West Frisian islands - advice needed!

[PerL]

We will be going from Cuxhaven to Zeebrugge next week en route to the ARC. I would greatly appreciate any input on where to stop on the way.

My daughter (16 months) will be coming with so our reserve days will most likely be decided by her (and her mother...) and for that reason I would like to keep the scheduled stops relatively few. The general idea is to make one stop in Helgoland and one stop in one of the west Frisian islands.

Do you have any recommendations on which island/harbour to go to given that we don't want too big a detour from our passage and that we have a draught of 2m? The Waddeneilanden looks amazing but rather sandy, and we would prefer to see the sand at some distance...

 

[Pye_End]

Most of that area is well worth spending time in. If I had to choose only one then personally I would go to Vlieland.

 

[AliM]

Borkum is all tide, deep access, most of the others need you to pick your tide. Horrible marina, good restaurant.
Ameland is nicer than Vlieland and Terschelling, in my opinion. Oudeschilde (on Texel) is another option - all tide - slightly less twee. They all have good facilities but can get very crowded in the holiday season. They all require a detour from your route along the north of the Frisian islands, because the harbours face south, and the Waddensea is (mostly) too shallow.

 

[AJB43]

I sailed from Ellos to the UK east coast last year.We stopped at Norddeich (big detour behind Nordeney but good train link to Bremen). Our last stop in the Dutch Fresian Islands was Oost Vlieland. Lovely marina with many old traditional boats moored. It was very busy in late June/ early July due to the dutch school holidays. Be prepared to raft up!! Lots of bars and restaurants to tempt you, only 5/10 mins walk from the marina. Its not too much of a detour as it's tucked just inside the Northern end of the island. My boat draws 1.9m and depth was not a problem. Enjoy your trip.

 

[heerenleed]

Vlieland.

I would definitely opt for Vlieland. Yes, it means a detour, but going on in less favourable weather would be possible by the Waddenzee route, time to arrive off Harlingen by local HW and you will have no problem in the shallowest part, called Boontjes S of Harlingen. Also, you will be carried by a fav. tide all the way to Oudeschild and the exit through Marsdiep. Next stop could then be IJmuiden, or, much nicer, Scheviningen. Alternatively, if the weather is really horrible, you could take the inland mast-up route all the way to Vlissingen.

Vlieland has many advantages over the other Dutch Waddeneilanden, as they are called: no cars allowed apart from some local taxis, good mix between woodlands, farmland and dunes, lovely village with all you need. And yes, it gets crowded up to the marina being closed for entering vessels, but, and this is the greatest advantage, it has a very good anchorage opposite the village, in the Vliesloot in approx 4-6 m.
Land your dinghy in the "armpit" of the ferry breakwater.
PM for any precise info you might need.

cheers

 

[PerL]

Thanks to all who answered. We will now aim for Vlieland but we will also have some alternative routes ready if conditions force us to.

Cheers
Per

Arcadia