Wadden Sea | We WALKED to a German Island!

Fernweh, a German word that describes best what we're all about. Its literal translation is aching for distant places. We are a German-American family that met traveling and has kept that passion alive ever since. We are the Fernweh family. Oh, the Wadden Sea, it brings back memories of playing in the sand and mud, mostly mud, collecting shells and going on summer vacation on the islands in Germany. Hang on, George, Germany has islands? Well, to answer this question, we packed up my sister Greta and niece Clara during our recent visit to Germany to join us on a weekend trip to the Wadden Sea, the land of beach baskets, national parks and disappearing oceans. Yeah, you heard that right. During low tide, the ocean, well, you're about to see what happens then. Does Germany have islands? Let's walk across the ocean and find out. I'm not sure if you can hear me because it's pretty windy. We're walking across the ocean. Why would we do such a thing? It's no big deal. We're going to go to an island in Germany. Is it slippery? Uh, yeah, we bet. But we haven't fallen on our faces yet, as you can tell. Still looking good. We're doing what they call a Wattwanderung in German, which is a hike through the Wadden Sea, which is a part of the North Sea. And often entails walking from island to island or, as we do, from the mainland to an island. And this is going to be about three hours, more or less. And I think we're already 10 minutes in and we're exhausted. We have to make sure we hurry up before the tide comes back in. But yeah, we have about a six-hour window. The tide going in and out and exposing an enormous area that we can hike through here. We keep getting sucked in and you're not supposed to wear rubber boots because they'll just get pulled right off. So we all have these funny little socks on instead. And so far, so good. It might come as a surprise to many non-Germans, but Germany's North and Baltic Sea have a staggering total of 77 islands, of which there are seven inhabited islands in the Wadden Sea. The Wadden Sea, which derives from the Dutch word Wad, am I pronouncing this right? Which means mud flat, spans three countries, the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark and has been added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2009 as the largest unbroken system of intertidal sand and mud flats in the world. Yay. But seriously, it is one of the last remaining large-scale intertidal ecosystems where natural processes continue to function largely undisturbed. Except for the occasional Wadden hiker chowing down on some of those little shrimp. Yikes. Liv keeps saying she wants to bite shrimp. Okay, let's go. Okay, I reckon we're about halfway between the mainland and the island. So I'm getting a little paranoid just thinking about the ocean rushing back out here. Once that happens, that happens pretty quickly. Let's keep this up. Do you mind a bit? A huge oyster. If there was ever to be a pearl, it would definitely be in this one. It's huge. If you take like one step into this little river, you go about a foot down. It gets really deep really quickly. Getting a little sentimental walking around here. Growing up in Germany on holiday, this is where you'd go to the North Sea and the East Sea. And this was always part of it. So it's nice to get back here and show Liv how much mud Germany has to offer. That's a Priel, which are rivers that appear during low tide and have the tendency to be the first to fill and turn into raging rivers once the tide comes rushing back in. So watch out for those guys. FYI, don't go out here by yourself. Make sure you go with a guide. This is Jürgen. He's our guide and he is great. No, he didn't just feel like dancing. This is him giving a very physically demanding but also equally entertaining demo on the Earth's and moon's gravitational and centrifugal forces applying to the tide. Can mama have a bite of your cookie? And she said, Liv's turn. In all honesty, this is really cool. It's super adventurous because you are racing against the time and the tide. And just, you know, the idea of being able to walk to an island in itself is it's just like something I don't think I've found anywhere else around the world. I'm glad we get to do this. It's pretty cool. The weather is starting to turn. It's starting to get really windy with white caps on the water. The water is starting to come in and I can see storm clouds on the horizon. We made it to the island of Baltrum. I should really say Baltrum because I do know how to pronounce these German words. It's a gorgeous place. And there are no cars on this island. There are only horses and carriages and lots and lots of bicycles. Baltrum is with a surface area of only 6.5 square kilometers and just over 500 inhabitants. The smallest island in that particular local island chain. Now it's time to find a sandy beach. This might not be your pristine white sand Caribbean beach, but there's plenty to find. Pickup, prod, stick in your ear and all the other things little kids like to do. Which makes it a great place for people with a tendency to forget to bring toys for the little ones. Speaking of, Tara, did you bring any toys? Oh, look, a shell and a feather. And more shells. This is where we walked before. The tide was out, so all the water was gone. And that's how we were able to walk across the ocean. But now the tide is back in, the water's back, and now we're going to take a ferry back to the mainland. We're on an old traditional German fishing boat, and we're about to leave the mainland. Another island. We might see seals on the way, which Liv is very excited about. Liv, are we going to see seals? Yeah. Today we'll be skipping the walking and the ferry, so we're taking a fishing cart up all the way from Neuharlinger See to the island of Spiekeroog. And hopefully on the way we'll find some seals. So fingers crossed. On the way we were given a demo on how these fishermen used to make a living. As a note, all the catch was released again shortly after. So much nicer with a ferry. Than walking. Than walking for three hours.