16/06/09 Terschelling to Cuxhaven bypassing the Fresian Islands and the lows approaching the German Bight...

After having followed the weather forecast for the following three days, we thought it would be best yet again to get up at 04:00 in the morning and to press on to Cuxhaven in the River Elbe and finally to get to Hamburg our first "intermediate" destination, my place of birth. We considered, or better I considered to get some sleep and stop over at Borkum, but the skipper had other plans.
At about 02:00 in the morning of the following day we entered the Elbe estuary. It is a somewhat bewildering amalgamation of buoys, all "sorts" of lights and cardinal buoys. One has to share a very narrow channel with extremely big ships while at the same time keeping out of their way on the threat of a 1000 Euros on the spot fine for non-compliance with the TSS regulations. The shallows extend about 25 miles out to sea. We reached Cuxhaven after about 26 hours for a short rest before exploring on foot the surroundings of Cuxhaven, the Wattenmeer.