Family vacation in Western Pomerania

Wrapped in a large, pink towel, Maja leans with half-closed eyes in her mother's arms. „That was a nice day, wasn't it?" whispers Katharina in the eight-year-old's ear, kissing her on the forehead. Sheltered from the wind and content, the two snuggle up in a blue and yellow beach chair on the four-kilometer-long beach in Lubmin.

Only Finja is still full of energy and fond of the light blue SUP board on which she and Maja have just been playing in the waves. Does dad Philipp want to go out with her again? The two-year-old is full of energy - a wonder considering the eventful day of vacation that is already behind her!

Bodo Labahn is, of course, the best skipper you could wish for. He has been out on the Bodden and the sea for 50 years. He worked as a fisherman for a long time. And knows the waters here as well as the pockets of his blue dungarees. „There, over there“, he says through the loudspeaker, „the water is only 60 centimetres deep. You could get right out there!" The sisters keep an eye out for seals and the 1,000 or so cormorants that live on the Bodden. The islands of Rügen, Usedom, Greifswalder Oie, Ruden and the Struck peninsula can be seen on the horizon.

Then Maja is allowed to take the helm for a moment: she is just tall enough to see through the window of the bridge just over the steering wheel. And successfully steers the cutter across the Bodden for five minutes. She grins proudly with her teeth. As a reward for the successful trip, the cutter then gives her a handful of gummy bears.

Back in the harbor, the four of them get back on their bikes. It takes them less than half an hour to reach the beach in Lubmin. And what a beach! It stretches for three kilometers around the Greifswald Bodden.

A wooden boardwalk leads along the upper part, beach grass blows atmospherically in the dunes. The water is shallow and wonderfully warm and the sand is wonderfully soft - the perfect family destination. Katharina and Philipp have a beach chair unlocked; the girls put on their swimsuits.

Maja, goggles on her head, jumps into the water and explores the underwater grooves that the surf has dug into the sand. Then Finja comes running with the SUP board and the fun begins. The two sisters climb onto the board again and again, hold on for just a few seconds and then fall back into the water.

The sound of their laughter and cheering reaches the beach, where Katharina and Philipp have made themselves comfortable in a beach chair. Until they walk to the water with their big bathing towels to pick up their soaking wet and exhausted parents.

What a day! And what luck that tomorrow is also a vacation.

You can find out more about family vacations in Western Pomerania at vorpommern.de.