Strandhorst to Zeewolde to the River Eems

You will have to forgive my lazy ass. I really couldn't be bothered with the blog the last couple of days since we got here. Mind you, it has been somewhat busy.

After a couple of delays getting luggage out of Schipol Airport, we eventually got to the boat around 5pm, an hour later than planned. And yes, we did go with only hand baggage but they asked for volunteers with big hand luggage to please put them in the hold and we foolishly agreed. Turns out those bags get put in with the cargo and are dished out last, about 45 minutes after the rest of the bags. Grrrrrr. Lesson learnt. Never again.

Hmmm - "What shall I try next?"
There are 8 buffet tables like this at the Wok Inn as well as the grill and wok stations. Sooooooooooo much choice.

Took Skip and hour and five minutes to get the boat back in order (de-winterizing) and we were sitting on the aft deck with the first beer. And, as we had not yet done any provisioning, we wandered the 100m up the dock to our favourite asian buffet, the Wok Inn. YUM YUM.

Monday we had a really early start as we were meeting the RYA instructor across the river at Zeewolde at 10am to do the ICC boat licence assessment. We didn't have to do the course as Skip has, ahem, enough experience so went straight to the assessment. The ICC is something we have to have if we want to go anywhere other than the Netherlands. Michiel was a lovely chap and we spent most of the time chatting and drinking coffee. Skip sailed through the requested manouevers and the three of us ended up at the McDonalds eating burgers instead. :) :) :)

After an hour at the Lidl and Albert Heijn we went back across the randomeer to Strandhorst for the night.

Skip taking advantage of a rare sunny spell to scrub poop off the aft platform. 

This morning we left port for proper and are now tied up just before the first bridge on the charming River Eems on our way up to Amersfoort. We are expecting a couple more days of rain showers, so decided that Amersfoort would be a nice place to hang out til the weather clears.

Our first 'mooring' away from home port - just before the first bridge on the River Eems.

Thanks to everyone who is helping back home. Much appreciated.  ALSO don't forget, you can click on the photos to make them bigger.