What is wrong with this summer? The weather goes from tropical to cold and rainy overnight. Weird.
Around noon an elderly man knocked on our boat. We went outside to see what it was he wanted. It turned out he was selling smoked eels. They were still warm, fresh from the smoker and smelt absolutely delicious, so of course we bought a few. Later we heard that it’s quite special to meet this elderly man with his smoked eels. Because they’re so tasty, everyone who comes to Makkum hopes that the old man comes knocking on their boat if they’re in the marina. But he tends the be rather infrequent with his visits, and you’re considered lucky if you chance to meet him. Us befell the honor of being visited by the legendary smoked eel salesman. Which is great, now we don’t need to go out in the abysmal weather to get lunch.
Late start, we had been working till early in the morning. And although we were a bit groggy, we were glad that we had made the decision to work at night and enjoy the sun during the day, because the weather had changed immensely overnight. The wind was howling and it was raining a tantrum. Thunder and lightning illuminated the dark skies.
While we were peering out through the curtains to watch nature at work, we saw other boats who despite the bad weather, had decided to move on. It all didn’t go too well. Most of them had trouble leaving their berths because of the strong winds. We watched them struggle for a while, wondering why you would choose to sail in these conditions. Maybe if you only have a few days vacation and you need to get home again you might choose to leave, but since we are not in a hurry we closed the curtains again and enjoyed our tea.
A dry spell in the evening, and Captain Fluffy wants to go out and explore
A radiant day again, allowing us to bask in the sun and swim to our content. And we’d better enjoy it, because in the afternoon a bad weather front is coming in. We actually had to do some work, but we’d rather do it tonight and enjoy the sun now, than regret that we’ve spent the whole day working while it’s raining tomorrow.
We did something useful today, though. It was high time for a laundry again. When we went to the harbour office to get tokens for the washing machine and the dryer the harbour master flat out refused to sell us a token for the dryer. She pointed upwards and said “There’s your drying machine. No, you’re not getting a token with al this sunshine, are you silly or something?” Since she really didn’t want to sell us a token for the dryer we had to hang all the washed towels and bedsheets on the lifelines and makeshift drying lines. Our boat looks as if it has hit a dry cleaner. We look like proper gypsies now.
Today was Carmen’s birthday. Although the forecast had predicted thunder and lightning and lots of rain, the weather turned out fine again, slightly less tropical, but hot enough to spend the whole day lounging and swimming. The perfect way to spend a birthday.
Every evening we watch the rush hour when all the boats come in. It begins around 4 o’clock when a steady stream of pleasure crafts starts to arrive at the marina, all rushing to obtain the last free spots. Usually the last slip is gone by half past 5. Same story yesterday and the day before. So if you want to be sure of a free slip during high season, make sure to arrive before 4 o’clock. Most sailors start early. At 10 o’clock in the morning most of the marina is empty again. So all those early birds that have left at the crack of dawn will arrive at their destination early as well, and take the first empty slips. After that it’s a matter of stacking boats, and you can imagine that the early birds that have arrived first are not happy with 2 or more boats tied on to them. Because if they want to leave early the next morning, everyone has to move first before they can leave.
We are no early birds. How hard we might try to have an early start, we always leave around 12. The one time that we left earlier During the whole of our adventure was when we had a dragging anchor at the Braassemermeer.
In the meantime emotions were running high in the marina. It was already packed, with stacks 4 boats thick connected to every side dock. People with humongous motorboats yelling at other people to move their boat so they could fit. Others yelling that they have permission of the harbour master to dock exactly where someone else is already moored, or people trying to be quicker than the others to race for a slip which was already taken. And there are the people with very big and expensive boats that don’t know how to moor properly, are totally stressed out because they don’t want scratches on their hull and as a result hit almost everything in their way. And we, moored snugly in our berth, watched the drama unfold outside our cockpit whilst eating the delicious fried chicken that Jeroen prepared. Beats watching television every time.
Makkum Prins van Oranje to Makkum Municipality Marina: 0,5 nautical miles
Since we didn’t want to be attacked again by swarms of mosquitoes we decided it was high time to move. Yesterday we’ve looked at the options to where we could go from Makkum, but the wind was quite strong and not really favorable for all the interesting options. We also needed to replenish our stocks. So we decided to try our luck at the municipality marina again, which lies next to the village center. We were hoping that most people would have left by now, and we would be able to find an empty spot. We refilled our water tank, paid the fee for the marina and said goodbye to the broker / harbour master. All set for the next passage which would cover a whopping distance of 0,5 nautical miles, a new record!
We were lucky. Most people apparently leave at 11, so the municipality marina of Makkum was indeed almost empty, and we could pick the best spot. The weather was tropical again. After we’d moored the first thing we did was building some kind of shelter for the sun with bed sheets and bath towels. Only one obligation left, paying the fee at the harbour office. After that nothing stood in our way to spend the whole day swimming, feeding the geese and turning doing nothing into an art form, taking an example from Captain Fluffy.
