauticat realized our predicament and slackened his line for a few seconds, enough time for Julie to pull ours free and we were away. Whilst this was happening, I was juggling with forward and reverse gears and the bowthruster, desperately trying to keep our sides away from the horrid wooden poles and I think I succeeded. We really HATE these blessed boxes!

Once out of the buoyed channel, the open water was a little more downwind so we could sail, again using the genoa alone and again, reaching speeds well into the seven point something knots. CW sails well under the genoa, indeed we caught up with other boats using both sails and even overtook one. We also passed a few rowing sculls and on the left bank, the small Sønderborg airport. I’ve no idea where it serves but there was a mysterious looking black aircraft waiting to depart as we passed.

After about 10 miles it was time to negotiate our way into the deep bay that is home to Dyvig, I say negotiate because further into the bay it is quite shallow but there is a well-buoyed channel to follow which, after turning a corner, opens out into deeper (7m  or so) water and a large, well sheltered lagoon with lots of anchoring possibilities given nice weather but more importantly, for those of us that want some electricity to run the fan heater in the boat (!) a number of pontoons and dozens of boxes to choose from.

The wind was quite fierce at times so there was no way I wanted to enter a box other than straight into the wind. Finding a vacant one that was wide enough to take us proved a challenge but we managed and got in safely. Tomorrow the forecast (already checked!) is for lighter winds from the west so getting out should be OK.

After lunch we decided to go for a walk. There isn’t much here in Dyvig other than lots of boats, there are no houses or shops. There is a smart hotel on the opposite shore, one that reputedly has an excellent restaurant but with prices to match, so we’ll keep clear of that. The nearest town is Nordborg, which used to be called Alsborg and a castle has existed here since the 12^th Century. However, when the one at Sønderborg was built, Alsborg’s name was changed to Nordborg. According to Google we were 54 minutes’ walk away and we thought we might as well walk in that direction. However, just as we were stepping off the pontoon to head across the car park to the road, I noticed a big yellow bus and then I remembered that I’d read somewhere that there was a free bus service in the season, so I guess the season must have started. We hopped on, we were the only passengers on board and a minute later, we were on our way. Result! We were deposited at the bust terminus outside two supermarkets, Netto and Kwikly, so we knew we could spend some time in there if there wasn’t much to see in this town of 6000 inhabitants – we had 90 minutes or so before the last bus that day, departing at 16:07.

Now this was a Saturday and it was a holiday weekend (Thursday was Ascension Day and a national holiday here in Denmark so I imagine many people took the Friday off to make a long weekend) but we couldn’t get over the feeling of deadness in the town. All the shops were closed, some were empty anyway and all we needed was some tumbleweed to make it look completely deserted. Our first instincts were correct, there wasn’t much to see. The castle is now a private school (see photo) and we came across a tower that might have been a windmill once (see photo) and a girl leading an Icelandic pony and that was it. Back to the supermarkets where we tried, once more, to find some lamb. Lamb is a rarity in Scandinavia and Germany and we try to find it every time we go shopping. Why the keenness, well   a) we like it and b) we have several bottles of retsina stowed away, bought in Germany when Liddles had a Greek week – retsina that goes so well with moussaka and moussaka without lamb isn’t moussaka. Well, much to our delight, in Netto we found a small piece of lamb that I could carve into suitable pieces for moussaka and then, even better, in Kwikly they sold frozen lamb mince, so we bought that too! The piece of lamb we can barbecue, when and if the weather warms up or failing that we can roast it.

All of this excitement still left us with 45 minutes to the bus but thankfully, the sun had finally broken through the clouds and we sat, reveling in the warmth, warmth still tempered by the strong breeze but warmth nevertheless. Back on the boat we sat in the cockpit in the cosy comfort  afforded by the cockpit  cover and relaxed with our books. Later on, much to our amazement, a young man on the opposite pontoon went and played in the water around his boat and he was in for at least ten minutes – they breed them tough around here!