Tuesday 7th May – Volkeraksluizen and Willemstad

Early in the morning, we arranged with the lock keeper to go through the enormous commercial lock and lifting bridge, as our mast is too high for the fixed bridge over the yacht lock.  This involved him stopping all the rush hour motorway traffic, and opening the massive lock and bridge just for us!

It was then a short trip to Willemstad.

We spent the rest of the day in Willemstad, a really charming small town.  We were able to tie up alongside the quay in the centre of the town – very convenient for everything.  It was briefly warm enough to get the bimini up …

… and put our shorts on, but I’ll spare you the pix of that until we’ve got a bit of a tan!

Willemstad was fortified in Napoleonic times – it is protected by a large moat and dyke laid out in a star shape, with bastions at each point of the star.  It took about 45 minutes to walk all the way round. The weather is really Spring-like now, warm and sunny with everything looking lovely and green.

We had a pleasant evening stroll around the port and took this picture of Astraia alongside the town quay.