I’m awake before everyone else, showered and in the mood to set off. There’s a gentle breeze today, which is immediately noticeable – today we’re going to ride. But I have to clarify: Vitte is not on Rügen, but on a long island a few hundred metres to the west called Hiddensee! The two islands are connected by a calm inland sea, smooth as glass now in the early morning. The sun shines out beautifully, glistening over this holiday paradise for German middle-class people, which is also straight out of a picture book. The waters themselves are dangerous for boats with a draught of more than half a metre; as in the Finnish archipelago, the dangers lurk just below the surface, invisible from the ship! That’s why I stick exactly to the (dredged) ditches, which, like a network of roads, ensure safe passage in the inland sea. Floating buoys are anchored to the left and right (that’s why they say these sea waterways are ‘buoyed’).
As beautiful as it is here, I can’t get petrol anywhere – the Germans are driving diesel, even when it comes to shipping. So I have to find the only petrol station in the region near Warnemünde. A tolerable diversion. It gives me the opportunity to stretch my limbs once more.
Warnemünde is more or less Rostock’s harbour; a super marina was built here after reunification. This is the home of the haute bourgeoisie as the super-beautiful yachts impressively show: harbour show-offs! – Do they ever leave?
Then it’s straight on; the sea has calmed down noticeably overnight: it gets exciting between the mainland and the island of Fehmarn (which is connected by a bridge visible from afar), where the narrow waterway forces shipping traffic into a bottleneck. But the ArgoFram is manoeuvrable; I whiz through the passage without crowding the many sailing ships in the slightest – I positively enjoy the elegant evasion: look here, here I come and I don’t have to push! I overtake at a great distance because I glide along as if I were in the air.
Attention is also required by the many fishing nets that are laid out after this strait. But otherwise it’s straight to Kiel Bay and the lock into the Kiel Canal. The lock itself is much less impressive than expected; only the really big barges that squeeze through the canal show the economic importance of this canal: It is better to go through here than to take the long way around Denmark.
But canal sailing is not the favourite topic of my ArgoFram, it is simply not designed for it. 15 kilometres per hour is the maximum allowed… That’s why I switch off one engine and consume (per kilometre) practically the same amount of fuel as when I drive over 60 km/h with two engines! Running a glider in displacement mode is torture, I think.
Before I reach Rendsburg, I decide not to go into the centre of this small town, but to moor in a harbour a bit off the beaten track and spend the night. Reason: there are bicycles in this harbour, and with them I can ride into the centre, with muscle work, the very neglected after all. Five kilometres there and with a diversion about eight back – a relief.