The Kiel Canal
As dawn was breaking this morning we finally left the Baltic Sea by entering Holtenau Lock at the end of the Kiel fjord to start our morning canal transit to the River Elbe and out into the North Sea. The Kiel Canal linking these two seas was opened in 1895 by Kaiser Wilhelm II and for many years in bore his name. Built for strategic reasons, even during the Second World War it was left undamaged by the Allies although it housed a major German submarine base: so valuable was the canal to both sides in this sensitive region. The canal is perfectly level; there was no range of hills to traverse. The function of the locks is simply to control the tidal fluctuations of the two great seas connected by the canal. From its opening the canal has been in continuous use and today is the busiest such waterway in the world, handling some 50,000 ships a year. After 100 kilometers we exited the canal at Brunsbuttel Lock (pictured) to begin our journey to the along the Frisian coast of the North Sea to our final destination of Amsterdam.
We closed our afternoon at sea with an open forum chaired by Robin MacNeil that ranged over political, social and economic issues in the Baltic region. At the end of the presentation our guest lecturer from Germany, Herbert Fricke, described the M.S.Endeavour as more like a floating university than a cruise ship; one guest added that he thought the quality of the staff was simply “mind-blowing”. Everyone seemed intent on traveling the Lindblad way again soon.
As dawn was breaking this morning we finally left the Baltic Sea by entering Holtenau Lock at the end of the Kiel fjord to start our morning canal transit to the River Elbe and out into the North Sea. The Kiel Canal linking these two seas was opened in 1895 by Kaiser Wilhelm II and for many years in bore his name. Built for strategic reasons, even during the Second World War it was left undamaged by the Allies although it housed a major German submarine base: so valuable was the canal to both sides in this sensitive region. The canal is perfectly level; there was no range of hills to traverse. The function of the locks is simply to control the tidal fluctuations of the two great seas connected by the canal. From its opening the canal has been in continuous use and today is the busiest such waterway in the world, handling some 50,000 ships a year. After 100 kilometers we exited the canal at Brunsbuttel Lock (pictured) to begin our journey to the along the Frisian coast of the North Sea to our final destination of Amsterdam.
We closed our afternoon at sea with an open forum chaired by Robin MacNeil that ranged over political, social and economic issues in the Baltic region. At the end of the presentation our guest lecturer from Germany, Herbert Fricke, described the M.S.Endeavour as more like a floating university than a cruise ship; one guest added that he thought the quality of the staff was simply “mind-blowing”. Everyone seemed intent on traveling the Lindblad way again soon.
