Holland

[Scaramoosh]

We are thinking of taking the boat to Holland this summer for 2 weeks. Any suggestions for places to go / avoid and the title a good cruising guide would be great.

 

[rickp]

Willemstad and Zierikzee are great places to visit - so make sure they're on your list.

Rick

 

[sailorman]

Goes
SAS van Goes for a quiet stop-over
Kats Marina for superb Fish served in the Clubhouse
Sternberg - Via Tholen would be ok for a mobo - is an interesting trip (rather akin to the Norfolk Broads) + very cheap moorings
Veere + a trip up the Church Tr superb panoramic views
The Gravelingen

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

Middelburg is worth a visit... and makes a good stop after a Vlissingen entry into the canals....

If you like peace and quiet, then find an anchorage/pontoon in the Veersemeer...

Second Zierikzee... very quaint, and excellent restaurants..

Avoid Roompot unless you have to.... very 'holiday camp'... only useful for a quick exit through the Roompot sluis....

A good book is Cruising guide to the Netherlands by Brian Navin....

 

[fluffc]

I'd second Goes - delightful town, even though a few miles up a canal.

Veerse Meer for a tranquil overnight.

Middleburg excellent place to stop after entry at Vlissingen.

 

[segaerta]

Phandango,

The Zeeland area is one of our favorites, have just been there two weeks ago. We live quite nearby.

After entering the lock at Vlissingen (small lock, many boats)

you get past the Amels site in Vlissingen where they build mega yachts like this :

Via a straight canal, you get to Middelburg which is a very nice town that has a harbor almost in the town centre, with good accomodation and nice restaurants.

You can stroll in the city and enjoy many Belgian beers (as a Belgian, I wouldn't recomment the beers from Holland)

Then continue on the inland canals to the lovely city of Veere on the Veerse Meer.

The Veerse Meer may be very busy during summer months. It's beautiful but relatively small and much traffic of all sorts of watersports (surfers, kites, small sailing boats) so you have to watch out.

From the Veerse Meer, you enter the Oosterschelde where there are many harbours and then you can continue for hours and hours. It's a vast area inland with many harbours and places to moor.

South, there's the nice port of Wemeldinge.

where you can take the canal south to the Westerschelde again at Hansweert and from there you can go upstream to the port of Antwerpen, eventually all the way to Gent and then back to Terneuzen.

It's a difference cruising area from South coast of the UK but it definitely has it's charms.

PM me for more information if you like.

Best of luck,
Alain

 

[mainshiptom]

Make it three weeks because you will never want to come back!

I agree with all the recommendations above

Tom

 

[theguvnor]

The most informative post this year (for me anyway) Thanks

 

[miket]

Believe it!!
It only takes a few days of rough weather on the way up and you'll be weather watching as soon as you get there.
We are chartering from Sneek (NE side of Ijselmeer) because I can't get 3 weeks and the boat we now have is not suitable anyway.
We have done the southern part 3 times and still love it but looking forward to a change in the Friesland Lakes area.

 

[Hurricane]

Here we go - loads of photos
Bit of a taster for you.

And the, as Rick says - Dont forget the forum restautant at Willmanstead

Here

I also have a couple of video clips that capture the mood of the place.

Try these
Clip 1
Clip 2

Hope I havent bored you - It's a great place to cruise.
Go for it.

Mike

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

Great piccies guys!

Reminds me of why we love going to Holland so much!

 

[kingfisher]

Also don't forget that you can reach Antwerp at the end of the Westerscheld, and also Ghent centre through the canal Ghent-Terneuzen. For going to Ghent you will need to get the inland waters road tax sticker (10€ I believe).

Colect periwinkles underneath the rocks at 51°32'278N, 003°55'207 (waiting pontoon for the Goese Sas) Dive for oysters at the pontoon at 51°32'455N, 003°51.629, 2 m deep, but wear garden gloves (shells are sharp as glass). diving for lobsters is abig no-no. fishing without permit is limited to two lines per boat.

Goes
Zierikzee
Willemstad
If depth<1m and you have plenty of time go to Biesbosch estuary

 

[Scaramoosh]

Thank you all for your ideas and pictures, cant wait to get there. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[david_bagshaw]

take a look here zierekzee which i did a few years ago,

Dutch southern estuaries are gods wonderful waters !!

 

[rickp]

Alas, your website hoster is setting 'Content-Type: text/plain' on that webpage - so it doens't render as a webpage in Firefox for me /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif Its probably fine in IE, which tries to trust the extension (and why it gets into so much trouble security wise).

Rick

 

[Hurricane]

Arhhh Rick
Thats what happens when you dont use Microsoft products.

For right or for wrong that page works in IE.
I know - you've probably got loads of reasons why Firefox is better but I always go with the flow!!! and follow like a sheep.

 

[david_bagshaw]

Thanks for that I obviously have a lot to learn on html yet
give this a go instead !!
web page

not used firefox much as always getting errors!