Boating beneath the sea

 Well, not exactly under water! As I write we are afloat, but 5 meters below sea level.

We have at last started exploring and we are traveling in glorious summer weather. Following a month in England visiting folk, we were able to get back aboard Antiope and get on top of a few jobs. The new washing mashine arrived and was duly hoisted aboard, hooked up and put into service.

      Steady does it !                                  A tight fit through the hatch

We have a new working washing machine! No more smelly shirts. 

It is a pleasure to be able to have family and friends aboard again. It is now 11 years since we were in these Netherland waters. We are getting used to the change from France, from the morning baguette to the Dutch coffee and applecake routine.   

Away from the boatyard.

So far we have stayed north of Amsterdam, cruising Friesland and the IJsselmeer. 

Following a casual dockside chat while exploring the old Hansiatic port of Kampen, I had an invitation to go Botter racing and I found myself crewing in the annual 'Urk' traditional boat regatta. 

 

,

GT 13, 120 years old and we finished in 3rd place

Your author in a casual pose, mid race

Not much wind on the day

The Botter fleet, post race in Urk. 

The Urk lighthouse still shines out over the IJsselmeer. Urk was once an island in the Zuider Zee before 1943. This old fishing settlement is now on the edge of a vast polder of reclaimed land. It is midway across this polder on the man made waterway 5 m below sea level, where we have moored for the night. Sobering thought. 

The Urk lighthouse

                                             

The watergate at Sneek, the waterway hub of Frieseland

We found this remote island mooring in the middle of the IJsselmeer

The Dromedary tower, which dates back to 1540, in the old seaport of Enkhuizen 

Once a defended seaport, Blokzijl is now far inland

Sailing on the Meers

Summer evening on the Meers

Exiting the lock where we have descended 5meters to the level of the old sea bed 

Ciao Zanussi

 Our month-long social visit to the UK ended up in Felixstowe, once a grand Victorian Suffolk seaside town, which now has England's largest container terminal in its backyard. Just across the harbour is the historic town of Harwich from where my way-back ancestors sailed, and it was from the Stour/Orwell estuary that Antiope began her voyage to Europe 12 years ago.  

                        

                            Some folk in Felixstowe have too much time on their hands.

                             A more comfortable mode of sea travel. (The ferry, not the lightship!)

Our trip across the North Sea was again overnight, but this time in a lovely cabin aboard the 240 m ferry, Stena Hollandica. Definitely a more comfortable ride than last time, according to Annie. 

Before leaving London, Annie and I made the Thameside walk from the old Docklands to Greenwich including the must do 'Cloud' cable car ride over the Thames. We finished up with a reviving pint in the bankside Trafalgar taven, then a swift 'Uber' ferry up into central London and a further walkabout. There is so much more to see of London by foot than getting around on the 'Tube'

The 'Cloud' cable cars cross the Thames, well worth the ride

                                 The Greenwich meridian crosses the Thames at this point

                               It then heads on South through docklands all the way to NZ 

A grand sight, the Trafalgar tavern on the bankside at Greenwich,

Coronation bunting still flying.

                                       

Meanwhile, back in Scheerwolde

Monday 6th June, re-launch day, and the first of the warmer weather

Once back aboard Antiope, she was smartly launched and we began the long delayed task of removing 'Zanussi'. The task made more difficult as Zanussi (the washing machine) was a big beast, wider than any of the boat access ways and we suspect built in before the original interior fit out was completed back in 1996. Zanussi had been misbehaving for several seasons and was on its final warning.            Pre Covid I had cut out a big enough hole and made a larger forehatch. This week the test, having dismantled it as far as possible a mobile jib hoisted the 80 kg up through the hatch. We knew that if we could get one out, a new one would fit in.

Going

Going

Going

Gone

Watch this space soon for some actual cruising stories and pictures.

Cheers Charles and Annie