So many ships!
Our holiday is slowly but surly coming to an end. We only have a few day left to get back home. This morning we left together with the Greyhound. It was an early rise, but we didn’t leave at ones. There was a dieseltank that needed to be filled and it was a bit messy onboard from the day before. Nothing a little work can fix and at 7:50 AM we were on our way.
Today we went to the Kiel Canal, but first we need to go through the lock. This was really an unbelievable experience. First we had to wait, because two large freighters had to go into the lock. After they laid steady, we were aloud to get in. We were a bit nervous, because normally we try to stay as far away as possible. Now we had to sail by with less than five meters to spare. If you lay right next to them, they feel even bigger.
The lock went smoothly and quite quick and we were aloud to come out before the freighters and were given a ten minute headstart. We thought the would be around us before the first bridge, but it took them till 6:30 PM. But there was a lot to see in between. There were some really cool bridges like the Rendsburger Hockbrucke. On top there is a railroad for the train and under need there was suspension ferry. A platform that hangs under need the bridge with kabels. There is even place for cars on it.
About half way on the channel we saw four marine ships. It’s always special to see those, because they look so differently as other ships. We are always curious were they are going and we think that they are going to Norway, but who are we to tell. Something we learned this holiday is that marine ships never use AIS. Probably so we can’t track them down, but it is something to be aware of when you're sailing trough the night. But something that was even stranger to see is a enormous ship sailing in one direction, with a pilot boat behind it sailing in the other direction just to slow it down to the maximum speed limit.
The ship here really are massive and and after seeing al that we were happy that there still was place left in the harbour for us. We have a nice spot, but we will not be here for long. After a very nice dinner with the Greyhound (Thanks again for that!), we went off to bed. Tomorrow will be a early rise again, but who wants to sleep anyways. There are so much more beautiful places to see.
