Sint Anniland

It was funny being back in tidal waters - it was quite a shock to be how much the levels went up and down in one day.

The wifi at Sint Anniland was a bit hit and miss as was Middelburg - hence the lack of blogs. (Apologies to Gill!)

Sint Anniland isn't in the Cruising guide nor the CA almanac, but we found it a nice marina complete with visiting bread van in the morning. (Fresh croissants for breakfast.)  There isn't really much in the town, but we found plenty of walks on the sea front. The marina is very modern with a very nice restaurant.  (We don't always eat out - I cook two or three meals and then we have a night out.)

Evening walk

Sunset at Sint Anniland

Tide out

Rascal in Sint Anniland

As always we were having a look at the weather and we knew in a few days it wasn't going to be good, so we decided that we wouldn't go to Goes, but head straight for Middelburg and hunker down there for a few nights. Having made the decision we then decided to stay in Sint Anniland an extra day as the weather was so good. In fact it was so good I decided if you cant beat them join them and had a swim in the marina.

The last morning at Sint Anniland was slightly different. I had just had my shower and was finishing cleaning my teeth when I hear 'Madam, madam'. To cut a very long story short, a lady's back had gone and she needed me to fetch her husband. Now imagine being in absolute pain and trying to converse in a foreign language. She gave me rough directions and I knew her boat's name began with W. Luckily I had the presence of mind to ask for her husband's name. Bear in mind this is a large marina, with sketchy directions off I went looking for a boat beginning with W and a man called Hans. No real luck in my first sortie so off I went back to the showers. I realised I had been looking on the wrong pontoon but the poor lady could not call to mind the pontoon letter or berth number. Off I went again, having narrowed it down to two pontoons. I accosted quite a few men, none of whom were called Hans. I did get some strange looks. On my final sweep, thinking I would be putting my 'Moving and Handling' course to good news, I found a boat beginning with W and knocked calling Hans Hans. I bemused man popped up and luckily I had found the correct husband. I quickly explained the situation and took him to the showers and left them to it.

On my return to our boat, I asked John if he'd been worried as I had been gone a long time. He wasn't, he just thought I'd had to queue for a shower!

In a moment of madness the day before, when there were many gaps around us I said I would take the boat out. I don't like doing this in marinas but do feel occasionally we need to swop roles just in case we need to in an emergency. Even though the marina had filled up considerably John kept me at my word and I had to reverse the boat out and manoeuvre round some other boats - all in reverse. But I did it and once I was in forward gear I felt happier.

I need to be a couple of inches taller or shorter. To see over the canopy I need to stretch and stand on tip toes. To see through the window I need to duck down. Perhaps platform deck shoes could be the answer. Joking apart we often take the canopy down to make life easier.

As the tide was low when we left it was amazing to see how the navigable channel was surround by mud flats.

For us it was quite a long day as we were on the move for nearly 7 hours and covered 27.9 miles - two locks.  Although we arrived at Middelburg at 16.40, we were not moored up until 17.30 as we had to wait for the bridge to open. We had decided to stay three nights until the weather had settled.

My facebook friends will remember that last year the mooring at Middelburg caused a Mrs Doyle moment as I had to jump off the front until a neighbour lent us a stool. Well this year John elected to reverse in - which is not easy in traditional Dutch moorings. We went and cased the berth while we were waiting, the boat next door but one was another British boat and they very kindly came and helped with our ropes. Which was very nice as the heavens had decided to open.

Last year my undignified getting off the boat - prior to the steps, I jumped.

This year John made life so much easier.