A coolish morning greeted us, a high blanket of clouds hushing the new day in. The sun gradually broke through and brought dappled light and heat. A flutter of sails sat on the glistening Hoornsche Hop. A couple of girls swam around the marina, catching up on gossip as they did so.
 Farewell from Meryl |
The wind was on our nose, nothing new there then, and rather than spend an age tacking all the way down the Markermeer, we motored down. We were not alone, numerous other craft were either heading in our direction, or directly opposed to it. It was wonderful to be out on an expanse of water again.
We watched Hoorn slip away behind us, and Edam float away on our starboard side. The small lighthouse on the most easterly point of Marken, cloaked in scaffolding, proudly saluted us as we crept past.
Scores of small flights of 20-30 cormorants flew across our path, mere centimetres above the water. Higher up in the air, much larger flights flew in the opposite direction. The numbers in the sky were so large that the flights looked like black ribbons twisting in the wind.
As we rounded the small island of Vuurtoreneiland near Durgerdam, we were joined by barge traffic steaming down from Lelystad. At this point Rex was getting concerned about an alarm that kept "chattering" on the engine instrument panel. After stopping the engine near Durgerdam and drifting in clear water for a while, we traced the problem to a temperature sensor rapidly tripping in and out. Rex checked the engine water intake filter, which was clean, so we were at a loss as to why the engine temperature was climbing. On restarting the engine, the fault had cleared, and there was ample coolant water coming out of the exhaust. We concluded that the engine water intake hole below the water line had been obstructed, the obstruction being held in place by suction pressure, but when we had switched the engine off, the pressure had been released, allowing the obstruction to fall away.
 Waterside Architectures in Amsterdam |
Out of the other side of the city centre, we passed the large Amsterdam Marina, shortly after which a huge ship entered the canal from one of the many harbours, and accompanied by tugs, made its way to Ijmuiden.
We chugged along past the turnoffs to Zaandam and Spaarndam, and once again found ourselves under the flight path to Schiphol. Eventually the industrial skyline of Ijmuiden dominated our line of vision, predominantly the vast steelworks belching smoke and steam.
A simple lock and bridge allowed us access once again to the North Sea. We motored past moored giant oil/gas rigs that sprung out of the water, and World War II bunkers that once jealously guarded the approaches to the Ijmuiden waterways. In a short distance we turned in to the huge Marina Seaport Ijmuiden . This really was colossal with capacity for over a thousand vessels. We tied up to the visitors pontoon, from which it was a far walk to the harbourmaster's office and facilities, but we were fit lads by now and the lengthy hike to the far side did not bother us, in fact Rex relished the expeditions.
 Rigs and Bunkers Greet Us into Ijmuiden |
Well into the late evening, large yachts were returning from a racing event somewhere off the coast. Considering it was a very large marina, with large ships continuously passing nearby, and a huge steelworks just the other side of the harbour, it was very quiet in the marina, that is until one of the large gas rig service vessels came in and moored close by. Nevertheless, we slept well.
