Vitte, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, GermanyI’m sitting in harbour on the evening of the 19th
and Julie and I have just commented that it is amazing how distant yesterday
seems when your day is full of new experiences and sights, not necessarily
ground-breaking new but nevertheless sufficiently outside the norm as to be
different.
This sounds like a build up to something but in truth whilst today
was a lovely, indeed gorgeous day, it wasn’t that special, even looked at
through the lens of time. Enough.
As usual we were up early, even though there was no
great hurry. Our plan for the day was to do a little shopping and then head
north to the top of the island complex that is Hiddensee to the West and Rügen
to the East, with shallow water separating the two and a buoyed channel to
follow. We love this part of the world, it is jam packed with birdlife, birds
that feed on the sand bars and in the shallow waters hereabouts, which is the
nursery for many species of fish, the most notable being the flounder, I would
imagine, as one huge shallow area is called ‘Flunder Grund’ on the charts which
I take to mean flounder bank or some such but Google says it’s ‘flounder
reason’. Hmph. Anyway, it was a lovely
warm, sunny day with almost no cloud in the sky, the only downside being that
the gentle breeze was blowing from the north, so we would be motoring the 15
miles or so that we would travel in search of an anchorage.
Shopping done and farewells said to Pat & Keith,
we were on our way at 11:15 and we found an anchorage just to the east of the
main channel that leads to the open sea to the north (see picture with little pointer
in the centre). Normally I like to anchor in the lee of the shore ie the shore
affords some shelter from the wind, however in this case, the whole area north
of the buoyed channel was out of bounds, called red or green zones and
anchoring was forbidden, for conservation reasons. Our space was one of the few
available where there was sufficient depth (1 – 2 metres under the keel) and
swing room and that is why we selected it – also the water is so shallow that
even if the wind picked up enormously the waves couldn’t build so we would be
fine. As it happened, the forecast was accurate and the breeze, now a force
2-3, fell during the evening, leaving flat calm conditions.
We were pleased with our location and we were dug in
by 14:15, all set for an afternoon’s sunbathing au naturel, or at least I was,
but blow me, within 15 minutes of our anchoring and we were the ONLY boat in
the whole area that had anchored, we were joined by a Dutch boat only 40 m away
from us when he had 500 to choose from! I NEVER understand the propensity for
boaters to anchor near another boat when they have the world to choose from. We
have been in situations in the Caribbean where the beach can be miles long,
you choose your spot and within minutes
sometimes, your idyllic spot is somewhat ruined by the presence of another
boat, a boat which could just as easily anchored a mile away!
It was still a very pleasant afternoon. As the wind
was northerly, our cockpit was completely sheltered and it became very hot.
However, all one had to do was stand up and the cool breeze would soon bring one’s
skin temperature down a few degrees and one could start all over again! Supper
was a nice chilli and we had an early night and were asleep by 22:00 –
exhausting day!
2025-05-23