Playtime in the tide-free protected waters of Netherland’s inland waterways was over. The proverbial school-yard bell was ringing, calling us back to our main purpose at hand… finding our way into the Baltic Sea. Not only were we entering back into tidal waters, but into a stretch of narrow shallow estuaries running out to the North Sea that required precise planning so that we wouldn’t run aground. We would need to leave on a rising half tide, allowing us enough deep water for the next 6 hours before the water level started falling below half tide again. The winds were howling at our anchorage in the morning behind the Kornwerderzand lock from a low pressure system that blew through overnight, and we briefly considered tucking back into our berth to wait it out for another day. The clutches of a warm bed can be a powerful separator from one’s goals.
