Spakenburg

When the Dutch closed off the Zuider Zee with dikes, they essentially put small fishing villages out of business. It was either find something else to do or die. Small villages like Spakenburg found their salvation in tourism, much like many small towns in the U.S. These are the typical fishing boats of the area, called "botters." You can also see a couple of them up on the slipways in the local boatyard.

We got back to the boat just as the wind and rain started to pick up. By the next morning it was really howling and since heading back to Amsterdam involved crossing open water we decided to stay put. Good thing we did. It didn't rain much but the wind she did blow! Luckily, the Dutch always tell us that if we wait just a little bit, the weather will change. By the next morning, things had settled down enough for us to tackle the Eemeer. Since we had two days to make it back to Amsterdam, we decided to stop in a marina near the town of Naarden. It looked pretty intriguing on the chart; we thought it deserved a look.