A Canal on Fire? Who'd Have Guessed?

We awakened the next morning to find out that we weren't transiting the Kiel Canal, the world's busiest artificial waterway, after all.

The captain had announced the previous night after we were in bed asleep that we wouldn't be leaving until morning after all, due to the bad weather. In actuality, we wondered if they'd learned about the fire and were waiting to assess the situation, since we ourselves have been on Regatta in rougher weather than this. On the other hand, maybe it was a coincidence.

In any event, the canal was closed so we now had to sail all the way around Denmark, well over 400 nautical miles, to arrive in Amsterdam a day late and skip the stop at the port of Brugges stop completely. Most of the passenger grumbling was fairly good-natured, since most people understand that special situations, just like the weather, can impact travel plans. Jules Verne's intrepid traveler, Phileas Fogg, who won a bet by traveling Around The World in 80 Days, proclaimed "the unforeseen does not exist," providing one of the most ironic quotations ever about travel.

As we sailed out of Rostock early in the morning rather than late at night, there was a good chance to take some photos of one of the big AIDA cruise ships, luna, as we slipped by. It was mildly interesting to find out later that the giant Carnival Cruise Line company now owns the German-based AIDA.

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Then it was time for some serious sailing. We enjoy sea days and managed to get in touch with the special folks anticipating a Saturday arrival in Amsterdam.
Indeed, there's a bit of rocking this overcast morning, as we watch an adjacent ferry splashing through the waves.


We also managed to sail under one heck of a large bridge and snapped some photos from our balcony.

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