The Task. To bring the Nauticat 'Minimum' from
the marina at Stavoren on the Ijsselmeer in North Holland. The trip
across to Holland was from Bournemouth airport on a Thompson Fly cut
price flight to Amsterdam (Schipol) at a cost of �28.49 single
leaving on Sunday 21 August 2005 at 0800 arriving 1000. Hans van der
Weij the Stavoren based yacht broker,
www.skipshandel.nl , picked
us up from the airport.
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Above is a picture of Minimum in the forefront
moored at the Stavoren marina. The marina hold about 150 yachts and
has excellent shower facilities and a small chandlery. The downside
was the extremely large number of mosquitos - Definitely need anti-istamine.
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The little town of Stavoren is shown as a
panorama above with the Coop minimarket at its centre. The area is
focused on the tourist trade and there are lots of reasonably priced
restaurants in the vicinity, |
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We did our major shopping in the town nearby,
shown around by Hans (in the tan shirt). On his recommendation we
tried the local bakery for bread and cakes - a good choice. On
Monday we checked over the boat and topped up the water before
leaving for Amsterdam via the lock at Enkhuizen and the Markermeer.
The sea, which is only 4-5 metres deep, was fairly lumpy and on the
quarter. |
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We had a pleasant, if lumpy, sail down to the
lock at Oranjesluizen and then up river to the Sixhaven marina in
the centre of Amsterdam, opposite the Central Railway station. As
you can see the marina is fairly tight for space but it really
couldn't be more convenient - and the ferries across to the city are
free! The cost at this marina is excellent and includes electricity,
it worked out at about �10.00 per day. There is a chandlery about a
twenty minute walk away which is interesting for camping and boat
gear. There are also a couple of places to eat nearby, however, we
went into Amsterdam centre for a very good Indonesian meal. |
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Picking up crew could not be much easier. A train
runs from Central station to Schipol airport every ten minutes and
costs a mere 3 euros each way. The journey takes 20 minutes.
On Thursday morning we set off with our full
compliment of crew (4) for the journey to Ijmuiden. The canal from
Amsterdam is about 500 mtrs wide and busy. We locked out of the
canal at South Quay, Ijmuiden |
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Ijmuiden marina is large, probably 800 yacht
berths. The Chinese restaurant is excellent value and there are one
or two dockside bars. The chandlery is ok and the facilities
excellent. Once the wind decreased we set sail south for the Dover
Straits. |
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Unfortunatley, we had to make a detour into the
Oosterschelde via the Roompot Lock. We found haven at Roompot marina
which although miles from anywhere had excellent facilities. The
weather was perfect as can be seen by the series of pictures. |
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Problems with contaminated fuel held us up and
both Christine and myself had to get back for work on Tuesday. We
had almost given up hope of getting back in time when Malcolm and
Glenda offered us a lift to Harwich on their boat 'Lady Genevieve'.
We stepped aboard at 0800 on Monday and had lunch in the yacht club
at Blankenberge. Fuel prices here were V. Good. |
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From Blankenberge we headed for Shotley Point at
Harwich and 4 hours later we arrived! From there we took a train to
Portsmouth via Liverpool Street and Waterloo, eventually arriving
home in Botley, Hants, at 2215hrs |
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