04/08/2022 Vlissingen to Mosselplaat (Veerse Meer)

 A morning run to the nearby Lidl minus AJ who wanted a little alone time.... Laurin seems to be getting smaller as the kids grow!  A requirement for more soft drinks caused some regret at not replacing the "granny shopper" when the one we had travelling finally bit the dust. In the end we got the drinks first and Patrick headed back to drop them off before returning to help us with the rest of the shopping. I love the challenge of shopping in a foreign supermarket, trying to find interesting new foods to try without completely blowing the budget, however it always takes twice as long as at home.

Back to the boat for yet another pastry breakfast and then a spot of hand washing as the machine at the marina was broken. Despite me giving both the males in our family detailed packing lists, and ensuring all clothes were washed ready for packing, they both appear to have run out of T-shirts already. I don't actually mind handwashing on the boat, it saves money and really doesn't take that much more time than carting a bag full of laundry up to a machine and having to go back to check periodically... it also saves money! However I might have overestimated how much we could do at once and we spent the rest of the day trying to get it dry by rotating what was hung where.

At 12:30 we extracted ourselves from the box mooring ready for the 12:42 bridge opening. My boat handling skills must have improved with all the locks in the French Canals as I was a lot calmer about the multitude of boats mulling around waiting with us. Soon enough we got the RED GREEN lights that tell the moored boats to start their engines, and then the traffic stopped and the bridge lifted. The convoy of boats rushed through followed by a solitary commercial boat.

Onwards through several bridges before the "fleet" were split to get through the series of 2 bridges at Middleburg which are not allowed to be opened at the same time. There wasn't space for all the yachts plus the commercial boat so the bridge let 2/3 go through while we had to wait. Not long though and we were moored up at Jos Boone for diesel. 2.05Euros per litre 

Onwards to the Veerse Meer where we hunted around for one of the free island moorings we'd been reading about. Finally found one and have enjoyed chilling out and a BBQ this evening as well as watching the local rescue squad practice close quarters boat handling.