Boating in Belgium: Day 2 - Getting the Boat

We got up bright and early and had a very nice breakfast at our hotel. We were out the door by 8:30 and on our way to the train station. We had bought tickets when we arrived yesterday so we were waiting on track 4 ten minutes before our train arrived.

At the train station

On our way...

to Oostende!

We got on and took our seats. About an hour later we were at our destination of Oostende. There we planned to take a tram to Nieuwpoort. We found the tram easily and got on. Before the first stop, David decided we were on the wrong tram, heading in the opposite direction. Another passenger confirmed this. Even though Toby disagreed showing us the map on the tram, we all got off at the next stop (about 2 minutes later). At that stop, a nice local woman helped us to find the right tram. It turned out we had been on the right tram. Fortunately, the next one came 5 minutes later. On that tram, we began talking to a woman sitting behind us and it turned out she was a former Floridian, relocated to Belgium. We were traveling alongside a beautiful beach for a long time. Then, there was an announcement which someone translated to "we all have to get off”. Apparently that tram had reached its destination but we had not. So we waited for our third tram.

Now, we’d been told to get off at the station called “KAAI”. Naturally, there was no such station. Someone had suggested that “Bad” was the tourist area so we planned to get off there. However, while we were at a stop before that, I saw a restaurant called KAAI something, so we decided to get off. I called the cab company and they told us they’d be there in half an hour. So, we went into a nearby restaurant and had soup and waffles….DELICIOUS!! Soon the cab came and we were whisked off to Le Boat!

Waiting for the taxi

Our first Belgian waffles.....do you think Norman wants my waffle??

While we were waiting for our boat to be ready, we went to a nearby restaurant and used their wifi. YAY! Back to the boat for our instructions on its operation and soon, we were on our way. We left with two other boats trailing.

It has been a very windy day but even so, we were all sitting up top with David being the Captain. We had four plastic chairs and a large plastic table. We weren’t out of the marina for five minutes when all of a sudden a gust of wind picked up the table and before anyone could move – it blew over the top of the boat and into the water. One leg snapped off and landed on the boat, another landed in the water and the last two legs were still attached to the table. The two boats behind us tried to grab the floating table with no luck. David circled back and after several tries Norman and I managed to fish it and the leg out of the canal, but not without me getting filthy, a bit wet and breaking a nail. Most important, no one got hit by the flying table and no one ended up in the water!

The rest of the day was uneventful, fortunately. We traveled on about 20 km to the town of Oudenberg where we decided to spend the night. With no stores in sight, we got directions and bicycled to the nearest supermarket where we filled our basket with large bottles of water, juice, soda, milk, wine, fresh fruit, eggs, bread and butter. One interesting thing in the supermarket was that there was a beehive right inside! Then we got outside and realized that we had to carry it all on bikes. Somehow we managed! Then it was time for dinner. Only one restaurant in town and the food was fantastic!!! We ate and drank like royalty. Then a quick bike ride back. Toby and Norman took an extra bike ride and then and we were all on the boat for the night!