2-3 August We set off from Haarlem as planned on Thursday morning. The bridges officially open at 9 am, however we had seen previous mornings that there was quite a queue of boats waiting by the time the bridge keeper finally arrived on his bike after opening another bridge down the road at 9am. So we stayed moored until the last minute. Only after the bridge was open at 9:20 and the one boat coming the other way had gone through did we go, and then we headed through the bridge as the last in a line of 11 boats. Boats sharing the lock at Spaarne There was only a short wait for the next bridge and then we could go under the railway bridge but not the next bridge only about 100 m further along. The yachts in our line had to wait for the railway bridge (which has to wait until there are no trains). But the rest of us were able to continue on, as the second bridge opened for us. As we were slower than the others we had to call on the VHF to ask them to hold the bridge for us, as he was already starting to close it - but he did and we got through ok. Now there were only 5 boats and we got to the lock a couple of kms further along and went in. The lock was 100m long and 12m wide so they packed us in. The yachts caught up and came through with us as well as some other boats. In the end there were 17 boats packed into the lock, in some places 4 abreast. And there was room for more. Because of the lack of rain they are closing this lock to pleasure crafts from the next day (3rd August) so we were lucky that this didn't affect our plans. The yachts were all racing to catch a bridge which only opens three times a day , so they were allowed to exit the lock first. (they held the bridge so they made it) As it happened we came out fairly early in the line, but were soon overtaken by other cruisers. By the time we turned into the North Sea canal we were by ourselves. The canal links Amsterdam with the North Sea and so there are some serious ocean going ships coming along. One had two tugs with it and when it got to the mooring the two tugs helped it do a U turn to moor facing the other way. Quite interesting to watch as it all happened right in front of us. We had planned to stay in Amsterdam for 5 nights and had booked the Westerdok Marina for that time, as we'd heard that it can be hard to get a last minute mooring in Amsterdam in the peak summer season. Especially as most marinas cannot accommodate boats over 15m (Moondance is 21m). We had been informed the previous Sunday that there were problems with the bridge into Westerdok, but when we called to check on Tuesday we were told it was working again. But when we called to ask for the bridge to be opened for us, we were told that it was broken, and there was no other route into the marina. Very luckily, during my research, I had also seen the Amsterdam Marina, which could take large boats, and when I called they had a spot for us, but only for one night. Coincidentally we were right by them, so we were able to go in and moor in a box mooring allocated to us straight away. What a relief. But we still had to decide what to do as we now had only one night in Amsterdam instead of our planned 5. I called Monnickendam, where we were booked from the 7th for 6 nights, and were able to change our booking to arrive the next day (3rd). Once that was done we made a booking at the Amsterdam Marina for 5 days after that - so we effectively just changed the order of our trip, as we had to come back through Amsterdam after Monnickendam anyway. Of course we also had to cancel our booking at Westerdok Marina, cancel the bike tour that we were booked on on the Sunday, cancel the restaurant that we had booked for my birthday, and find another restaurant in Monnickendam. But that all went pretty smoothly, so within about 20 minutes we had a new plan. Phew. Amsterdam Marina is on the opposite bank of the Ij (the river/canal) to central Amsterdam, so we decided to take our bikes for a spin, and check out the free ferry over to Amsterdam. We had a short cycle and had a look at Westerdok where we had booked to moor, and then caught the ferry back to our side of the river/canal from Central Station. After a trip to the supermarket we were back to our harbour and then we went out to dinner at the harbours restaurant. Friday, was my 60th birthday and we woke to hear that there were problems with our AirBNB property in Melbourne with the gas as there were works being done in the street. Without going into details - our guests ended up being without gas and we had to get Michelle and our property manager to go there to sort it out. Someone has to go out the next day as well. Just a lot of hassle and stress we didn't need, especially as we were cruising through the centre of Amsterdam along with many ferries, other pleasure craft and a few large commercial barges. Finally we were out on the Markermeer (a large lake), and we were able to go to the outside steering position and enjoy the lovely weather - 28 degrees, light winds, calm water. We really enjoyed the trip, although we were slower than we expected. We had some weed around the propeller and which we cleared by going into reverse. Also as we got further out into the lake there were lots of midges which were irritating. We got to our mooring at Monnickendam at about 3:30 which meant we had been cruising for nearly 7 hours. After mooring up and checking in, we had a relaxing afternoon, before walking into town for dinner. At our restaurant, Posthoorn, which has 1 Michelin star, we ordered the 6 course signature menu. We had already received four little tasters and got a couple of other bonus treats along the way. This, as well as the mostly delicious small courses, and the lovely courtyard area where we were seated, and of course the good company (Howard) this made for a delightful evening. We finished the evening having a coffee and hot chocolate on the back deck enjoying the late evening light.
5 Comments
Steve
5/8/2018 12:31:19 am
Happy birthday young Deb. I'm glad you had a good evening.
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Cheryl Poustie
5/8/2018 04:23:58 am
A belated happy 60th, Deb!
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Dawn
5/8/2018 07:32:55 pm
Oh sorry to of missed your birthday. Here's a big big big kiss for you and a little baby one for Howard. .Xx have a beautiful day tomorrow. Thinking of you both.
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Annette Anderson
6/8/2018 08:42:14 am
Happy Birthday, Deb. Congratulations on reaching this milestone with such grace.
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Liz McDonald
6/8/2018 12:23:34 pm
Always interesting to read about your adventures. Happy 60 Th. Looking forward to the next instalment. Cheers, Liz
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