First Trip Abroad ? pointers Please

[amatiel]

Hi. Just traded my very old 27ft Stearling Sabre petrol driven 1980s aquatic caravan for a Princess 440, and now I have the added reliability of 2 Volvo 380s and a boat a little bit more stable Im looking to take a trip over to Holland from Great Yarmouth. I last made the trip 20ish years ago on a Broom Ocean 42 and although my navigation , pilotage and RT are up to scratch Im not sure about the procedure of entering Dutch Waters (apart from the P - Flag and Courtesy Flag !)...Do I just blast accross and approach the port as I would coming in to Yarmouth or other UK ports..and will Dutch Harbour People answer my radio calls in english ? Anyone willing to share their experiances and give me some general pointers..... if this goes ok I may even take a trip accross to France.

 

[david_bagshaw]

Only certain ports are deemed as ports of entry,

vlissingen (flushing)

roompot lock in the summer

Rotterdam (vlaardingen)

Ijmuden


There might be others, I do know 2 years ago dutch customs were being very correct with the implementation of the schennigen agreement, sorry about spelling on that one !! and a number of British yachts were fined for non compliance rumour said greater than 500 euro.

Accurate details available from RYA.

Courtesy flag only, as far as I am aware.

Dutch port radio seem to have a better command of English than the average British citizen !

 

[sailorman]

i have never had probs entering Holland in via all, of the North Sea Ports.
last year due to weather we entered the Nieu Waterweg ( Hook-van -Holland) assisted by port control ( Mass Entrance ) who were most helpfull & even arranged that we berth in the "Pilot Stn " foc as we arrived after dark, they talked us in via vhf.
have never been asked for Schengen form yet.
suggest u dont enter via the "Hook" as its very busy try Roompot, Harringvliet or Vlissingen
red diesel is still available just ask for it /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[Andrew38]

Did the trip two summers ago. Went into Vlissingen (the old harbour, which is nearest to the town centre). No problems on arrival, filled in an arrival form with harbour master which he faxed thru' to Immigration and which then covered us for all Schengen countries. Had a visit from Customs the following morning who checked all the ships papers - especially copy of invoice (to show VAT paid). They were very helpful and spoke perfect English. Had pretty much the same when we went into Ostend except they wanted to see engine serial numbers as well!

Much greater concern in Holland are the Le Mans starts they like to peform as the lock gates open. No orderly British style queuing here!

 

[Sea Devil]

You really do not have to do anything when you enter a EU port - Holland, France Belgium, Spain, Portugal etc. You only need to fly the courtesy flag of the country you are visiting - nothing else.

A few big ports require you to contact port control before entering but that is to do with traffic control....

Go into the port or marina - find the visitors pontoon - park up - find the office and pay - sometimes there will be a customs office or guy there as well but he finds you not the other way round.

You should carry your ships papers, the marinas sometimes want to know about your insurance and of course passports. That's it.

Traveling on inland waterways in Europe is a little different.