It was significantly cooler today. We decided to go on a little adventure with our inflatable dinghy, so we set out to explore the smaller creeks that are branching away from the main channel. We paddled through the high reeds, under overhanging mossy trees and over shallows where we could see the fish swim amongst the water plants. The perspective from the small dinghy is so different than from our boat. You’re much closer to the surface, enabling you to see all the little details like the dragonflies hovering above the water, the flowers on the embankment and the waving water plants underneath the boat. It feels like you’re really immersed in nature. Slowly we drifted on the current through the beautiful landscape. Nothing to be heard but the sound of singing birds. It truly was a memorable journey.
This is how we pictured being anchored somewhere: beautiful scenery, singing birds, and warm and sunny weather. Suddenly this idyllic picture was brutally disturbed by the approach of a very big tow boat coming up the channel. We weren’t aware of the fact that professional traffic was using this channel. On the internet all you can find about this channel is that it’s an anchorage, not something that sees a lot of passing traffic. There was enough space for the tow boat to pass between us and the buoy, but it felt way too close. So after it had passed we decided to move the boat closer to shore after all. We lifted the anchor, and moored again closer to the embankment. Now we have more space between us and the buoy, and we have a better view of all the wildlife on shore.
After the relocation we started with the construction of a sort of lazy jack for our main sail. For this we needed to get ropes through the eyes in the spreaders halfway up. Jeroen went up the mast this time to overcome his high anxiety. We spent a good deal of the day getting it right, but still the sail wouldn’t collapse smoothly in the lazy jack. Maybe some grease might will do the trick? Yes, that sort of helped a bit. It’s still not perfect, but good enough for now. It was getting too warm to continue working anyway.
Perhaps it’s time to play around on the water with our inflatable boat? Our poor dinghy had deflated a bit overnight. Apparently the repairs we had done before we left Stellendam hadn’t worked. The boat was still leaking. We couldn’t find another leak, and pumped it up again. It doesn’t deflate immediately so we can still use it for now. But we probably have to buy another one and say goodbye to our little floating friend.
We woke to the sounds of birds singing. We slept like a rose, the first time at anchor we have slept so soundly. It was a lovely sunny day, and at 8 in the morning already warm enough to have breakfast in the cockpit. All the people that were anchored here yesterday had left this morning, leaving us all alone in our small paradise.
The frog is returning home to the other bank from its choir practice yesterday
Anxious to explore our beautiful surroundings, we blew up the inflatable dinghy and hopped in. The IJsseloog is a round island with a small channel running through it like a crescent moon. We were anchored at the north entrance of the channel, so we set out to see if there was an even more idyllic spot to anchor at the south entrance. It turned out the island wasn’t so big at all, and before we knew it we had come to the south end of the channel. No need to move the boat, our spot is by far the most beautiful.
However there was another reason to move. We were anchored slightly far from the embankment, and we felt we posed a bit obtrusion to possible traffic. But when we were rowing back to our boat from the south end of the channel we saw that there was a good 30 meters width from our stern to the buoy that marked the the channel. Enough space left for boats to pass. And we were hesitant to move closer to the embankment, in fear we might run aground again. We tried to check the depth with our inflatable boat, and it was possible to move a smidgen towards the shore. But should we relocate just for just a few meters? The anchor was set firmly and if we would relocate it would take a few hours again to be sure that it would hold. After a lot of indecisiveness we decided to stay put, at least for now. Besides, it was very warm, and rowing is a very physical exercise. The water looked more attractive by the minute, maybe it’s warm enough to swim? Jeroen befell the honour of the first dive of the year, and declared the temperature “very refreshing”.
