After touring the boat and deciding we knew it was the one for us, we drove to Amsterdam to the boat show and met Alexander, who called the seller and presented our offer. In a few minutes time we had bought our boat! We asked Alexander to install an oven and paint the name we had chosen (De Halve Maen, the name of Henry Hudson’s ship when he sailed to North America) so it would be the first of October before we would take possession and sail to Belgium, but still months ahead of schedule. To show the class of these people, the dealer opened a bottle of champagne for us to celebrate the purchase of our boat! We were so excited!
We soon discovered that the boat registration process in Belgium is much more complex than the procedures in the Netherlands. Even though this was the case, we assembled everything we needed except one piece of paper, but unfortunately this document could not be obtained without our identity cards, which after months we still don’t have (more on this later) and the earliest possible date for these cards would be November 10th. We would either have to leave De Halve Maen in Scharendijke for the fall and winter or come up with another plan. Alexander suggested we sail to Sas Van Gent, which is on the Dutch/Belgian border about 30 minutes north of Gent by car. That way we could still visit our boat regularly and then move it down to Gent as soon as the final paper was obtained. This became our plan. Sas Van Gent literally means lock of Gent. It was an old lock built as part of the fortifications of the Flemish city which dates back to the 1600's.
Our good friends John and Josiane Morris offered to help us bring down De Halve Maen. Josiane drove us all up to Scharendijke and John sailed down with us. It was a wonderful two day transit with an overnight stay in Wemeldinge in the Netherlands. We crossed the Grevelingen Meer, passed through the lock at Bruinisse, sailed along the Oosterschelde, and after a night in Wemeldinge we dodged ocean going commercial traffic on the Westerschelde before entering the final lock at Teneurzen. After reaching Sas Van Gent we were greeted by Celine and her daughter Olivia who brought us all back to Gent.
We soon discovered that the boat registration process in Belgium is much more complex than the procedures in the Netherlands. Even though this was the case, we assembled everything we needed except one piece of paper, but unfortunately this document could not be obtained without our identity cards, which after months we still don’t have (more on this later) and the earliest possible date for these cards would be November 10th. We would either have to leave De Halve Maen in Scharendijke for the fall and winter or come up with another plan. Alexander suggested we sail to Sas Van Gent, which is on the Dutch/Belgian border about 30 minutes north of Gent by car. That way we could still visit our boat regularly and then move it down to Gent as soon as the final paper was obtained. This became our plan. Sas Van Gent literally means lock of Gent. It was an old lock built as part of the fortifications of the Flemish city which dates back to the 1600's.
Our good friends John and Josiane Morris offered to help us bring down De Halve Maen. Josiane drove us all up to Scharendijke and John sailed down with us. It was a wonderful two day transit with an overnight stay in Wemeldinge in the Netherlands. We crossed the Grevelingen Meer, passed through the lock at Bruinisse, sailed along the Oosterschelde, and after a night in Wemeldinge we dodged ocean going commercial traffic on the Westerschelde before entering the final lock at Teneurzen. After reaching Sas Van Gent we were greeted by Celine and her daughter Olivia who brought us all back to Gent.
We have returned to Sas Van Gent several times . We try to go once a week, and we take the bus from Gent, changing once with a half an hour wait in the cold wind. Once there, we typically go to the local store to buy groceries, (Chris likes the Dutch split pea soup) and to the outdoor market to buy a round of Gouda. and make a lunch on board, take a walk around the town, and the nearby harbor, and then make coffee on board and head home. We are thoroughly enjoying our time in this small Dutch city which is so close to our home but so different from Gent and typically Dutch in architecture. Chris has become bff’s with the havenmeester, a little old retired baker guy with scraggly teeth who watches over the boat while we are away. Soon we will bid farewell to Sas Van Gent and sail down to our homeport in Gent.