Dear Family and Friends: June 13/09
Cruising in the Netherlands is quite easy for the most part. Very flat country, lots of bridges and a few locks or ‘sluises’ as they call them here. On the major canals, the ones that accommodate all the huge barges that transport goods from one part of the country to the other, the sluis is very long, wide and can drop or rise a number of feet to the level at the other end. In fact in some locks, we’ve been one of several cruisers along with 2 barges, one of which was 110 metres long. Think of a good sized par 3! We ran into 2 sluises of this size when we travelled from Sneek to Groningen. Sadly, we lost the stern in both of them. Think of a capital H – the sides of the lock are the parallel lines and ‘Calypso” is the bar between them – the bow tied to one side while the stern floated perpendicular to the wall as the wind pushed it into a position which didn’t allow us to throw a line. How embarrassing ! While a German couple cursed us, a kindly Dutch couple helped us out of our dilemma.
Happily, after telling Arthur and Diana Dixon (from Perth) about our troubles, they gave us some good advice and on our return journey we were awesome! The trick was to have me tie the bow from a more central position on the boat, give it some slack but fully secured and then Phil uses the engine to push against the bow line to starboard which then brings the stern in to the port side of the lock. Yahoo!!!!! They got it! They really got it! It’ amazing once you know how. Piece of cake. Phil has now really got a great handle on maneuvering the cruiser.
Speaking of cruisers - and we are - there’s a new book coming out soon. Not sure of the publication date but check with your local bookstore. It’s called ‘The Boating Bible’. You might find Chapter 6, Book of Coss, verse 2 of particular interest. Thou shall count thy ropes, especially when leaving the dock. There we were, all set to leave the Groningen Motorboat Club on a Sunday morning to make our way to Leeuwarden. I cast off the bow rope and Phil had the stern covered. Phil put the engine in reverse and slowly made his way backwards out of the slip. All of a sudden the air was filled with curses that the dratted engine is slipping again. It’s not reversing and the boat next to us was in peril. Then we noticed a nice man from the club waving to us from the dock. He was suggesting that perhaps it would be better if we cast off both bow lines!!!! Just a suggestion mind you, but we members find it easier to get underway if we aren’t still attached to the jetty! Lesson learned – count your ropes, stupid!!!
Finally, the sun has come out and we had a great day cruising from Leeuwarden to Buraard on our way to Dokuum. We could easily have made it in one day but we wanted to stop in a little village because to us, they represent the quintessential Holland. The little village has about 2 streets, 2 bridges, a big red windmill that we are moored under and that is still used to grind corn, and a very small Spar grocery store. But it does have a lovely restaurant situated on the canal right by the bridge. We sat in the sun, ordered a coffee and watched the boats coming and going through the manned bridge.
And speaking of bridges, we had to go through 11 (!!!!) of them on our way out of Leeuwarden. The first 3 were tall enough we could sail right under but the next 8 had to be opened for us to get through. With the windscreens and the cabriole cover up, we measure 3.7 metres from the water line. The bridges that had to be opened were all less than 2 metres so there was no way we could get through. While the bridges on the main canals are manned, there are a number of other canals that would be lovely to take but the bridges are just too low for our boat – and most other cruisers of our type. When we leave here we are going to use a canal that has several bridges that are unmanned, but are in the neighbourhood of 3.5 metres. We’ll take down the cabriole and the wind screens will be flat to the deck. It leaves us exposed to the elements but it means we can take one of the more picturesque canals to get back to the Overissijl area. We still have to get to Giethoorn by the end of the month to pick up our new bimini.
The main purpose of going to Groningen was that they have an Ikea. There are only about 3 in the country – which totally surprised us as I thought Ikea was very popular here as well as Canada. But while there we managed to outfit the salon so that we can be comfortable as well as entertain another couple. We have 2 tub chairs, 2 folding wooden chairs that we use in the salon and up on the deck, an outrageously colourful rug as well as other bits and bobs. It is now looking much less boaty and way more homey and we are happy. For us, cruising is a moveable cottage. We are definitely not the gung ho shippy types.
Speaking of homey, Phil got a 15” LCD with DD player included for his 65th birthday. We had traded an alternator used for a type of motor that we don’t have with David and he gave us his satellite dish and box. We didn’t think we’d use if but the TV was such a good deal we couldn’t refuse. We don’t always put it up but it is nice to have on occasion when we want a break from reading. We are tuned to Astra 2 which is a British satellite so we get all their English shows.
One of the most lasting memories of the Netherlands will be how much of their life is tied to water. Not only is there a lot of water, especially in the northern and eastern provinces, but that water, water sports and boating are a part of life from infancy. The first time we saw a little boy of about 7 years driving his own little runabout – with no adults on board and no life jackets – we were thrown. Now, we’ve come to accept it. They play in the water like Canadian kids play hockey. It is just who they are. I wish Haydn were here to be part of the experience. I’d love to see him out on the canal in a kayak, canoe or motor boat.
The news on Mom and Dad is good really. Mom has been admitted to extended care at Wexford Creek on the south side. Dad has moved to the same floor but in the assisted living side. So they are together, just not sleeping together. (I honestly don’t see a downside to that! Sharing a double bed with Phil the Schnorer hasn’t been totally fun!) Dad found it really hard to adjust to not having Mom there and Mom kept packing her bags every morning to go back home, but now they both have settled in pretty well. Barb will stay at the rented house until the lease is up at the end of July and then not sure of where she’ll be. Anyone need a great house and/or animal sitter for the winter????
Well, my 2 pages are up so I’ll go for now. We think we can get access to free wifi tomorrow at McD’s, so I should be able to send pictures via the PhotAlbum route.
Much love to all
The Boating Rovers – Sharlene and Phil
Saturday, January 30, 2010
2009 Newsletter #6
Dear Family and Friends: June 7/09
Disaster has struck. Will it never end? Not the boat this time, but something much more important and personal. I was in the showers at Vollenhove and I dropped my little bottle of very expensive perfume purchased in Paris. Quelle domage! Sadly, I don’t smell as good anymore but the ladies shower room at the Vollenhove passantenhaven now smells like a French brothel.
This has been the week for meeting new friends and fellow boaters. While in Vollenhove, Phil noticed that a boat flying an Australian flag came in late on Sunday. We quickly headed over and introduced ourselves to Arthur and Diana Dixon from Perth. They have a similar cruiser set up in the older style of bench seating in the salon. However, they have a lovely big bed in the aft cabin. We really enjoyed meeting them and hope to meet up again as we are both cruising in the same area of Holland called Friesland.
While we were still researching boats, I had contacted a British couple, Len and June Barry, who had their narrowboat for sale. They emailed us recently to say the price had dropped and even if we weren’t buying they would love to meet us. So we cruised to Heerenveen and met up for coffee followed by a dinner. Absolutely the best meal so far. It was an Aha moment. The Dutch can cook – well at least some of them can. Interestingly Pam, they cook more South African than Dutch which is probably why we enjoyed it so much! Luckily, Len is also a boat fitter so now we not only have new friends, but we have someone who will complete the aft cabin over the winter and put in the shower. Yahoo!
I’ve also had another Aha moment but of the “rats, this isn’t how it’s supposed to be” kind. When I pictured us cruising, the vision was of Phil at the helm and me lounging on a settee, eating grapes (peeled by the servants), drinking wine and soaking up the sun. Sort of like Elizabeth Taylor in ‘Cleopatra’. Dispel that thought, stomp on it and grind it into the dirt. First of all the only burn we are getting is from the wind not the sun. As I write this – in a protected harbour – the wind is tossing the boat around like a rubber ducky in Kirei’s bathtub. The second myth is there are no servants – only me. And lastly, but more importantly, there is absolutely no lounging. Phil is the helmsman (I do relieve him at times) and I am the navigator. I took my eye off that ball and disaster struck – once again!
We were cruising on our way to Sneek when we came up on a huge barge. After some time, we finally decided to overtake him which we did, no prob! The problem occurred because I was so busy watching the barge that I lost track of the fact that we are actually making good headway and as a result I missed our turn off to take the kanaal leading to Sneek. We ended up in a very narrow and shallow channel that was probably mostly used as drainage for agricultural pasture. Anywho, Phil did a brilliant job of turning the boat around in a very narrow spot but because it was so shallow we kicked up a lot of mud and it plugged the water filter that cools the engine. Sooo, the engine overheated and we had to shut it off and let it cool before we could carry on. Lesson learned – pay attention, stupid!
The upside is that we spent the night in Akkrum as it was really close and found an Italian restaurant run by real Italians with real Italian food and it was excellent. That evening we were approached by one of the people moored behind us – Johann from Switzerland. But under the heading: Small world isn’t it?, Johann had been in Nanaimo last year to run the marathon! He is a fitness freak who travels all over just to run. His wife joined us and it got interesting from there. Johann speaks very good English as he worked in Canada for a summer many years ago. He also speaks German Swiss. His wife speaks German Swiss and French and Italian. So there we were speaking English to Johann as he translated to Maries. When we discovered that she spoke French, we switched to very fractured French which Johann then translated for her! Needless to say there was also a lot of hand gesturing. I said, HAND, Gill not finger!
The lesson learned is that for every thing that goes wrong, something very nice comes along to tell us that our decision is still a good one and we are having more fun than not.
I’ve also uploaded a few pictures on PhotoAlbum and here is the link: http://canlandia.myphotoalbum.com/share.php
There are captions on the pictures so that you know what you are looking at. These are pictures from the first few weeks in Holland. I’ll organize my others and post them for you to look at later. But I want to take advantage of the free Wii here in the haven so I can save my dongle dollars. Just in case this link doesn’t work I’ll also send them from the PhotoAlbum site. Can someone let me know if the link in the newsletter worked. Thanks.
I just previewed the first photos I’ve uploaded for you to view and it belies the fact that the weather hasn’t been all that great. However, the sun does shine occasionally – thus the sun in most of the pictures, and of course, when it rains, we don’t take pictures! So my whining about the rain and wind is justified – but you’ll have my word for it!
I’ll leave you for now – more to come later. We had a lovely visit in Sneek and are now in Gronigen where we’ve made some changes to the boat. Stay tuned!
Much love to all
Sharlene and the snoozing Master Mariner (see, I told you the only slave on this boat was me!!!)
Disaster has struck. Will it never end? Not the boat this time, but something much more important and personal. I was in the showers at Vollenhove and I dropped my little bottle of very expensive perfume purchased in Paris. Quelle domage! Sadly, I don’t smell as good anymore but the ladies shower room at the Vollenhove passantenhaven now smells like a French brothel.
This has been the week for meeting new friends and fellow boaters. While in Vollenhove, Phil noticed that a boat flying an Australian flag came in late on Sunday. We quickly headed over and introduced ourselves to Arthur and Diana Dixon from Perth. They have a similar cruiser set up in the older style of bench seating in the salon. However, they have a lovely big bed in the aft cabin. We really enjoyed meeting them and hope to meet up again as we are both cruising in the same area of Holland called Friesland.
While we were still researching boats, I had contacted a British couple, Len and June Barry, who had their narrowboat for sale. They emailed us recently to say the price had dropped and even if we weren’t buying they would love to meet us. So we cruised to Heerenveen and met up for coffee followed by a dinner. Absolutely the best meal so far. It was an Aha moment. The Dutch can cook – well at least some of them can. Interestingly Pam, they cook more South African than Dutch which is probably why we enjoyed it so much! Luckily, Len is also a boat fitter so now we not only have new friends, but we have someone who will complete the aft cabin over the winter and put in the shower. Yahoo!
I’ve also had another Aha moment but of the “rats, this isn’t how it’s supposed to be” kind. When I pictured us cruising, the vision was of Phil at the helm and me lounging on a settee, eating grapes (peeled by the servants), drinking wine and soaking up the sun. Sort of like Elizabeth Taylor in ‘Cleopatra’. Dispel that thought, stomp on it and grind it into the dirt. First of all the only burn we are getting is from the wind not the sun. As I write this – in a protected harbour – the wind is tossing the boat around like a rubber ducky in Kirei’s bathtub. The second myth is there are no servants – only me. And lastly, but more importantly, there is absolutely no lounging. Phil is the helmsman (I do relieve him at times) and I am the navigator. I took my eye off that ball and disaster struck – once again!
We were cruising on our way to Sneek when we came up on a huge barge. After some time, we finally decided to overtake him which we did, no prob! The problem occurred because I was so busy watching the barge that I lost track of the fact that we are actually making good headway and as a result I missed our turn off to take the kanaal leading to Sneek. We ended up in a very narrow and shallow channel that was probably mostly used as drainage for agricultural pasture. Anywho, Phil did a brilliant job of turning the boat around in a very narrow spot but because it was so shallow we kicked up a lot of mud and it plugged the water filter that cools the engine. Sooo, the engine overheated and we had to shut it off and let it cool before we could carry on. Lesson learned – pay attention, stupid!
The upside is that we spent the night in Akkrum as it was really close and found an Italian restaurant run by real Italians with real Italian food and it was excellent. That evening we were approached by one of the people moored behind us – Johann from Switzerland. But under the heading: Small world isn’t it?, Johann had been in Nanaimo last year to run the marathon! He is a fitness freak who travels all over just to run. His wife joined us and it got interesting from there. Johann speaks very good English as he worked in Canada for a summer many years ago. He also speaks German Swiss. His wife speaks German Swiss and French and Italian. So there we were speaking English to Johann as he translated to Maries. When we discovered that she spoke French, we switched to very fractured French which Johann then translated for her! Needless to say there was also a lot of hand gesturing. I said, HAND, Gill not finger!
The lesson learned is that for every thing that goes wrong, something very nice comes along to tell us that our decision is still a good one and we are having more fun than not.
I’ve also uploaded a few pictures on PhotoAlbum and here is the link: http://canlandia.myphotoalbum.com/share.php
There are captions on the pictures so that you know what you are looking at. These are pictures from the first few weeks in Holland. I’ll organize my others and post them for you to look at later. But I want to take advantage of the free Wii here in the haven so I can save my dongle dollars. Just in case this link doesn’t work I’ll also send them from the PhotoAlbum site. Can someone let me know if the link in the newsletter worked. Thanks.
I just previewed the first photos I’ve uploaded for you to view and it belies the fact that the weather hasn’t been all that great. However, the sun does shine occasionally – thus the sun in most of the pictures, and of course, when it rains, we don’t take pictures! So my whining about the rain and wind is justified – but you’ll have my word for it!
I’ll leave you for now – more to come later. We had a lovely visit in Sneek and are now in Gronigen where we’ve made some changes to the boat. Stay tuned!
Much love to all
Sharlene and the snoozing Master Mariner (see, I told you the only slave on this boat was me!!!)
2009 Newsletter #5
Dear Family and Friends: May 31/09
Okay! Who’s the idiot that signed us up for Survivor: Netherlands and didn’t tell us? That was a dirty trick. There we were, sound asleep in our bed when all of a sudden, at about 4:00 AM, a huge storm came up out of nowhere. Gale force winds of some horrendous number battered us for the next two hours. Not only did it dump 50cm of rain in an hour but it ripped apart our cabriole cover on the upper deck. The wind was so strong that it bent the aluminum poles and the canvas was ripped from the davits holding it to the boat. Once the canvas was flapping in the wind, the metal brackets were banging at the windows on both sides of the salon and we were afraid they would break the glass. Picture each of us with an arm out the window hanging onto the cabriole flap for dear life while getting drenched by the rain: and that had been a shower day so I was already clean. Then Phil had the brilliant idea of using the chain linking that crosses the missing railing where we debark the boat and clipped it to the flaps to stop it from doing any damage. I have never been so scared in all my life. Everyone here says it was a once in a lifetime storm and not the usual weather, but somehow that doesn’t make me feel any less angst. This was scarier than the Edmonton tornado back in the 90’s which I drove through not realizing that it was a tornado. If Jeff Probst shows up and asks me to eat worms, that’s it. I’m outta here!!!!!
The good news is that we have POWER!!!!!!! Once the exhaust manifold had been installed (over €1000 Euros later – yuck) we were able to leave Giethoorn and head to Vollenhove so that Gerard of Jachtwerf Aquador could then connect the battery charger (or acculader for those who speak Dutch) and fit us for the power connections so that we could easily use shore power. Most passantenhavens give you access to power and water for a small fee. So now instead of running an extension cord all over the boat and bringing the kettle into the salon to plug it in, we can now plug it in, guess where – yahoo! - the galley! Phil can now shave – guess where? Yup. You got it in one. The head! There is a double one in the salon so that the radio and the lamp can be plugged in at the same time and we have a plug in the state room (ya, right!) so we can read in bed. Life is just too good – I can’t stand it. And even better, because Phil laid the cable to the various power points himself, we saved a ton of money! Double yahoo – more beer!
We did however have a major DUH moment. There is a little fridge in the galley which is supposed to be dual fuel – electricity and gas. We tried the cord but no luck. That left the gas. It appeared to be all hooked up, so we set the dial to show gas as the power source, set the temp dial to ‘0’ to start and then hit the piezo starter button. No luck. A blue spark showed that the sparker was working but no gas was actually going to the fridge. After much muttering about being ripped off (it was advertised as having a fridge (keolkast), etc, mumble, mutter, etc.) we started looking at costs to replace it. Boy, are they expensive. A fridge smaller than the freezer portion of your average fridge in Canada, was going to set us back about the equivalent of $1000 CDN. Not happy campers. We happened to mention it to Gerard as he was finishing up the shore power stuff, so he kindly had a look at it, and guess what? Yup, easy, peasy, he clicked and got it working. Who knew? Stupid Canadians with no experience whatsoever, needed to know that to get it going you actually had to set the temperature gage to a number, like, I don’t know ,a ‘1’ maybe , and then fire it up. Bingo, we actually have enough cold to keep our hamburger frozen. Double yippee. And it cost nothing but a red face!
I must admit though that after the horrendous storm, we had a major crisis of confidence and wondered what the He** we were doing over here. We are such babes in the woods when it comes to boats and all things boaty, that we are always at the mercy of others with more experience. We think we’ve chosen people well and haven’t totally been ripped off, but we won’t know that until we come to sell the boat and only then will we understand if what we’ve paid for the boat and what we’ve added to it, will be recovered. However, the sun finally came out, the weather is heavenly, blue sky and warm air and our confidence (you could replace that with ‘stupidly misplaced decision making powers’) returned. So we are keen now to get underway and actually begin life on a motor cruiser.
To that end, we’ve decided to stay here in Vollenhove for the weekend and join the throngs of people and boats who are here for a sleepboot (tugboat) exposition. There were some really lovely boats that were once tugboats but are now liveaboards. Along with that there was a display of antique farm equipment, tractors, trucks, etc and some beautiful old antique cars. To round out the picture, there was a gypsy style caravan, once owned by circus people, that a young couple and toddler daughter were using as their camping trailer. It was beautiful. As with any festival, there was the obligatory oohmpapa band, choral singers, beer tent and all around entertainment from singers and bands. Interestingly one band sang all the latest American pop and rock music in English while the other did all current and past Dutch songs. It was terrific to listen to with the exception of the bass drum that was set so loud it actually caused the boat to reverberate. I thought we were going to shake apart! But at about 2:00 AM , they closed it down and we finally got some sleep.
Another first was our bike ride from Vollenhove to Bloksijl. About 6 km and it took us about 45 minutes. It was lovely and other than a beam wind both going and coming back, it was terrific. If you don’t count the numb bumb (or is that num bum?). Can’t tell you how much I am enjoying riding our bikes. As my heel/foot is giving me such grief, this is a great way to get around and see stuff. I would love to think that I could continue this when I get home, but the truth is, Nanaimo has such wicked hills, I doubt it! Oh well, I’ll just have to find other exercises to do – walking over to Mary’s or Robbie’s will be a good start! Hopefully you guys have a good supply of Dutch coffee on hand. I’m being spoiled here!
I’m trying to keep my letters to 2 pages, so that you don’t get either bored or uninterested. To say we’ve had an eventful week is an understatement. Every time the wind gets up, we anxiously look at the sky to see what’s coming. The forecast is for very nice weather with only showers tomorrow. Fingers crossed.
Our next challenge is to get out of the passantenhaven without doing too much damage to our boat, other boats and our fragile pride! Say a little prayer.
Much love to all
Sharlene and the Master Mariner (who is sitting on his aft deck reading and purveying his kingdom!)
Okay! Who’s the idiot that signed us up for Survivor: Netherlands and didn’t tell us? That was a dirty trick. There we were, sound asleep in our bed when all of a sudden, at about 4:00 AM, a huge storm came up out of nowhere. Gale force winds of some horrendous number battered us for the next two hours. Not only did it dump 50cm of rain in an hour but it ripped apart our cabriole cover on the upper deck. The wind was so strong that it bent the aluminum poles and the canvas was ripped from the davits holding it to the boat. Once the canvas was flapping in the wind, the metal brackets were banging at the windows on both sides of the salon and we were afraid they would break the glass. Picture each of us with an arm out the window hanging onto the cabriole flap for dear life while getting drenched by the rain: and that had been a shower day so I was already clean. Then Phil had the brilliant idea of using the chain linking that crosses the missing railing where we debark the boat and clipped it to the flaps to stop it from doing any damage. I have never been so scared in all my life. Everyone here says it was a once in a lifetime storm and not the usual weather, but somehow that doesn’t make me feel any less angst. This was scarier than the Edmonton tornado back in the 90’s which I drove through not realizing that it was a tornado. If Jeff Probst shows up and asks me to eat worms, that’s it. I’m outta here!!!!!
The good news is that we have POWER!!!!!!! Once the exhaust manifold had been installed (over €1000 Euros later – yuck) we were able to leave Giethoorn and head to Vollenhove so that Gerard of Jachtwerf Aquador could then connect the battery charger (or acculader for those who speak Dutch) and fit us for the power connections so that we could easily use shore power. Most passantenhavens give you access to power and water for a small fee. So now instead of running an extension cord all over the boat and bringing the kettle into the salon to plug it in, we can now plug it in, guess where – yahoo! - the galley! Phil can now shave – guess where? Yup. You got it in one. The head! There is a double one in the salon so that the radio and the lamp can be plugged in at the same time and we have a plug in the state room (ya, right!) so we can read in bed. Life is just too good – I can’t stand it. And even better, because Phil laid the cable to the various power points himself, we saved a ton of money! Double yahoo – more beer!
We did however have a major DUH moment. There is a little fridge in the galley which is supposed to be dual fuel – electricity and gas. We tried the cord but no luck. That left the gas. It appeared to be all hooked up, so we set the dial to show gas as the power source, set the temp dial to ‘0’ to start and then hit the piezo starter button. No luck. A blue spark showed that the sparker was working but no gas was actually going to the fridge. After much muttering about being ripped off (it was advertised as having a fridge (keolkast), etc, mumble, mutter, etc.) we started looking at costs to replace it. Boy, are they expensive. A fridge smaller than the freezer portion of your average fridge in Canada, was going to set us back about the equivalent of $1000 CDN. Not happy campers. We happened to mention it to Gerard as he was finishing up the shore power stuff, so he kindly had a look at it, and guess what? Yup, easy, peasy, he clicked and got it working. Who knew? Stupid Canadians with no experience whatsoever, needed to know that to get it going you actually had to set the temperature gage to a number, like, I don’t know ,a ‘1’ maybe , and then fire it up. Bingo, we actually have enough cold to keep our hamburger frozen. Double yippee. And it cost nothing but a red face!
I must admit though that after the horrendous storm, we had a major crisis of confidence and wondered what the He** we were doing over here. We are such babes in the woods when it comes to boats and all things boaty, that we are always at the mercy of others with more experience. We think we’ve chosen people well and haven’t totally been ripped off, but we won’t know that until we come to sell the boat and only then will we understand if what we’ve paid for the boat and what we’ve added to it, will be recovered. However, the sun finally came out, the weather is heavenly, blue sky and warm air and our confidence (you could replace that with ‘stupidly misplaced decision making powers’) returned. So we are keen now to get underway and actually begin life on a motor cruiser.
To that end, we’ve decided to stay here in Vollenhove for the weekend and join the throngs of people and boats who are here for a sleepboot (tugboat) exposition. There were some really lovely boats that were once tugboats but are now liveaboards. Along with that there was a display of antique farm equipment, tractors, trucks, etc and some beautiful old antique cars. To round out the picture, there was a gypsy style caravan, once owned by circus people, that a young couple and toddler daughter were using as their camping trailer. It was beautiful. As with any festival, there was the obligatory oohmpapa band, choral singers, beer tent and all around entertainment from singers and bands. Interestingly one band sang all the latest American pop and rock music in English while the other did all current and past Dutch songs. It was terrific to listen to with the exception of the bass drum that was set so loud it actually caused the boat to reverberate. I thought we were going to shake apart! But at about 2:00 AM , they closed it down and we finally got some sleep.
Another first was our bike ride from Vollenhove to Bloksijl. About 6 km and it took us about 45 minutes. It was lovely and other than a beam wind both going and coming back, it was terrific. If you don’t count the numb bumb (or is that num bum?). Can’t tell you how much I am enjoying riding our bikes. As my heel/foot is giving me such grief, this is a great way to get around and see stuff. I would love to think that I could continue this when I get home, but the truth is, Nanaimo has such wicked hills, I doubt it! Oh well, I’ll just have to find other exercises to do – walking over to Mary’s or Robbie’s will be a good start! Hopefully you guys have a good supply of Dutch coffee on hand. I’m being spoiled here!
I’m trying to keep my letters to 2 pages, so that you don’t get either bored or uninterested. To say we’ve had an eventful week is an understatement. Every time the wind gets up, we anxiously look at the sky to see what’s coming. The forecast is for very nice weather with only showers tomorrow. Fingers crossed.
Our next challenge is to get out of the passantenhaven without doing too much damage to our boat, other boats and our fragile pride! Say a little prayer.
Much love to all
Sharlene and the Master Mariner (who is sitting on his aft deck reading and purveying his kingdom!)
2009 Newsletter #4
Dear Family and Friends: May 24/09
We have a winner!!! Janet, I’d like you to let the VP Research know that I have a new patentable discovery called ‘The Dutch Motor Cruiser Diet.’ I knew I had lost weight as the clothes that I packed (on a hope and a prayer that I would somehow fit into) were very ,very tight at home but they now fit easily. In fact this morning when I took my shower (more on that later) and looked down, not only was I able to see my toes, but I was reintroduced to my knees! The downside is that I have acquired hen’s waddle under the chin and flabby arms that are not totally attractive. My new short, spiky haircut looks similar to a rooster’s crown, so I guess it’s all good!
The diet itself is easy. Sell your home, fly to the Netherlands, buy a boat and then spend money like a drunken sailor. The active ingredient is stress! The food part is easy. To be honest, restaurant Dutch food is terrible – everything has cheese and/or ham and they only know one method of cooking – fry, fry, fry. French fries (frites) is the only vegetable they know. The secret ingredient though is beer. At least a glass a day – it’s only about 150ml mind you, but beer has calories and it works like a hot damn! So if the stress of this life style change doesn’t kill you, at least you’ll lose weight.
Now to the shower part. As you already know we’ve been doing the bird bath thing on the boat as we are still at the boatyard and it doesn’t have any facilities. However, Master Mariner Phil, was out for an evening bike ride and took a turn down a lane to the water point (remember it from last week?) and discovered that it has a little hut housing a toilet and a –wait for it – SHOWER!!!!!!! Now we can walk over in the morning and start the day with a shower. What a lovely change from washing in a tiny sink on the boat.
We also now have internet access on the boat although I won’t be using it as much as I thought I might. It is horrendously expensive and I’ve used up about 10 euros worth in one go! However it is good to know that I can get back to internet banking and perhaps Skyping occasionally with the kids.
We lucked out this week experiencing market day in two towns. On Friday we went into Steenwijk so that Phil could get his bank card activated and it happened to be market day. The square was filled with people and events/performances and there were street stalls in front of all the stores. Some bargains and some dross but fun nevertheless. Then on Saturday we had to go to Zwartsluis and not only was it market day but there was a sailing ship exposition with a number of beautiful older wooden sailboats loaded to the gunnels with people. Was totally fun but stupidly, I had forgotten my camera. Oh well, summer is festival season so I’m sure we’ll have another opportunity. The Rotary Club had a tent set up where you could chip floating balls into a basket in the canal. Just to keep his hand in, Phil gave it a go for a charitable donation. He got closer than anyone else but we didn’t win the lottery!
This week is the big test. The manifold has now been installed and on Monday morning – on our OWN – we are heading off to Volenhove to make contact with Gerard (pronounced Herr-at) to hopefully get the rest of the work done. At this rate we probably won’t be free to cruise at will until about mid-June but the upside is that everything will be ready for next year when we head to France. I’m also hampered somewhat by trouble with my right heel/Achilles tendon. It makes walking very painful so we have to bike everywhere. Not a bad thing but you want to be able to just stroll through the towns and villages and that is made difficult by the pain. I can now really appreciate what Pat went through for the past year. Not fun!
We did go out last night for another mini celebration of our 40th anniversary. We went back to the Italian restaurant where we’d met the Berg’s. Talk about the flip side! The service was atrocious, the food was only tolerable but thankfully the Chianti was excellent as was the company! Even after all these years we still enjoy each other’s company – aaawww. And I didn’t fall off my bike on the way home. With no disrespect to the Dutch, their food really is atrocious. So travelling to France next year takes on a certain urgency.
While I’ve had dreams/nightmares about crashing into moorings, falling overboard (thanks for that Suzanne!!!) we are also looking forward to just being on the move. When the bus drivers greet you automatically in English, you know you’ve been in one place too long!
So another week has gone by – hopefully we’ll have some exciting things to tell you next week. The adventure continues. I must admit that sitting out on the deck this morning, warmed by the sun, cup of coffee at hand – it was glorious. Our vision of life on a boat at its best!
Much love to you all
Sharlene and the Master Mariner - who is over picking David’s brain about electronics, wiring and other stuff that is totally not interesting to me but probably important nonetheless!
We have a winner!!! Janet, I’d like you to let the VP Research know that I have a new patentable discovery called ‘The Dutch Motor Cruiser Diet.’ I knew I had lost weight as the clothes that I packed (on a hope and a prayer that I would somehow fit into) were very ,very tight at home but they now fit easily. In fact this morning when I took my shower (more on that later) and looked down, not only was I able to see my toes, but I was reintroduced to my knees! The downside is that I have acquired hen’s waddle under the chin and flabby arms that are not totally attractive. My new short, spiky haircut looks similar to a rooster’s crown, so I guess it’s all good!
The diet itself is easy. Sell your home, fly to the Netherlands, buy a boat and then spend money like a drunken sailor. The active ingredient is stress! The food part is easy. To be honest, restaurant Dutch food is terrible – everything has cheese and/or ham and they only know one method of cooking – fry, fry, fry. French fries (frites) is the only vegetable they know. The secret ingredient though is beer. At least a glass a day – it’s only about 150ml mind you, but beer has calories and it works like a hot damn! So if the stress of this life style change doesn’t kill you, at least you’ll lose weight.
Now to the shower part. As you already know we’ve been doing the bird bath thing on the boat as we are still at the boatyard and it doesn’t have any facilities. However, Master Mariner Phil, was out for an evening bike ride and took a turn down a lane to the water point (remember it from last week?) and discovered that it has a little hut housing a toilet and a –wait for it – SHOWER!!!!!!! Now we can walk over in the morning and start the day with a shower. What a lovely change from washing in a tiny sink on the boat.
We also now have internet access on the boat although I won’t be using it as much as I thought I might. It is horrendously expensive and I’ve used up about 10 euros worth in one go! However it is good to know that I can get back to internet banking and perhaps Skyping occasionally with the kids.
We lucked out this week experiencing market day in two towns. On Friday we went into Steenwijk so that Phil could get his bank card activated and it happened to be market day. The square was filled with people and events/performances and there were street stalls in front of all the stores. Some bargains and some dross but fun nevertheless. Then on Saturday we had to go to Zwartsluis and not only was it market day but there was a sailing ship exposition with a number of beautiful older wooden sailboats loaded to the gunnels with people. Was totally fun but stupidly, I had forgotten my camera. Oh well, summer is festival season so I’m sure we’ll have another opportunity. The Rotary Club had a tent set up where you could chip floating balls into a basket in the canal. Just to keep his hand in, Phil gave it a go for a charitable donation. He got closer than anyone else but we didn’t win the lottery!
This week is the big test. The manifold has now been installed and on Monday morning – on our OWN – we are heading off to Volenhove to make contact with Gerard (pronounced Herr-at) to hopefully get the rest of the work done. At this rate we probably won’t be free to cruise at will until about mid-June but the upside is that everything will be ready for next year when we head to France. I’m also hampered somewhat by trouble with my right heel/Achilles tendon. It makes walking very painful so we have to bike everywhere. Not a bad thing but you want to be able to just stroll through the towns and villages and that is made difficult by the pain. I can now really appreciate what Pat went through for the past year. Not fun!
We did go out last night for another mini celebration of our 40th anniversary. We went back to the Italian restaurant where we’d met the Berg’s. Talk about the flip side! The service was atrocious, the food was only tolerable but thankfully the Chianti was excellent as was the company! Even after all these years we still enjoy each other’s company – aaawww. And I didn’t fall off my bike on the way home. With no disrespect to the Dutch, their food really is atrocious. So travelling to France next year takes on a certain urgency.
While I’ve had dreams/nightmares about crashing into moorings, falling overboard (thanks for that Suzanne!!!) we are also looking forward to just being on the move. When the bus drivers greet you automatically in English, you know you’ve been in one place too long!
So another week has gone by – hopefully we’ll have some exciting things to tell you next week. The adventure continues. I must admit that sitting out on the deck this morning, warmed by the sun, cup of coffee at hand – it was glorious. Our vision of life on a boat at its best!
Much love to you all
Sharlene and the Master Mariner - who is over picking David’s brain about electronics, wiring and other stuff that is totally not interesting to me but probably important nonetheless!
2009 Newsletter #3
May 17, 2009
Dear Family and Friends:
We’ve just returned from a lovely weekend in Amsterdam where we met up with Susan and Bob Murphy from Nanaimo. While they were staying at the very posh Eden American Hotel near Leidseplein in the Canal Belt area of Amsterdam central, we chose the much more rustic (read ‘cheap’) and authentic 4 storey walk up in the Jordaan area. Not that far away from them as it is still in the central part of Amsterdam. Phil just about popped another hernia taking the bags up to the 3rd floor on a stairway that was also suitably authentic – read ‘straight up and very narrow!’ I’ve been on black ski runs that were less steep.
However, we had a lovely visit – wandering the streets, aiming our way to De Slegte, a second hand bookstore with an English section so that Phil and I could stock up for the summer, and then meeting up for a lovely Indonesian rijztafel meal that evening. We celebrated our 30th anniversary early so we could share the occasion with friends. Then we met up again the next morning – not pre-arranged – at the van Gogh museum. There was a special exhibition “van Gogh and the Colours of the Night”. Was terrific and we really enjoyed it. We walked over to the nearby Rijksmuseum but took one look at the kilometer long line up and decided that maybe it was time to head back to Giethoorn. Stopping for a beer along the way, of course. Anyway, we had a lovely time highlighted by the opportunity to have 2 – read ‘em – 2 showers. Heavenly!!!!!!!
Our saga with trying to get internet connection continues. We’ve been to the computer/phone store twice now and will try one more time on Monday. Then I guess we give up which will make communication difficult but we’ll sort it out eventually! I did notice that the fellow we dealt with on the first visit (about 1 ½ hours) quickly disappeared into the back room as we rounded the corner for the second visit, and a poor little girl was left to deal with those crazy Canucks. In this day of techies and geeks, who knew life could be this difficult? Next time, I’m bringing a very long extension cord – they laid telephone cable across the Atlantic easier than our getting internet access here in the Netherlands!
However, we’ve had success in getting a bank account. Even David who’s been here 3 years was astounded. I guess we managed to look like the innocent, extremely naive seniors that we are and convinced them we were neither drug lords laundering money or white Islamic terrorists. Whatever, we are now the proud owners of an ABM AMRO savings and chequing account. I don’t even want to think of the process we’ll have to go through next year in France for the same privilege of banking in a foreign country. Strip searching is not out of the question with those bloody Frenchies!
But not is all rosy, sadly. We’ve had a few setbacks this week with the boat. Phil and I took the boat out on our own into the channel – a whole 500 metres - to get water into the tanks. We were doing really well mooring when a gust of wind took us away from the dock when we were this close! If only my legs were longer, I could have hopped off and pulled the boat in. Sadly my 30” inseam doesn’t make it at times. If the 2 men in the sailboat waiting to get water at the same station hadn’t been rolling their eyes heavenwards, we wouldn’t have been so embarrassed - but there it is. Experience only comes with time!
The second orientation trip with David started out really well. We cruised through some very beautiful countryside, through little villages and under bridges. As we were approaching the last lock of the day, the throttle slipped out of gear and there we were, headed directly into the jaws of a closed lock gate. The gate looked at us contemptuously and declared – “go ahead, this will hurt you more than it will me!” I was at the bow with the rope, saw what was happening and threw myself to the nearest handhold and clung for dear life. Luckily, David made his way to the steering station in time to get us into gear again. Phew! We escaped that one but it also means another dip into the purse for a new throttle and then paying someone to put it in for us.
So, just as we wiped our brow and other parts of our anatomy, we headed across the lake for the final leg. Almost home! David suggested we open up the throttle and we cranked her up to about 2200 RPMs. Not that much really for a diesel engine. Wrong! All of a sudden thick black smoke was escaping from under the deck and filling the cabin where I was making coffee. David, again, quickly lifted the floor boards and determined that there was no fire but something sure was wrong. We slowly made our way back home and called BootGarant (boat version of BCAA) and they gave us the bad news – it wasn’t just a gasket as we had hoped but a cracked manifold. So we went from an 80 Euro patch to probably an 800 Euro (or more) repair. That hole into which you stuff money has its jaws wide open!
But we are going this week to see Gerard at Volenhove and he will tell us how much all the repairs and additions to the boat will cost. Then we can assess our next move. We may be joining the street performers we saw in Amsterdam – they managed to fill up their little cup!
Until next week, take care and say a little prayer that the boat gods smile on us!
Dear Family and Friends:
We’ve just returned from a lovely weekend in Amsterdam where we met up with Susan and Bob Murphy from Nanaimo. While they were staying at the very posh Eden American Hotel near Leidseplein in the Canal Belt area of Amsterdam central, we chose the much more rustic (read ‘cheap’) and authentic 4 storey walk up in the Jordaan area. Not that far away from them as it is still in the central part of Amsterdam. Phil just about popped another hernia taking the bags up to the 3rd floor on a stairway that was also suitably authentic – read ‘straight up and very narrow!’ I’ve been on black ski runs that were less steep.
However, we had a lovely visit – wandering the streets, aiming our way to De Slegte, a second hand bookstore with an English section so that Phil and I could stock up for the summer, and then meeting up for a lovely Indonesian rijztafel meal that evening. We celebrated our 30th anniversary early so we could share the occasion with friends. Then we met up again the next morning – not pre-arranged – at the van Gogh museum. There was a special exhibition “van Gogh and the Colours of the Night”. Was terrific and we really enjoyed it. We walked over to the nearby Rijksmuseum but took one look at the kilometer long line up and decided that maybe it was time to head back to Giethoorn. Stopping for a beer along the way, of course. Anyway, we had a lovely time highlighted by the opportunity to have 2 – read ‘em – 2 showers. Heavenly!!!!!!!
Our saga with trying to get internet connection continues. We’ve been to the computer/phone store twice now and will try one more time on Monday. Then I guess we give up which will make communication difficult but we’ll sort it out eventually! I did notice that the fellow we dealt with on the first visit (about 1 ½ hours) quickly disappeared into the back room as we rounded the corner for the second visit, and a poor little girl was left to deal with those crazy Canucks. In this day of techies and geeks, who knew life could be this difficult? Next time, I’m bringing a very long extension cord – they laid telephone cable across the Atlantic easier than our getting internet access here in the Netherlands!
However, we’ve had success in getting a bank account. Even David who’s been here 3 years was astounded. I guess we managed to look like the innocent, extremely naive seniors that we are and convinced them we were neither drug lords laundering money or white Islamic terrorists. Whatever, we are now the proud owners of an ABM AMRO savings and chequing account. I don’t even want to think of the process we’ll have to go through next year in France for the same privilege of banking in a foreign country. Strip searching is not out of the question with those bloody Frenchies!
But not is all rosy, sadly. We’ve had a few setbacks this week with the boat. Phil and I took the boat out on our own into the channel – a whole 500 metres - to get water into the tanks. We were doing really well mooring when a gust of wind took us away from the dock when we were this close! If only my legs were longer, I could have hopped off and pulled the boat in. Sadly my 30” inseam doesn’t make it at times. If the 2 men in the sailboat waiting to get water at the same station hadn’t been rolling their eyes heavenwards, we wouldn’t have been so embarrassed - but there it is. Experience only comes with time!
The second orientation trip with David started out really well. We cruised through some very beautiful countryside, through little villages and under bridges. As we were approaching the last lock of the day, the throttle slipped out of gear and there we were, headed directly into the jaws of a closed lock gate. The gate looked at us contemptuously and declared – “go ahead, this will hurt you more than it will me!” I was at the bow with the rope, saw what was happening and threw myself to the nearest handhold and clung for dear life. Luckily, David made his way to the steering station in time to get us into gear again. Phew! We escaped that one but it also means another dip into the purse for a new throttle and then paying someone to put it in for us.
So, just as we wiped our brow and other parts of our anatomy, we headed across the lake for the final leg. Almost home! David suggested we open up the throttle and we cranked her up to about 2200 RPMs. Not that much really for a diesel engine. Wrong! All of a sudden thick black smoke was escaping from under the deck and filling the cabin where I was making coffee. David, again, quickly lifted the floor boards and determined that there was no fire but something sure was wrong. We slowly made our way back home and called BootGarant (boat version of BCAA) and they gave us the bad news – it wasn’t just a gasket as we had hoped but a cracked manifold. So we went from an 80 Euro patch to probably an 800 Euro (or more) repair. That hole into which you stuff money has its jaws wide open!
But we are going this week to see Gerard at Volenhove and he will tell us how much all the repairs and additions to the boat will cost. Then we can assess our next move. We may be joining the street performers we saw in Amsterdam – they managed to fill up their little cup!
Until next week, take care and say a little prayer that the boat gods smile on us!
2009 Newsletter #2
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Dear Family and Friends:
This has been an amazing week of firsts. Of necessity, these first 2 weeks have been highly compressed. Normal people (and you know that’s not a term that applies to the Cosses) would probably have taken longer to do what we have done but we were on a mission and as our friends the Fleming’s will tell you “Gotta make time. Gotta make time.”
I’m slightly embarrassed – only slightly mind you because I still have an issue with bank fees –as the wire transfer arrived within 4 days and we were the proud owners – officially – of a used 10 metre boat with a lovely interior, great quality gubbins and some work to be done to add a few amenities. We see great potential for comfortable cruising this year as there are thousands of yachthavens where we can shower to keep clean and then over the winter we’ll have a shower added so we can be pretty much self sufficient by the time we get to France next year. So all is going according to plan. Yes, people, there is a plan!!!.
Reliance on bikes for local transportation is another first experience and an eye opening adventure. Our new friend and mentor, David, cycles 14 km to buy his Chinese takeaway! He has been living here at the yachtyard for about 1 ½ years. Later today we will cycle to Blouwe Hand (Blue Hand) as a baby step to eventually travelling back from Zwartsluis on Tuesday. David needs to leave his new sail boat at the marina for repairs so we’ll put the bikes on the boat, cruise down the canal, and then all 3 will cycle back. I’ll be the one in the rear muttering under my breath something about “Whose stupid idea was this???”
Last Thursday we bundled all the dirty laundry up, tied it to the bikes and headed up into town (our boat yard is at the very south end of town) to the passantenhaven: a municipally run temporary haven - passing haven - for holidaying yachts which are supposed to only stay a few nights. There we put the laundry into the machine (a Miele no less!) and then threw ourselves under the shower at .50 euros – or 50 cents as they use cents for their coin as well. Both Phil and I (he was on the men’s side) gasped as the cold water hit and we used up about 10 cents worth of water trying to get the temperature right. We’ll know better for today when we do it all over again. In the meantime we use the wash basin on board to do a spot wash! No one has made a move to cover their nose as we approach so I guess it’s working. That, or Dutch people are incredibly polite!
Another very special first was meeting a Dutch couple with whom we spent a lovely evening. On Wednesday we decided to bike into Giethoorn centre to eat supper at the Italian place we’d seen earlier in the week. As we were tying up the bikes, we met Marian and John Berg, a Dutch couple from the Utrecht area, studying the menu. We got to chatting about why two Canadians would be here in Giethoorn, how did we even know it was here?, etc. See, you aren’t the only ones who think we are nuts. Anyway as we walked into the restaurant together I asked if they’d like to join us at a table. What followed was one of those special moments when people connect, find they have much in common and have similar tastes socially and politically. Marian and John Berg were on a two week holiday as they are about 10 years younger than we are but they are looking forward to the day that they can spend more time doing what they love to do - hiking and camping. She is a Phys Ed teacher, like you Eleanor, and of course very interested in sport. She quizzed us on who were our Olympic champions and in which sports. She gave very short shrift to our curling champions so that became a running joke all evening. Phil countered with the old adage, teachers who can’t, teach phys ed!
The most important highlight was our first run in the boat up to Steenwijk, we then circled around through many beautiful villages strung out along the canal (Nancy and Jamie, you would have loved it) and then across quite a big lake where we had to follow a marked channel. As you know Holland is mostly below sea level and so lakes may be big and wide but very shallow so your boat has to have less than a metre draft or you’ll run aground. Holland is very windy all the time, but you feel it especially across open spaces, so it bounced the boat around quite a bit and it was difficult to stay on course. Phil and I both took turns at the wheel, practiced our warp/rope throwing (Nancy, I am definitely getting better) and Phil pulled up alongside a dock several times to get used to mooring and using the bow thruster. It was a superb day but much too long. David is trying to compress our boat skills/learning into 2 days as he is on a tight schedule, but normally we don’t expect to be travelling more than a few hours a day. David has been living here in Holland on his boat for 3 years but he is now off to Portugal where it is much warmer. He’s had it with cold climates.
We’ve become most skilled at throwing money into a great hole called “Calypso”. We’ve order a new mattress for our bed as sleeping on a blow up isn’t as comfortable as you would like long term. We’ve ordered a bimini which is a huge BUT EXPENSIVE tarp that goes over the top steering station so we’ll be out of direct sun. We’d never make it through the summer without it. And of course we’ve ordered the BBQ so that we can cook outside. Using a gas stovetop pretty much means everything is fried and that will kill my stomach. Speaking of which, Suzanne how are you doing? Recovering well I hope! The food here is pretty wicked for frying and every meal is accompanied by 2 kinds of potatoes – roasted and French fries. It amazes me how they stay so slim but that’s where the bikes come in I guess!
The fields are amazing. They are incredibly neat and there isn’t an inch or acre not under cultivation of some sort. As you can imagine this being spring, the fields are also filled with baby lambs and goats. Too cute! Every, and I mean every front yard is incredibly well kept with no wild English gardens for the Dutch. The houses are fascinating – many of which are just tiny in Canadian terms. Beating the tax man is universal and the originals were built at a time when houses were taxed based on the size of the footprint. This meant small square footage on the ground floor but they built up, including rooms in the roof. Sometimes they even incorporate the barn into main living space so they can claim part of the structure as farm building.
First Impressions:
Sharlene: Dutch is a lot easier to read than it is to pronounce.
Phil: The girls here are gorgeous.
Sharlene: The architecture is very interesting – buildings and houses are brick – no stone or stucco.
Phil: The girls here are really gorgeous.
Sharlene: Sitting on our boat and watching the world go by is quite lovely.
Phil: The girls here are unbelievably gorgeous and oh, yes, the tobacco is cheap!
Well, I’ll go for now. We miss you all but writing these newsletters really helps me stay in touch as I think of you all as I’m writing. We hope the weather has improved and you are getting in lots of golf, hiking, whatever your hobby allows.
Take care – much love to all
Sharlene and Phil
PS – if you have a minute, Google ’Giethoorn, NL’ and I suspect there is a tourist site which will show you pictures of how pretty is this little town. They call it the Green Venice as it has many canals but is surrounded on all sides by greenery – trees, grasses, lawns, etc. The Dutch style houses are small but charming!
2009 Newsletter #1
Hello to Family and Friends; May 2/09
We have now been in Holland for one week and are pretty amazed at how much we’ve accomplished.
1. Fly to Amsterdam – tick
2. Start visiting boatyards looking at boats – tick
3. Choose boat and make offer – tick
4. Set up surveyor to assess boat – tick
5. Send fax to CIBC Nanaimo to have funds transferred – tick
6. Run around buying bedding, ordering mattresses for bed, order bimini top for boat, buy linens, etc – tick
7. Take car back to Amsterdam and then the train back to Geithoorn boatyard – tick tomorrow!
8. Sit and curse the bank for taking an inordinate amount of time to send funds – tick ongoing!!!!
So if I had my bottle of Southern Comfort here at the hotel, I’d have a large glass! However, we left everything except wash kit and change of clothes on the boat. We are checking out of the hotel tomorrow morning to take car back etc – see #7.
To say it has been an amazing time, albeit stressful on occasion, is an understatement. The highs were high, the lows were really low and a whole lot of trying to stay calm and zen-like in between. Our very first boatyard in Hattem almost had us heading home with our tail between our legs. The ‘blue’ boat that we had such high hopes for was a disaster. Nothing at all like the pictures on the internet and we couldn’t help but be deflated, especially after a 9 ½ hour flight. If that was what we could get for our money, then it wasn’t ever going to happen. But we headed to the hotel and felt that a good night’s sleep would make things brighter in the morning.
Like that was going to happen – after crashing and getting about 4 hours sleep, our body clocks said, get up you lazy slob – wakey, wakey! So we then headed off to Gendt to see the ‘pink’ boat. Thank goodness, this was a little better. Perfectly acceptable living quarters in terms of size and space, again very tired looking, nothing like the pictures on the internet and it had almost all of the gubbins that Phil was looking for. However, the engine is a recovered DAF from an army tank and there was no way of knowing how many hours there were on the engine. This gave us both concerns about resale as we aren’t going to be here forever. While we felt very positive we needed to see if there was value in Aphrodite. So off to Giethoorn, a most beautiful town on a holiday weekend and even though the boatyard was closed we managed to talk our way into the yard and looked at three boats. Quo Vadis was the very first boat we found online way back in September and while it had many good qualities, its age was a drawback. The second boat was a nonstarter. Yuck!!!! The third boat, Calypso was a delight. Smaller than any of the others we’d looked at but had been almost totally refurbished with the exception of the aft cabin. There was also an ‘old salt’ named David (English former submarine engineer) who was a font of information and gave us some good advice. Like – “ ignore boat #2, consider boat #1 and boat #3 is a gem but might be too small.” At last, possibilities.
So we went back the next day when it reopened and spoke with the boatyard owner and his wife. Rene and Marie-Sophie Jorna. We had communicated with them by email before we left so they knew who we were. I absolutely fell in love with Calypso – the old 10 second rule – and was smitten. Phil was leaning more towards the bigger boat but he too liked what he saw on Calypso in terms of quality of work done. However, we wanted to make sure that this was a good boat for its size as we hadn’t been looking at 10 metre boats. So off to Treherne, the Netherland’s version of the Lake District, to one of the biggest boatyards and looked at some more boats. Once again, Phil saw one with possibilities that I just couldn’t warm up to. My heart was already committed! As you can imagine it was a tense ride back to the hotel.
So the next day we returned to Geithoorn and made our offer. We made a very cheeky offer of $5000 less than an already reduced price. After a night’s thought the owner came back with a counter of an additional $1000 which was less than our top price, so we happily accepted. It is smaller than the bigger boats we started looking at but we can take guests – one couple at a time. We will have a shower added over the winter and we are going to redo the master cabin at the same time. After going over the boat today with the surveyor, Phil is even more impressed by how well the boat has been refurbished and we are feeling a little chuffed and think we paid a great price considering everything that there is on board. Once we do some additional work, it will really be a terrific boat and should have great resale value.
In the meantime, we are able to stay on the boat but not drive it until the funds actually arrive. Don’t get me started on banks, their insane and outrageous service charges and their lack of customer service. I said, “ DON”T GET ME STARTED!!!!!!!!”
So off to Amsterdam tomorrow, return the rental, find a broadband supplier so we can continue to use email and Skype. Barb emailed to say Mom isn’t well, is in hospital so I want to make sure that we can keep in touch once we leave the hotel. I’m not using FaceBook as I thought I would, so you’ll get newsletter updates as often as I can get one done.
The Dream
Our adventure began with the TV cooking show, Rick Stein’s French Odyssey. There was Rick cruising on a barge on the Canal du Midi extolling the virtues of French wine and regional cooking. The scenery was stunning – a barge silently gliding along a beautifully calm canal, grassy banks lined with plane trees, and the water is dappled by the sun’s rays streaming through the leaves - an inspiration for artists, poets and foodies alike. How romantic and idyllic was that, and really, there was absolutely nothing to stop us from following in his footsteps, we said to each other. Our internet research led us to blogs of other couples who spend either months or years cruising the rivers and canals of Europe. We got a sense of what it is like to cruise long term on a boat (small and cramped) and what were the costs associated with living in France (the exchange rate is going to kill you). But our enthusiasm remained undaunted and we started seriously planning the trip and looking for a boat.
It didn’t take long (if you don’t count the number of nights Phil was on the computer until 3:00 AM) to discover that: a) the best boat to buy is a Dutch steel cruiser; and that, b) the best place to buy a Dutch steel cruiser was in Holland. Not a stretch, grant you, but that’s essentially how we ended up spending the summer in Holland. Two retired Canadians who have never driven a cruiser much less owned one were now embarked on the adventure of a life time.
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