Port 86 Kiel, Germany

by Ed · June 3, 2022

Hallo! Guten morgen! (Hello! Good morning!)

We arrived in Kiel under heavily clouded skies on Jun 2nd, 2022.

A short way into the Kiel Fjord I saw this cluster of tents on shore – a market, perhaps?

Then we began to turn around. Hmmm, what will my view be like today?

Aha! I see the berth where we will dock! Still not sure what I’ll see, but I know this will be much better than a dirt pile!

The tall spire immediately to my right is…?

The center tower belongs to St Nikolai Church. I’m sorry I can’t go visit! Today’s my last full day of quarantine!

Across the water is the German Naval yards! One ship is at dock. There are several covered repair sites, only one of which is obviously empty.

We finally tie up, and this is my view!

When we get a little sunlight I grab this shot of the statue that is ona tall pedestal behind us. It’s what I see as a monument to sailing! Left hand on a sheet! Right hand on the tiller! Hiked out to starboard! I like it!

The peaked building is the Kiel Maritime Museum Fish Market! The lighthouse in front of it does not appear to work. But it looks good!

The spire over the left end of the building is the Kiel Transmission Tower. We could see it from the water, but it’s hidden from our berth.

A nice puff of wind gave me nearly flat flags! The EU flag on the right, the German national flag in the center, and the local German state flag (Schleswig Holstein) on the left.

As the sun begins to set, the moon shows a beautiful sliver to us! It’s 10:30 PM and the sun is just now setting! Gotta love the northern latitudes!

The waterfront begins to light up!

And the Naval Yard side looks great with the cranes decorated in different colors!

Finally at 2:40 AM we push away from the dock.

It’s amazing how bright the waterfront is a 3 AM!

Four hours later I wake to see we’re in the Kiel Canal! Now it’s Jun 3rd, and I’m free to leave my room!

We passed into the entry lock while I slept. I overheard some who stayed up to watch the event say we were in the lock for more than an hour – a little slow by anyone’s books. We’ll see how it goes on the other side.

Ferries ply the waters back and forth about every two to four miles along this 61 km (38 mile) waterway.

Cute homes occupy the banks periodically. This is the village of Burg. It was interesting to notice many homes are below the level of the berm along the canal, so they reside below sea level! The homes here are among the first I saw that appeared to be above the water level! The white building in this photo says it is the Burger Ferry House.

At this little stop in Kudensee the crane is moving a bucket from the road to the barge. What caught my eye in this scene is the oil slick forming at the front of the crane barge. Not pretty!

We approach a bridge that appears to be surprisingly low. But I guess that is deceiving, otherwise we wouldn’t be going this way!

The horizon is full of windmills! I don’t believe I’ve ever seen as many windmills anywhere else as I have here in Germany! Not even in the huge windmill fields that I saw flying over Texas, New Mexico, or Arizona!

We pass under the bridge! I love this shot – I’m not sure why. The receding line of the bridge? The lush greenery? The windmills?

As we approach the lock at the west end of the Kiel Canal, the windmills continue to fill the horizon! I can still hear Martin Woods’ tongue-in-cheek words, “You can never have too many pictures of windmills!”

Looking in front of us I spotted this swan with her chicks! They are crossing the Canal in front of us – I’m not convinced they will make it! But one of the other passengers confirms they did get clear of the ship, but one of the chicks was on mama’s back.

These fun colored buildings appear from behind the trees! There is a church I try to find back there, but it’s difficult to see anything through the trees. The windmills begin to line up in rows!

Then we’re at the lock! Another ship is coming the other way into the adjoining lock.

Twenty minutes later we are pulling through! Much shorter than what we heard of this morning’s lock passage.

There is a beautiful park at this end of the Canal! There is a swimming pool and a massive slide for the kids! I’m impressed with the trail that follows the length of the Kiel Canal! What a great gift to the people!