May 10th 2019
To liven up the mood we started to plan where to go next. The initial plan was to follow the Staande Mast Route to either Lauwersoog or Delfzeil. But during the last part of the route, especially between Alphen aan de Rijn and Amsterdam, we were continuously eyeing our depth meter since we had run aground three times already. When we looked into the next stage through Friesland and Groningen, we saw canals that were even more shallow than what we had encountered so far. So our draft might become a problem if we would like to finish the Staande Mast Route, although a lot of sources on the internet say that you can even do it with a draft of 2 meters.
Apart from the issue with our draft, there are so many options to choose from, and so many places around the IJsselmeer that might be worth visiting. Or if our draft really is a problem on the inland waters, we could go to IJmuiden, head out to sea and then sail along the coast and the islands towards Germany. Choices, choices.
We’re now thinking of going to Enkhuizen first, but then again, we might decide something else tomorrow. For the time being though, we are going nowhere.