Norderney Not a problem

First a few more words about Borkum. We met up again with Val and John in Solera and I suggested a drink at the HM's cafe instead of the onboard routine. But the cafe had closed 1 minute before we got there. So we walked all of 6 minutes round to the other marina on the island and had some beers sitting outside (in coats) looking over the supposedly silted up old marina where lots of boats were arriving. 

The HM has a Scottish wife, and requires a €50 deposit for the key to the toilets and showers. I'm not saying the two are connected. In the morning we asked about our plans for the passage to Norderney and were given more of the dire warnings about the shifting Sands. Aargh.

Originally we had thought to arrive at Norderney at High Water so we'd have as much depth as possible under our keel. But that is 10pm which is a bit late. So we left at noon, calculating an 8pm arrival. The weather was calm with too little wind to sail, which is a good thing for the dreaded Sands. We did get 1 hour of sailing before the wind got weaker than the tide. We admired the low hills and sandy beaches of the East Frisians as we purred along in loose company with 4 other yachts. To our surprise Norderney has high rise blocks, rather a blot but it seems to be quite the German resort. 

We always make our passage plans pessimistically because psychologically and practically it is better to be running early than late. Today we surpassed ourselves and arrived at the much maligned Sands at 6pm, only 2 hours after low water. Emboldened by the calm conditions, a large wind farm vessel roaring down the channel at 20kn and the 4 yachts ahead of us we followed the buoys in and had no problem. 

The next surprise was the marina here which we expected to be small and old-fashioned. Not at all. It is huge (pic), the HM told us where to berth and was v efficient in his office. For one night around here we are paying about £13 compared to more than twice that in the UK. There is a very smart restaurant where a dish costs a lot more than a night's berth, and we had a curry onboard. 

So Norderney is lovely and not at all the problem we expected.