A month in Holland. August 2014.

 

Dear Friends,

I have to admit, it took a couple of days to let it all sink in… Once, a distant dream now made real. It was truly wonderful to be able to welcome my parents onto Onda Boa, which they did on Monday afternoon (in order to reach the city of Lelystad, we had to endure torrential rains in Amsterdam, and more rain and winds (against of course) from Amsterdam to Lelystad, but we made it.

The day after their first visit, my sister Janty came over for a visit, and we relocated to another Marina nearby (Flevo Marina), for practical purposes. At this Marina is the official Raymarine, and Volvo Penta dealer, plus they have attached to them a sailmaker. So, we became a service customer as I had them repair the genaker, make a new mainsail lazy jack cover, had the Raymarine GPS repaired, and even had to lift the SV Onda Boa on the dry in order to replace two worn prop shafts…. All in all a well needed but very expensive exercise.

Some highlights of our stay:

· Sailing on the IJsselmeer with my parents on several occasions, priceless

· Celebration of my Dad’s birthday.

· My parents staying on board for a couple of days

· Visiting with some good friends (Sjoerd, Marjolein and Charley in Amsterdam), Alvaro who travelled from Rotterdam to Lelystad, Sandra and her sister all the way from Germany, Hidde and Nicolet, ChrisJan and family.

· The party, rebaptising SV Onda Boa, to SV Lumina by my mother, in the presence of family and good friends, Chris Jan, Loek en Nel, Jan en Annie, Kees and Rina

· Purchase and installation of a cool and compact washing machine on board

· Having my brother Bert over for a couple of days

· Having my other sister Anke over for a couple of days

· The big Island of Vlieland expedition, sailing from Lelystad to the lovely island of Vlieland (my parents dream coming true)

· We even made it into the local media (interview in the local newspaper)

· Some real good family time

· Dutch food including: smoked eel, fried potatoes with mayonese of course, old dutch cheese, real thick plain yoghurt, chocolate, Calve Peanutbutter, Bread, lots of it.. (Dora and I gained some weight)

· Visit to Amsterdam, including the Heineken museum, and the BullDog Café (if i remember well…)

· Visit to Rotterdam, Euromast etc.

Then it was time to go, the hard part, saying goodbye, never easy… But a great warm feeling of mission completed… returning to base…

 

Torrential rains in Amsterdam                                    One of the many locks….

 

The Dutch way….                                                  Flevo Marina Lelystad

 

Obviously Amsterdam                                       Also the dutch way… by bike

 

This is how you make it…..                                This is where you taste it (Heineken museum)

 

                                                                         A great new asset

One of Doras many talents….                           So cool…. Happy parents on board…

 

She still beats me (checkers)                           Good morning all…

Visit to Rotterdam..                                       … and the neighbours came to visit

 

Mom official                                                    Safe journeys Lumina (thanks Mom)

The guest at the party (thanks)                    Article local news paper

It was awesome…Mission completed…

Enjoy

Pieter

Dover to IJmuiden. July 2014.

 

Dear Friends,

We were about to cross one of Europe’s busiest shipping traffic lanes and we had to weave our way through this. Again the Comar AIS proved itself again to be one of the most important navigation tools on board. To make our day, fog was upon us. Not only was the busy shipping lane our concern, but also the existence of several windmill farms. The one at the Thorton bank we didn’t see (fog) but certainly heard it, as we came too close I guess.

Around midnight we made the crossing in front of Rotterdam Port, and armed with the AIS information, made it kids play.

Sunday, July 26^th 2014, we entered IJmuiden Port, and as Dirk had planned to be picked up by his brother, to rush by car to Germany to surprise celebrate his Dad’s birthday, we tied up nice and easy at Seaport Marina.

It was great to have Dirk along on this rather difficult and technical leg. So, once again, thanks for the support.

Then, we realized that my parents and oldest sister Janty, had come to meet us in IJmuiden, but they thought we would proceed directly through the famous locks. So it took some time and communication to be able to finally meet up. My Friends, what an emotion… So good to see them. We made it, with the SV Onda Boa sailed to Holland. Proud.

They couldn’t stay long, and we were going to see them again the next day, in Lelystad.

Under normal circumstances a piece of cake, to get from IJmuiden to there… but as it turned out… nothing easy at all…

Comar AIS at work… great aid

 

The long awaited embrace….                             A lot to talk about….

 

Seaport Marina IJmuiden…                                  Dutch welcome delicacy…French fries, mayonese and Heineken beer

 

Dutch greetings

Pieter

Still here....

Dear friends,

Yep, still here.... Here being Grenada, at anchor in St Georges. Wow, a lot of good things have happened since my last publication. Some highlights: Dora arrived from Brazil, because after our trip from Trinidad to St Maarten last March, it was clear to both of us...we want to sail together. 

Dora

We went to see my family in Holland and celebrated my dad's 83rd birthday.

The family

Included a short trip to Paris... Tres bien..

Paris, Paris....

And all this time Onda Boa waited patiently on a mooring in Chaguaramas. Now with a new bimini, interior totally redesigned (thanks to Dora).

 Herewith I want to thank my friends Rodrigo, Rico, Beto, Carlos and Alastair for taking care of the boat, and getting us at warp speed to the airport in Port of Spain, as yourstruly suffered from a senior moment and got the dates mixed up, but that is another story.

We are now here in Grenada, prepping for our journey westwards. As usual some boat things need to be taken care of...in this particular case the wiring of the windlass, and wiring of a washdown pump through the 12 v switchboard ( no I am not a an electrician). We hope to get this done asap (Thursday). Then we will pick the right weather window, and on our way to Isla Blanquilla, Los Roques, Los Aves, and then Bonaire.

To us Grenada has a much friendlier feel to it, than Chaguaramas, the water is clean (daily water work outs around the boat, something   you wouldnt do in Chaguaramas). We even went lobster fishing...

We did anchor in Prickly Bay, Hog Island, Secret Harbour/ Mt Hartmann Bay, but we still like the open ocean anchorage of St Georges the best. Using the BadBoy Bitstorm WiFi antena, even the internet connection issues are kind of solved. 

Somebody told me that there are 2000 sailboats, scattered around in the bays of Grenada. An interesting comunity. Every morning at 07:30 on Vhf channel 66 and 68 the cruisers net is formed. A very productive daily routine of welcoming new boats, security issues, weather forecast, social activities, and even local business is granted airtime to talk about their businesses. Very good indeed.

Lucky is doing great...she spent her holidays ( when we were in Europe) on board SV Sotalia (Rodrigo) and during this stay she did learn a lot...

Did I mention that my good old laptop died on me, and so I bought a Tablet (Sony experia).... You can call me old fashioned, but frankly, I dont like it. Cant have all the stuff that I want, and typing on a touch screen.... Nah... Not good... Anyhow..we keep on going...

All the best, have fun and till the next post..

Pieter.

Impressions of the Onda Boa Carib Tour 2013

Dear friends,
For almost three weeks, the Onda Boa had an all female crew.. My sister Anke, her daughter Kim, and two of her friends Krystal and Charlotte, all from the lovely Dutch Island Vlieland. It was great fun, and herewith I want to thank the crew for their participation and patience…
After a broken

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Why not?

Pieter with Pepper (the cute dog) and Lumina, his mami (laughing), was attacked by dutch TV:

Reporter: "why do you live on board a sailboat?"
Pieter: "uh.. why not?"



Hilarious. 

Welcome to the world of...

... tulips, potatoes, windmills, cheese, wooden shoes, bikes, sailboats,  unbelievable life below sea level, and much more, all is Holland.

This was the very short trip to Pieter's homeland, the Netherlands (also known as Holland, Nederlands, Países Baixos).

The very commom/nice way of locomotion is by bike and by boat. The picture below are of a real strange and smart bus, it's for tourists explore both the land and the romantic channels of Amsterdam. This could be a nice solution for Brazil's flood problems.