Copenhagen-Kastrup Strandpark
On the way at 6:30, the usually busy Copenhagen harbour were quiet, we motored to Kastrup Strandpark, were the boat was cleaned, polished and tidied in anticipation of the arrival of the ships Second Dog and First Mate. They arrived close to midnight with plane from Frankfurt.
The harbour is quite new, build in 1985, and has about 2000 moorings.
By the harbour office there is a well equipped boat chandler.
Just when the picture of the harbour was taken, I heard a swoosh above my head and it was a flock of swans on they way to their night dwelling.
Kastrup Strandpark - Rödvik
Leaving the harbour, we entered the busy fairway past Copenhagen, so we didn't set sails before leaving the queue, at Dragør.
We sailed trough the day in nice 8-18m/s westerly wind.
The Rödvik harbour was quite full, but we managed to get alongside as the fourth boat by the pier.
Rödvik- Klintholm
Not much wind to start with, but after a couple of miles, we got it and could reach nicely past the cliffs of Mön,
before turning west and into the harbour of Klintholm. The first mate reported, that there is a nice path along the cliffs, where she took the first dog on an extended trip.
The harbourmaster got quite upset when I told him in Norwegian that he could speak Danish - he tought I made fun of him, because he was only speaking German?!
The City of Klintholm is not big, so shops and restaurants were close by.
It's
about time to present the ships First and Second Dog. The First
Dog is a German shepard that one day about two years ago came down
from the mountains, he is about 3 and a half years old. He is an
able seaman ( he was sailing the Swedish coast, and even crossed
over to Denmark last year.
The Second Dog is a spanish waterdog¹ that hates water - it makes him freeze up! He was found wandering a garbage dump in a nearby city. He is about a year old, and is still in many ways a puppy. He is rookie sailor, since he has only a couple of days on a boat, but he is adjusting rapidly. ¹ We down't actually know what kind of breed he is, so if anyone out there has a clue - please send us a message!
Klintholm - Barhöft
The German courtesy flag went up this morning, and we left at 07:30, at first there were no wind, but after half an hour and some Danish pastry, it arrived and carried us quickly across the Bay of Mecklenburg, and this is the 360˚ view we had:
use the scroll bar
Here is the German welcoming committee on Rügen. The waters around the island are shallow and navigable mainly in dredged channels.
Then we are in old East Germany, this harbour is new since last time we were at Rügen.
Its a cosy harbour next to a nature park with hiking paths all over the place, but full of mosquitoes when the wind is not present. In fact it can be compared to the Everglades!
Barhöft is also harbour for SAR (search and rescue), the Customs and the pilots. The pilot boat is not used much I presume, because a swallow was nesting just below the gunwale.
Barhöft - Stralsund
From the sea we got this lovely view of Stralsunds old city, which is surrounded by water: sea, lakes and channels. The city of Stralsund was founded in 1234 and granted "Lübeck law". It was so successful, that Lübeck burned it down 1249. Afterwards the city was rebuild with a massive city wall, 11 gates and 30 watch towers. Not less than 300 ships were flying the flag of Stralsund during the 14th century, when the city was a member of the hanseatic league. Nowadays Stralsund is the port of registry for the former German Reichsmarine Navy Sail Training ship "Gorch Fock" 1. and the Brick Gothic historic centre is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Stralsund harbour got quite big since the last time we were here, about 8 years ago.
The city is soooo beautiful. Don't look at pictures, go and visit instead.
New architecture meets old - The new Oceanium aquarium, (in the background) is worth a visit.
We did some extensive shopping for food, which proved to be not so simple, as there were no larger food stores in the city centre.
harbour day in Stralsund
Stralsund - Lubmin
The old bridge in Stralsund is too low for our 20 meter mast, so we timed the departure with the opening of the bridge. After the bridge we sailed in the dredged fairways out to the Bay of Greifswald, where the waters open up a bit more, and we could set a straight course for Lubmin. Well It turned out to be the wrong course, had plotted in a industrial pier a bit west of our intended destination, but when we discovered that it was not a sheltered harbour, and that no other sailboats were moored there, we quickly turned east. We entered the channel opening surfing at 9 knots, and with 35knots wind sideways, the mooring were a bit of a challenge.
The harbour of Lubmin was built just 2 years ago, it is actually constructed in the man made channel going in to a nuclear reactor. This reactor was close to become the Chernobyl number two, but was shut down in 1989 due to stricter regulations. In the picture you can see the nuclear plant at the end of the pier, with the red warning lights of the chimneys. At the pier, an old passenger boat was serving the purpose as both harbour office, bar and restaurant, and after dinner we enjoyed some nice desserts there!
Harbour day in Lubmin
The First Mate had some (payable) work to do and wireless internet was available, so we spent another day in the harbour.
Lubmin - Swinoujscie
In the mouth of the harbour, this leading light, built as a windmill, greeted us.
If getting in to the harbour was a challenge, then getting out was a challenge too! We had to wait out two heavy squalls, with wind up to 33knots before our 7.5HP bow thruster would push us away from the quay. Half the day, we again followed tight fairways in zigzag to get out into the bay of Pomerania, where we could head directly to Swinoujscie, with the Polish courtesy flag hoisted. We had read that in order to enter a harbour in Poland you have to ask over radio for permission, and in fact we were granted access, or as the traffic controller said; "yeah, you might!" ( Talking to other people in the harbour, it turned out that this formality is no longer used, and they were surprised that we got an answer at all......)