There is a lot of ship traffic to deal with when crossing the southern North Sea from the UK to the Netherlands. First you cross the "DWR" Deep Water Route coming to and from Norway and the Baltic, and soon thereafter the "TSS" Traffic Separation Scheme coming out of Rotterdam and elsewhere. The four ships in the upper left were especially worrisome. We spoke with several of them and they couldn't have been more friendly and courteous, said they saw us and would steer around us. Even so, one of them came closer than I would have preferred.

There was a lot of radio chatter. One guy laying cable was on the radio the entire night saying he needed a mile clearance. One guy came back and said a mile is ridiculous, give him something he could work with. I think they settled on half a mile.

I wouldn't want to do this without AIS, especially one that is broadcasting.