A Day Tour on the Grevelingen

Mekicevica and crew are now in late summer mode. The days are getting shorter and cooler, and it rains more often. But we still try to get a bit of sailing.
On Saturday, in a mix of sunshine and showers, we drove to the yacht harbour in Naarden. The vague idea was to move Mekicevica there, and spend next season exploring the area: Gooimeer, IJmeer and trips to Amsterdam, the Markenmeer and the Cleveland coast, with IJsselmeer within easy reach. The downside is the longer commute from land home to floating home.
After that we drove to Bruinisse for a dinner out of Zeeuwse mussels and night aboard.

On Sunday morning there was some sunshine but little wind. We left the harbour late morning and with a light SW wind leisurely moved up the Grevelingen. Our aim was to explore the shallow waters south of the Veermansplaat. In previous occasions we were put off by the many lobster pots and the fact that the bottom looks intimidatingly close. This time we approached from the west, avoiding the lobster pots, and for the depth we had a technical improvement to add to our confidence.

The depth sounder in now mounted on a swing arm and can be used from the cockpit, giving us peace of mind in shallow waters.

This time of the ear there are noticeably fewer boats on the Grevelingen, and this must be the quietest corner. We are not the only ones to be glad for that: the seals also seem to enjoy the calm and one of them followed us around eying us with great curiosity.

This little fella showed a keen interest in Mekicevica.

In the meanwhile, the wind continuously backed and by now we were running before a light easterly wind. It backed even further to the NE and picked-up to about 3 Bf, which allowed us to return always on port tack, with full genoa and doing a pleasant speed.
But it was a bit fresh and we were happy to have a warm cup of soup back in the harbour.
Our timing was perfect: it started raining just as we finished tidying-up Mekicevica in preparation for the gales forecast for the coming week.