Zeebrugge – Dunkerque 40,8 nm
It’s Sunday! And the alarm clock rings again at 6 o’clock in the morning!!! How could this have happened to us? But the tide wants it that way. If we don’t want to have the current against us, we have to get out early. At least the weather isn’t super foggy like in 2007. We have a slight haze at the beginning, but as the sun rises, visibility becomes clearer and clearer. However, it has to be said that we didn’t really miss much back then when we saw absolutely nothing of the coast. Sandy beach after sandy beach, dune after dune and high-rise housing estate after high-rise housing estate. From Dunkerque, you can already see the mighty harbor and industrial facilities 20 nm ahead. Not so nice at first glance. But fortunately the actual town looks different.
As the NNE wind and wind force 1-2 are not strong enough for sailing, we once again motor the whole way. Instead, we are able to observe porpoises and seals and notice that the water has now taken on a much greener color. We reach Dunkirk around midday and are able to moor alongside in the Grand Large marina without any problems. We are getting really good at mooring maneuvers. It’s not really difficult in these weather conditions, though. After a small lunch snack and a short breather, we saddle up the bikes and go for a short bike ride. First to the beach promenade of Malo-les-bains and then into the city of Dunkerque. There’s not much going on on Sunday afternoon and we’re back on board after an hour. Just in time to greet Jens from the Marieke, who has moored behind us. Unfortunately, he has to change berths again, but afterwards he drops by for a mooring beer at our rooftop bar. We have a nice chat and exchange experiences about countries, people and moorings (great alliteration, isn’t it?!). After Jens has left us again, we fire up the barbecue and once again enjoy a Heligoland beef fillet with bruschetta. Afterwards, we make a few phone calls back home until it’s time for an early night again.
After a quiet night, we wake up early in the morning to the hustle and bustle of the harbor. There are fishermen, pilot boats and tugs moored next to the marina, so it’s already very busy early in the morning. No problem, the weather promises to be good and so we are quickly in the cockpit and have breakfast in the first sunlight. After office work in the morning, it’s off on the bikes at lunchtime. Shopping. We find a small Carrefour City and are able to replenish our supplies on board. Back on board, we finally scrub the cockpit. We pick up all the cushions and upholstery and clean as much as we can. In the end, everything looks tiptop again and the cockpit gleams in the sun. As a reward, we have a glass of sparkling wine in our rooftop bar in the late afternoon. After a delicious tortellini salad in the evening, we set off again on foot in the glorious evening sunlight. We walk past the FRAC Grand Large – Hauts-de-France art museum and over the pretty suspension bridge to Malo-les-bains on the beach promenade. Life is bustling on the seemingly endless sandy beach and we treat ourselves to a delicious ice cream for dessert. On the way back, we are entertained with bagpipe music and hip-hop dancing and finally end up back on board. The beautiful summer evening ends in the cockpit (wonderfully clean here!) and Lucky the cat keeps us company throughout the evening.
The next morning starts even earlier than yesterday’s! We are woken by loud shouts of „Stop! Stop!“ and see a mast coming towards us through our small aft hatch. Fortunately, there is no loud bang and we are not rammed. But we are awake now. A Bali catamaran has moored behind us, which apparently still needs a bit of practice mooring. After a small breakfast, we start the day’s work: we clean our water tanks. The water in our tanks smells bad and, in our opinion, is not of good drinking quality. So we bought PuraTank in Zeebrugge and hope that the cleaning will bring about an improvement. First, the tanks are emptied and then refilled with PuraTank. The whole thing is then left to work for 24 hours before being thoroughly rinsed with fresh water. As agreed, Jens from Marieke knocks on the door at 10 a.m. on the dot and we make our way to the Dunkirk 1940 Operation Dynamo museum a little later. The museum provides a vivid account of the evacuation of British and French troops from the beaches around Dunkirk during the Second World War. Afterwards, we head back on board and I get back to the computer. After our work is done, we take the bikes for a short trip into the center of Dunkirk. We take a look at the town hall and the Belfry – a rebuilt historic tower from which, according to the internet, you can enjoy a great view of the entire town – and end up at the E.Leclerc supermarket, where we buy a few ingredients for dinner on board. Afterwards, we drive along the harbor for a while and stop by the fish store La Halle. Although our mouths are watering there, we don’t buy any of the delicious seafood for the time being, but decide to stop there for lunch the next day. We continue to the harbor area, where we make a short stop at the ship chandler UShip Bleu Marine. In addition to 10 meters of rubber band, we buy two folding seat cushions for our rooftop bar. So we can sit there even more comfortably! Fully loaded, we carefully ride our bikes back to the marina, where we try out the new cushions straight away. Not only do we have a great view of the harbor and the sailors‘ activities from the roof. We also spot a seal that seems to be interested in a few scraps from the fishermen next door. In the evening, Jens comes over for a barbecue and we share our sailing experiences until late in the evening.
We had actually planned to continue our journey today, but once again the wind is not on our side. With a westerly force 4 and current against the wind, we prefer to stay in the harbor. We make the most of the day and give La Ola a few more maintenance sessions. I tackle the deck hatches and clean all the frames and hatches of the thick dirt that has probably accumulated there over several months. I also treat all the rubber seals with care product so that they stay nice and tight. Meanwhile, Axel takes care of the port forward cabin. Lucky the cat has his cabin there and we have decided to remove the bathroom door, as it is always in the way. The door is carefully stowed away after removal and the cabin is given a good clean. Lucky is rather skeptical about this, but doesn’t mind spending the day in his Fluffy in the saloon. The tank cleaning campaign we started yesterday will also be completed by emptying, rinsing and refilling the tanks. Hopefully the water quality will now improve a little! As the weather looks better for tomorrow, we get La Ola ready for sea in the afternoon and put everything back in its place. In the evening, the galley remains cold today, but we don’t go to the Wienerwald, but to the Bako restaurant in Malo-les-bains. There we enjoy delicious prawns with rice and vegetables, as well as gratinated crab meat. Very tasty, served quickly and not too expensive. The ambience and the comfort of the chairs are debatable. Apart from that, it was a quiet evening and we were looking forward to continuing our journey to Boulogne sur Mer. Although, unfortunately, it will probably be another motor-only trip.