The Red Penguins of Breskens

In the salt marsh, a patient grey heron coils ready to spring. The whistling south west wind gusts to force 7 and 8, flattening the sun bleached reeds around it.

Stargazer stays snug on her berth today, well sheltered beneath the sea wall, biding her time to continue our autumn cruise.

I walk into Nieuwpoort, enjoying the warm sunshine on my back and the breeze tugging at the folds of my shirt.

I watch the tugs come and go on the river....

...and try to stay out of the way of legion milling cyclists, bells pinging.

Next day, Stargazer thunders north. She's hard on the wind in 22 - 25 knots of breeze, shouldering her way through the swell in a day long welter of spray.

The powerful flood tide gathers us up off Zeebrugge. Stargazer is logging 9 knots over the ground as it sweeps us into the Westerschelde....

.....past the Nieuwesluis light. The seas mound higher as our wind, from the north east, battles the west going tide.

Stargazer makes fast alongside an older sister: 'Mi Dushi,' a Hallberg Rassy 31 - predecessor to the 310 (Stargazer's model).

We have arrived in the easy going Zeeland port of Breskens, part working fishing port, part sailing resort,

 - under the watchful gaze of the quayside red penguin sculpture.