"Pt. 1 Boating through Holland" by seoulgirl

We had always wanted to hire our own boat and motor through the waterways of Europe. I did some research and we got the best deal on a boat in the Netherlands. It is one of Jeff's favorite countries thus far. We picked the boat up and were amazed at how large it was. Needless to say, we were a little nervous. We had a very short lesson on how the boat works. Dutch people seem to all own boats so I suppose it is so second nature to them that they think everyone knows the basics.

We got in the boat and Jeff couldn't remember how to start it. We flagged the guys back in. He had trouble starting it but then in a roar the engine revved up. We asked him if Utrecht was right or left and we were off!!!

We had a nice mellow 20 minutes of non-adventure and then we had to park the boat inside a lock with 3 other boats from the rental place. We all were a bit lost. I had to tie the boat up after Jeff parked it. No one instructed us on this part of the trip. We did pretty well but the boat the behind us was at a loss. We ended up doing okay. The lock fills up with water or drains lower in some cases. So, we waited and then we were off. In 2 minutes we were in a commercial shipping canal with massive barges and cruise liners. We were tossed and bucked around. It was crazy and very exciting. Good thing we had the 10 meter boat so we weren't capsized. We went under huge bridges and passed by the industrial area of Utrecht. We then made a turn according to our map and ended up in Maarsen. We saw a beautiful place to moor up for the night next to a walking path that led into the small town and next to a field of 3 big brown cows. Time to give it a rest. Off to the lake tomorrow.

This is one of the big barges that pass by you. Stay close to the side but not too close folks!

The small town of Maarsen is where we stayed the night. We went into town and had a couple Belgian beers and a perfect Shwarma sandwich. I hadn't had a Shwarma like that since I was first in Amsterdam in 1985. I had been obsessed with finding the proper one since. It's an Egyptian Kebab with a hint of cinnamon in the Kebab meat and a caper/onion/ketchup sauce.

We saw many gorgeous mansions, castles, and other majestic buildings along this path toward Amsterdam in the area De Hoop. Many are surrounded by a moat and have their own bridges.

The lake we planned to go to is Loosdrechtse Plassen. We missed the
turn because it looked too small of a canal to lead to a big lake. We
went through a bridge. I was sitting on deck not prepared to pay the
bridge master the 1 euro to get through since some of them you pay and
some of you don't. The custom is to catch the wooden shoe he tosses to
you on the end of a fishing pole. You tuck the money inside and let
go. I didn't have any money since I had forgotten. I panicked and
started going inside the boat for money. He started yelling and
everyone was looking. Crap! So, we had to moor the boat up and Jeff
ran the money back. The guys had gone to lunch so he left the euro at
his post. Embarrassing and stressful situation. I didn't do that
again!

Heading to the lake we saw a whole new way of life along the canal. There were houses that only used boats for transportation. Similar to some cities, they had streets made up of water that lead to their yards. It looked very much like a street would in the U.S.

The Dutch are born sailors. We had a great time watching them maneuver small and large vessels like pros. Once a huge yacht (oh, about 20 meters) was squeezing into a spot between our boat that was moored up and a post in the water. They made it no problem. We thought it would be very hard for them to reverse out of the narrow passage of land and posts and what did they do but turn it to the side and go right between the posts. We are prertty novice so it was quite a feat!

This is a very large lake. We had to go through a narrow lock where we had waited with other boats to get through. There were a line of people sitting next to the lock watching the boats. Jeff had a heck of a time swinging the back of the boat over to the right side to moor. I had a hell of a time mooring with only one side of the boat there. Two Dutch girls came over and moored us up. It was very stressful for us newbies. It really was no big deal in hindsight. The drive into the lake is about 25 mins. through Mijndenseslis.