... try and find us

We've been here before . Helgoland (or Heligoland in English) has the distinction of being part of Germany but far enough offshore to be outside the EU trading zone.  This means that it is exempt from charging tax.  Tobacco, alcohol and (most importantly for us) diesel is much cheaper than just 30 nautical miles to the south east. It is actually two islands, the main island Helgoland and Düne. In 2025, as we were on our way to The Netherlands to put Chinook on the hard for the winter, we detoured as we exited the Kiel Canal and stopped to quickly fuel up.  The winds were fair and we were keen to beat a nasty storm ( Storm Amy)  brewing in the North Sea, so we merely spent an hour at the fuel dock and did not go ashore. In 2026, after Chinook was back in the water and we had returned to Cherbourg for some warranty repairs, we made specific plans to stop again on our voyage back to the Baltic to top up with fuel at (roughly) a 35% discount. On 500 - 600 li...

... and many of the things Den Helder is known for. After an overnight sail and weaving our way between wind farms and Traffic Separation Schemes, we arrived at the mandatory reporting buoy of the channel into Den Helder just before dusk.  Den Helder is the main base of the Royal Netherlands Navy. so they like to know who is coming and going.  After reporting our position and our intentions (entering the harbour and then the marina), we were told, "Proceed." By the time we had worked our way up the channel, it was dark.  So we entered the Den Helder Harbour with a strong cross current and a confusing array of lights from ships, navigation marks, buildings ashore, cranes, barges and cars.  Even trying to locate the entrance was a leap of faith, leaning heavily on our modern navigation technology.  Den Helder Harbour.  Add traffic lights, illuminated signs, some buildings with lights on and car and truck headlights and tail lights and you can imagine ...