The Search Widens

We picked up a rental car on Wednesday the 30th and began the boat search in earnest. Saw a couple of more possibilities. We were staying in a typical Dutch situation, the extra rooms added on to the side of a large farmhouse and rented out to guests. In this case we were sharing a kitchen with another guest but he was rarely there so it was like our own apartment.
The co-owner of the B&B, Martin, was the retired superintendant of one of the last full-service shipyards (not boatyard) in the Netherlands, Merwede Shipyard, about 45 minutes away, near Rotterdam. They just happened to be launching their latest project, a 200 meter pipelaying ship for a Scottish company on Friday night so he invited us along. An all access pass to a ship launch was the last thing we expected but what a sight! I included just one picture but a 6oo ft. ship hitting the water backwards at 30 kilometers per hour is something not to be missed.



Meanwhile, we're driving all over southern Holland in search of the boat. Follow along on your Netherlands map as we visit Rotterdam, Nijmegen, Latham, Peoldijk and Loosdrecht, among other yachthavens (marinas to you and me).

Along the way we managed to fit in some "time off" to take a bike ride along the Linge River, somewhere we'd like to visit on the boat, visit Delft, home of delftware, Leiden, a bustling university town, and more beautiful Dutch countryside ... including windmills!

But it's time to move on to another part of the country, up north to Freisland.