mr.&mrs.gray – Page 9 – The Gray Route

Foolish gamble?

Dodging ferries and anchor alarms

June 18th 2019

Amsterdam to anchorage near Uitdam: 9,2 nautical miles

Time to leave the capital and continue north. First we had the follow the IJ-canal (IJ is an old Dutch word for water) past Amsterdam Central train station.That meant zigzagging through canal boats, dodging ferries and big barges and keeping a lookout for small motorboats with crying children, fussing grannies and lounging parents at the same time. The ferries are not too bad, but the canal boats are under the impression that because they’re professional traffic, they have the right to ignore basic rules and behave like jerks.

Looks almost like a painting from the Romantic period

After a chaotic trip down the IJ-canal we finally reached the Oranje locks. It had just closed so we moored to the waiting dock and awaited our turn. Since they have 3 locks here for pleasure crafts it wasn’t long before we could enter another. Right after we had cleared the lock we were faced with the Schellingwouder bridge, which was closed and wouldn’t open for another 25 minutes. Strangely in contrast to the Oranje locks that run every 10 minutes, there were no waiting docks here. The stretch of water in between the locks and the bridge is like a small turbulent basin of water caused by the large barges and speed boats that can pass under the bridge without an opening. Nothing to it than treading water and dodging barges and wait for the bridge to open.

After 20 minutes we finally entered the Markermeer, a closed-of part of the IJsselmeer. The plan was to find a nice quiet spot to anchor after 10 days in Amsterdam. Friends had given us tips where to anchor, but unfortunately our draft was way too deep for those locations. Slowly we progressed north, heading towards a spot we had seen on the map that might offer some shelter from the wind and waves.

When we finally arrived at the spot it looked promising. Not as idyllic as we had imagined, but quiet and away from the crowds. We dropped the anchor, activated the anchor alarm app and checked the visual reference points for 5 minutes. No movement, hopefully the anchor has successfully set. The sun was shining abundantly so we spend a lovely afternoon in the cockpit enjoying the peace and quiet.

In the evening the wind picked up and started to change direction. But since we knew that was going to happen we had taken the rotation into account when dropping the anchor. Everything still looked okay, so we were reasonably confident that we had done a good job. But right before we wanted to go to sleep, the anchor alarm went off. You can imagine that shook our confidence. What had happened? Didn’t we read the position correctly before? Could the anchor be dragging due to the change in wind direction? We were wondering if hoisting the anchor and reset it was the right thing to do. And if we wanted to reset the anchor, this might be the right time since it wasn’t dark yet and we could still see what we’re doing. But on the other hand we were quite confident that the anchor had set properly. While we were discussing what to do it slowly had become dark, and the anchor alarm had gone off yet again. The unnerving alarm was not really boosting the already brittle confidence we had in our anchoring skills. In the end we agreed that we would not re-set our anchor and stay in this spot to see if we’ve done it correctly. We’d rather not sleep and reset the anchor in the night than move now and forever doubt if we had done it correctly. And we had reasonably light winds and nothing in the vicinity that we could hit, so we could intervene quickly when dragging. So we took the decision to trust our gut feeling and ignore the alarm. Time will tell if we have taken a foolish gamble.

Boat works today

Getting ready to leave

May 17th 2019

Jeroen in a dramatic pose after completing all the boat chores

Boat works today. The engine sounded a bit ‘raw’ during our nightly passage and since we want to leave tomorrow we had to check what was causing the sound. We figured it probably has to do something with oil, a car also sounds a bit hoarse if it doesn’t have enough oil anymore. After checking all the oil related parts the last item seemed to be the culprit. It’s always the last one, isn’t it? The cover for the transmission oil inlet got a bit unscrewed, thus hence we lost some oil.

Fortunately since our crash course Diesel engines we now know that there even is an oil level to be checked at the transmission. We wouldn’t have known it otherwise. So we refilled the oil, started the engine and tried switching from forward to reverse. It seems to sound a bit better.

We also checked the prop with our underwater camera, because something could be wrapped around it. Last time we went through Rotterdam, another busy city, we had a whole canvas shopping bag entangled in our prop. But this time it was absolutely clean. No need to dive today fortunately.

All preparations done, we are ready to leave.

A train ride to The Hague

Of dentists and soccer supporters

May 16th 2019

Today we took the train to The Hague for our dentist appointment. We had booked first class train tickets, which proved to be a smart move. The local soccer team had won the national championship and today there was a tribute event to celebrate their victory. There were warnings everywhere to avoid traveling by train to Amsterdam this day because of the expected masses to come to the capital for the celebrations. When trains in the Netherlands are crowded there is usually still space in the first class compartments, so hopefully we’ll still have a seat on our way back. Public transport in the Netherlands is on average more expensive than driving a car and less reliable. For the both of us to travel from Amsterdam to The Hague by train and tram was €55,60. In comparison, if we go by car it costs us €16,60. Even if we would take separate cars it would cost €33,20, still less than two train tickets. No wonder most people prefer a car over public transport here. It’s more convenient, cleaner and a lot cheaper.

After the dentist we had lunch with Jeroen’s mother who works in The Hague, and made use of the opportunity to get some Asian supplies in one of the many of The Hague’s Asian stores.

There was no sign of the forecasted mass of people when we took the train back to Amsterdam. We only saw one forlorn fan on the train platform donning the club shirt. Apparently the soccer team wasn’t as popular as they thought it would be.

Flattening the brook

Of canal boats and works of art

May 15th 2019

Screaming child, stung by a bee by Hendrik de Keyser ca. 1615 at the Rijksmuseum

We could still use the canal boat tickets we bought yesterday, so we made use of the opportunity to cruise over the canals to visit the Rijksmuseum on the opposite side of the city. The Rijksmuseum is a real tourist attraction. And since we were totally immersing ourselves in being tourists, of course we had to go there. It was very crowded at the museum due to a special Rembrandt exhibition. Patiently we stepped in the ticket line to await our turn. While waiting we tried to book tickets online, sometimes that helps to speed up your entrance. Unfortunately this time it didn’t really work because you had to book a time slot for the special Rembrandt exhibition before you could purchase a ticket. The time slots were fully booked for the next two weeks and you couldn’t get a ticket without reserving a time slot. Bit of a conundrum. But luckily the line progressed quite fast so it didn’t took that long to wait. To our disappointment the cashier told us when it was our turn we have stood in line needlessly, because we have a museum card. “But” she said “I can console you that you haven’t waited in vain, because if you want to I can give you entrance tickets to visit the special Rembrandt exhibition this afternoon. We have a few left.” With that stroke of luck we entered the museum.

The Rijksmuseum has Rembrandt’s ‘Night watch’ on display, their most famous show piece. Visitors come from all over the world come to see this painting, to such an extent that people literally are running towards the painting, pushing visitors aside to get a better view and ignoring all the other fabulous and famous works in the same space like Vermeer’s ‘Milkmaid’ for instance. An embarrassing sight to see. There is always an enormous crowd in front of the painting, almost worshipping it, whereas the rest of the space is relatively empty. As if all the other works don’t matter.

To be honest, we liked ‘The milkmaid’ better in real life than the ‘Night watch’. We were happily surprised by the works of Hendrik de Keyser, an artist we hadn’t heard of before. He wasn’t just an artist, but the city architect as well. The Zuiderkerk as well as the Westerkerk in Amsterdam are his design. No architecture of de Keyser in the Rijksmuseum, just art. We especially liked a painting of a violin player and a small sculpture of a child’s head stung by a bee.

The special Rembrandt exhibition was a bit disappointing. The exhibition space was packed, and we don’t mean packed with works. It had been crowded at the ‘Night watch’, but that was nothing in comparison to this exhibition. It was so full of people you could hardly even see the works. And the works on display being mostly tiny sketches, drawings and etchings didn’t make it easier to see them. Now Rembrandt’s drawings are truly beautiful, but this is not the way to appreciate them. We quickly left the exhibition space filled with mostly anti-social elderly people who were ruthlessly shoving people aside.

The beautiful Susanna is being harassed by the two elderly men, Rembrandt ca. 1650

The Rijksmuseum nowadays also has a more contemporary department, which was a relief after all the religious medieval art and self-glorification of the 17th century. We really enjoyed ‘The Flattening of the brook’s surface’ a short movie by Ger van Elk who is trying to flatten the surface of a brook whilst paddling with a rubber boat.

After our visit we walked back through the city, ate grilled chicken wings in sunshine and took the ferry back to the marina. Maybe Amsterdam starts to grow on us.

Floating through history

Sight-seeing Amsterdam by canal boat

May 14th 2019

The map with different canal boat routes

Today we went to visit the inner city of Amsterdam on the other side of the canal by ferry. A really nice thing about the city of Amsterdam is that they have connected both sides of the city, otherwise separated by the IJ canal with free ferries. They debark every day, at least once per hour.

Because the ferry to the Central train Station wasn’t due for half an hour, we went with another ferry to ‘Pontkade’ first. That is straight on the opposite side of the canal from the marina, exactly where we passed the last bridge during the night a few days ago. It was different to see it all by daylight. In the night the stretch of water looks infinitely big, but in bright daylight it’s just a short distance. We took the next ferry back, and then the ferry to the Central train station.

After the trip with the ferry we wandered into the city, wondering where we should go. And there we did something we would never have done before. We bought tickets for a sight seeing tour by canal boat. Normally if we went to Amsterdam, we went there with a purpose, to visit someone, or do something specific, but never as a wandering tourist. And a tour by canal boat is actually pretty neat. You see the whole city on an agreeable pace and you’re explained interesting facts about the architecture and history. We chose a tour that allows you to hop on and off two different boat routes trough the city within 24 hours. And since it was already 2 o’clock we can do it again tomorrow!

The nice thing of such a tour is that you start to notice the lay-out of the city. The Herengracht, which is the inner ring, has the biggest houses. These were built for the rich merchants of the Golden Age. The next ring, the Keizersgracht was for the slightly less affluent, and the outer ring were actually warehouses for goods to be shipped to Haarlem or Leiden. While floating slowly through the city you can clearly see the differences between them, like the growth rings of a tree. It’s like floating through history. Plus we wouldn’t be able to do such a tour with our own boat, due to all the low fixed bridges.

We spent the rest of the day traversing the city in the canal boats and had a great day.

Fast food suppliers

Feeding geese and dinner with friends

May 13th 2019

The geese are eagerly awaiting their dinner

Today we tried to get some work done. But of course there is always time to watch the geese and their little chicks. Apparently they have discovered us as potential fast food suppliers as well.

In the evening our friend whom we bumped into yesterday came around for dinner. We’ve spend an enjoyable evening in which we discussed future sailing plans and she told us about her adventures she had in the last two months. She had to be rescued by the coastguard twice, once for a fire in the engine compartment, and once for a severe leaking prop shaft. She has had quite an eventful journey so far…

It’s all about the journey

In search for cheap diesel

May 12th 2019

This morning we coincidentally bumped into a friend who was also a regular berth holder at Marina Stellendam. She’s cruising solo, but was forced to stay here because of technical issues with her boat. But hopefully she’ll be able to continue her journey next week as well.

Together we undertook a search for inexpensive diesel. There are not many gas stations in the vicinity of the marina, but luckily she had a car to her disposal. Our search led us through a beautiful part of the north of Amsterdam. After passing a few gas stations with ridiculously priced diesel we found a gas station with acceptable prices. Of course we had already burned the profit of the cheaper diesel on gasoline whilst searching for it, but it’s all about the journey, isn’t it?

Much ado on the DIY-dock

Boat works, laundry and hungry geese

May 11th 2019

The goose is enjoying his breakfast cereals

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…

So many options

Planning the next passage

May 10th 2019

Unlike us, Captain Fluffy is going places

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.

Stuck in Amsterdam

Dreading dirty toilets and dentists

May 9th 2019

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.

Maybe tomorrow looks better.