Crossing the North Sea in June 2023, we sailed from the West Frisian Island Vlieland to Whitby in Yorkshire – where James Cook did his navy apprenticeship and his expedition ships were built. Underway we observe an algal bloom by Noctiluca discolouring the North Sea water all red. Whitby is a picturesque town where the approach has to be timed right as the 1909-built steel swing bridge crossing the river Esk only opens at high water ±2 hours. The 235 nautical miles sailing trip back to the West Frisian Island Texel took forty hours.
