Cruising the Delta and the Biesbosch

We have gently eased into the gentle art of cruising in the Netherlands.

Restored Botter yachts in Veere

Thus after a couple of weeks getting the flavour of Zeeland, and enjoying the hospitality of the Middleburg Yacht club. We were joined there by a NZ couple Bruce and Val.
Underway again, the Town of Veere deserved another visit at the north end of the Middleburg canal, Once a major seaport when the wool trade with Scotland thrived, now it has become a picturebook tourist village.
Then We ventured once more onto the Meers, or landlocked waters lying between the delta islands.

Morning visitor at our Veersemeer mooring

The Dutch have created isolated island moorings in these meers.Here we moored free and woke up to find deer grazing close by in the morning.

Lift bridge at Zierikzee

Windmills and barge on the Hollandsdiep

Once more through the busy Zandkreek lock and a left turn took us to the old fishing port of Zierikzee. When sailing here as a lad on the old family boat it was one of my mothers favourite stops.

The Ark, built to the original dimensions!

Just around the bend outside Dordrecht we find the Ark! built by an excentric Dutchman over the last year or two, what is he trying to tell us?

A quiet mooring in the Biesbosch

Windmills are still part of the Netherlands landscape, once they were used to drain the land, now the modern versions provide power, These wind generators are everywhere here and after a while you don't notice them.
  Moving slowly inland we stopped at Willemstad and then Dordrecht, Here four commercial waterways meet, It is said to be the busiest maritime junction in Europe.
In contrast to this bustle and just to the south is the Biesbosch a huge wetland sanctury where we found a quiet mooring for the night among the reeds.
The last night aboard for our guests. Wind and rain and low water, greeted us in the morning, and the semi tidal creeks tested our skill with the echo sounder, we made our way south through the lattice of channels
Finally and With some relief we came to the deep waters of the river Amer and Drimmelen Marina.

Excuse the editing some if these pics have ended up out of step with the story
I will use the excuse that my screen is all in Dutch.
Cheers Charles and Annie