Monday 30th May Ref: 2016/7
A cooler, duller and windy day with the fresh northerly breeze of up to 28 knots making the prospect of a cruise up the Gouwzee quite interesting. Lady Martina, however, was more than equal to it as we pulled out of the the shelter of the Hoek van de Nord and made our way north towards Volendam
There was an early part of passage with the beam sea on the port side as we made our way east away from Monnickerdam and along the channel until the red/green 'fairway' buoy that marks the junction of the Marken channel when we then turned North and had the short sea on our nose as we cruised slowly at around 6 knots up to the Volendam channel.
It was a beam sea again as we turned West and cruised along the channel and into the harbour where, not being able to find a berth on the North or East walls, i called VHF 71 and spoke to the harbourmaster who directed us to a berth right under their office and in the middle of the shopping promenade. It was right in front of the 'pump-out' station but they did not seem to be concerned about that and said that this was 'seldom used' which was a bit worrying!
There was ample time to take Max ashore to accompany us on a walk along this harbour front of this popular tourism venue before we paid our mooring fee and settled down with beers, cheese and biscuits to enjoy a relaxing afternoon. I then paid the marina fees which amounted to some €22.45 for the single day which included electricity and WiFi
18-23degF, 77-66%RH, 1005mb pressure steady, overcast, dry, with fresh 20-30kn northerly breeze
