19/08/26 Arneplaat to Den Osse (via Bruinisse for Pizza and Chips!)
A 10:30 start to make optimum use of tides in the Oosterschelde. It already felt reasonably lively and Patrick had even opted to wear his boots.... I stayed barefoot but was wearing oilies by the time we left.
Patrick and AJ made sure the reef in our mainsail was ready to go. As the wind was behind us we just used the headsail to get us down to the lock where we were entertained by a small dog that seemed intent on trying to jump in to the water... we think he was interested in the jellyfish!
Once through the lock we just used our old favourite combo of headsail and mizzen to head up towards the Zeelandbrug before putting the main up for the run up to Bruinisse. Sadly, as the day went on the wind got lighter and lighter and in the end we motor sailed the last stretch to Bruinisse Lock as we still had a way to go to get to Den Osse. Once through the lock we could smell..... CHIPS! and were reminded of the fact that the shop at the big marina does Pizza too. We ducked into the marina and were allowed to tie up at the fuel pontoon just long enough to order and collect before making our way up to Den Osse.
20/08/26 Shopping in Zierikzee
I'd worked out that it was market day in Zierikzee so much to our friend Sam's amusement I dragged Patrick along for a mooch and a provisioning run. After a false start a the first car park (we'd only ever been to the big out of town supermarkets by car, or the town centre by boat) we found a car park with some space. We then had a lovely walk into the town centre to the market. Zierikzee really is beautiful.
Unfortunately the market wasn't quite as fantastic as Tripadvisor had promised, but we did find an amazing deli and bought awesome cheese and continental sausages before heading to Lidl and Albert Heijn for supplies for the next week.
21/08/26 Den Osse
Friday was a jobs kind of day. Patrick as ever was pottering.... I can't even remember what with, whilst AJ and I put the heat shrink we had now found on the battery cable connector we had fitted at the start of the trip. AJ also moved the connectors around to bypass the common negative switch we have in our engine bay. Despite having fitted the new connector at the start of the trip, later on we still had the same problem of trying to start the engine killing all power, both domestic and engine. I had "fixed" this by turning the negative switch off and back on again, so now suspect that the switch needs replacing. Bypassing it for now may help us prove if this is the case.
We got a load of laundry done and I miraculously convinced the boys that we should buy tickets and stick around for the Den Osse Beach Party the next night, along with a German/English couple we had met earlier in the year.
Lunch was a boat favourite (taking advantage of E not being around) of Thai Sweetcorn fritters and sweet chilli sauce, and then we followed up with an evening meal of Chicken Masaman.
22/08/26 Den Osse Beach Party
In return for the boys attending the beach party, we had another jobs day and I was tasked with going through lockers to see what we could get rid of. But not before a brunch of a kind of kedgeree made from the leftover curried fish from our Lidl shop.
First up was the heads lockers... and the First Aid kit. Needless to say everything was out of date, and before our big trip next year (assuming all goes to plan) we will need to restock. We are gradually making lists of "non-negotiables" and "nice to have" jobs and items to be taken care of before next July. We have arranged to be lifted out at Brouwershaven and talked to the boatyard about what work we think is a priority but equally we are due an insurance survey so will be guided by that too.
After getting rid of an insane amount of out of date/redundant bottles etc the cupboards look altogether more organised and I even found the part of the toilet roll holder that had been missing for over a year! We had a late lunch followed by showers then off to the Beach Party. Club members had made the beach are look very decorative, and we could exchange tokens for cocktails, beer, wine, chicken satay and spicy prawns. It was nice to get to know the German/English couple better and we all had a good evening, although we did head back way before the party finished.
23/08/26 Den Osse to Ossehoek
After a prolonged stay at our home port (never really a hardship) we decided to head out to the islands for a few nights before (hopefully) Esme returns and we need to start getting Laurin ready to be lifted out for the winter. We had a lovely sail round Hompelvoet and back to Ossehoek where we gently nosed in to a small harbour, choosing the outermost pontoon until Patrick could take a walk with our leadline to check depth on the rest of the jetties. We had some discussion about if Ossehoek would be too exposed overnight with the wind both building and changing direction. In the end we decided to risk it as the next night would be even worse so we wanted to save the shelter of Stampersplaat for then. As the day went on, some day trippers left and we were joined by some Dutch Sea Scouts in their small steel boats which they use for camping.
24/08/26 Ossehoek to Stampersplaat.
It was a rocky, rolly and creaky night, and at numerous points I wished we were in Stampersplaat, however we survived... and much better than the boat on the outside of our pontoon. Pretty much everybody in the little harbour were up early and getting ready to head off and we joined the flotilla of boats heading away from Ossehoek.... most in the direction of Stampersplaat. Luckily I managed to manoeuvre Laurin into a remaining space on the Quay and we settled down for a second breakfast for Patrick and I, first for AJ who didn't quite make it up in time for round one!
Another jobs day in beautiful surroundings.. Patrick cleared out the cockpit whilst AJ and I reorganised the forepeak and under the kids bunks. AJ's bunk now hides both paddleboards, the asymmetric spinnaker and the old dragon sail that we use as a mizzen staysail and as a man overboard recovery device. WIN. Esme's bunk is now dedicated to maintenance stuff and the forepeak actually has some space for bags etc if needed.... oh, and we can now shut the door! We did a lot of measuring and researching.... our out of date EPIRB can be serviced to give us another 10 years life for a reasonable cost, and we found a blue sky solar controller that wasn't fitted in the last refit which I think we can make good use of now. So much on board has a 10 to 12 year life and it's now 11 years since we first came over to the Netherlands, 9 years since we set of for the Med. Lots of things need updating but unless we are definitely doing big trips again then we can make a judgement call about priorities.
When clearing out the forepeak I found my sail repair kit so took the time to fix our wind scoop which had some small holes in it, repaired one of the seams and sealed the ends of the ropes. Patrick repacked the dinghy and measure it up for a new bag as well as tidied the anchor locker, deciding what could come off the boat once we get back to Den Osse. We have no need for a petrol can or 2-stroke oil as we don't have an outboard any more. We probably also don't need to carry quite so many spare fuel cans! All in all quite a productive day!
Friday was a jobs kind of day. Patrick as ever was pottering.... I can't even remember what with, whilst AJ and I put the heat shrink we had now found on the battery cable connector we had fitted at the start of the trip. AJ also moved the connectors around to bypass the common negative switch we have in our engine bay. Despite having fitted the new connector at the start of the trip, later on we still had the same problem of trying to start the engine killing all power, both domestic and engine. I had "fixed" this by turning the negative switch off and back on again, so now suspect that the switch needs replacing. Bypassing it for now may help us prove if this is the case.
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