We hadn’t done the laundry since Rhoon, so it was high time to dedicate a day to clean clothes and a clean boat. Whilst walking back and forth with bags of laundry we met Cameron, a Canadian guy who was feeding the geese who came every morning to collect their daily dose of breakfast cereals. Despite being Canadian he had a Swedish flag on his boat. He told us that we weren’t the only ones who found this peculiar. “Immigration also had questions about that. When they asked me why I’m not flying the Canadian flag I said: Oh really, isn’t this the Canadian flag? I didn’t know that.” The officials didn’t have his sense of humor, but apparently didn’t do anything about it as well because he still has the Swedish flag. He is planning to sail south towards Madagascar once he has finished fixing his boat.
We seemed to have ended up at the DIY dock. Next to us are two Ukrainian guys also working on their boat; welding, grinding and hammering all day. And further along there’s a Dutch guy with a motorboat painting his woodwork, so it’s quite an international and hands-on dock we’re moored on.
No boat works for us today, but in between laundry and cleaning we tried to fix the problems we were experiencing with our mail. Somehow people can mail us, but we can’t always mail back which is rather puzzling and very annoying. We spend a frustrating evening going through posts and articles on the internet to figure out the problem, without much luck…
We felt a bit off and groggy today. Yesterday clearly had quite an impact on us. Even Captain Fluffy is exhausted.
Amsterdam marina is one of the sister marinas to Stellendam, so a lot of things are familiar. The logo looks the same, the docks are the same, and the sanitary building looks the same. But all the familiarity made us feel as if we’re back to where we’ve started. Yesterday’s euphoria is gone.
And to be honest, Amsterdam marina is a bit of a disappointment. Of all the marinas we’ve stayed at so far, this is hands down the most expensive, the dirtiest and the worst. You pay €2,50 per meter per day, which in our case sums up to €23,50 per day. On the positive side, everything is inclusive, like tourist tax, WiFi, electricity, showers and water. But on the downside, we’re moored at the visitors dock, a long pontoon without finger docks. The passing barges and cargo traffic cause waves that roll into the marina and smash into the visitors’ dock, causing the boat to roll like we’re at anchor in a gale. The dock also isn’t secured, allowing everyone to just walk up to your boat. An unpleasant thought, because we’re in a really crowded, very urban city. In Leiden there was no fence as well, and the marina was situated in the inner city, but Leiden is like a small village in comparison to Amsterdam. Plus it was less than half the price for the slip, the sanitary building was good, and above all very clean. Something that can’t be said about this marina. The toilets and showers are dirty here, even dirtier than in Stellendam. It’s curious, all the other marinas we have been to so far had clean toilets and showers. But here? Why are people in the most expensive marina in The Netherlands incapable of cleaning up after themselves? And really, how on earth do people manage to shit on top of the toilet seat? And then don’t have the decency to clean up the mess? Or why doesn’t the most expensive marina in the Netherlands spend more money on cleaning staff? On top of that there was no welcoming reception at the marina office, they were uninterested and unhelpful. And you have to keep in mind that we have been a member of this marina group for almost three years.
There is something else that is bothering us. We want to go on. But we have a dentist appointment the coming week. Therefore we want to be in a city with a fast train connection to The Hague. And thus we’re stuck here. We’ve stayed for longer periods at other places, but that was because we wanted to, not because we had to. And that makes all the difference.
Trying to shake off the sombre feelings, we went for a short walk to explore the surroundings of the marina. We are in the northern part of Amsterdam, an area that is called the MDSM wharf, which due to gentrification is now a so-called ‘breeding place’ for the creative class. Despite all the rebranding, the hipster restaurants and office buildings, there wasn’t much to do here on this side of the IJ canal. Still not cheered up we went back to the boat.
