The fleet reaches Willemstad after negotiating some busy locks
Willemstad 51° 41.655N 004° 26.462E
What a day. We are now in Willemstad, a quaint little town, which looked very pretty when we arrived this evening.
Most of the fleet are now unwinding at one of the quayside bars – I can hear the shrieks of laughter in the background as I write.
It’s been a long day all round. Last night’s dinner was raucous so there were probably a few sore heads as we set off from Port Zelande this morning just after 10am – you know who you are!
Today Neale and I were joined on Blue Fin by Joe from Ironic. Our route today took us through three locks and covered a distance of just 25.6nm but took hours due to long queues at the locks and some very unfair jostling for position from some Dutch boats, in fact one even bumped into the stern of Blue Fin, causing Neale to turn a whiter shade of pale and march down to demand his insurance details. The same buffoon also bashed into Summer Breeze but thankfully no damage was done.
But we made it in the end and spirits were high as we waited to enter each lock with crewmembers even jumping ship and the odd bottle of wine soothing fraught nerves.
Tomorrow is a rest day in Willemstad so we will explore the area in daylight, although Rosie has a problem with her port engine which has to be looked at first so hopefully that’s something that can be resolved.
Caption: Tim and Yasmin from Aqaba Sunset try to look on the bright side as they wait to enter the first lock
