Leaving Enkhuizen and Returning to Hoorn

Thursday, August 25, 2022:

We had a good night's sleep and very much enjoyed our stay at the Hotel de Koepoort in Enkhuizen. A church's bells rang every half hour and hour, but I didn't hear them until I was waking up in the morning. We appreciated the air conditioning very much.

The lobby of the hotel is very attractive, and they serve breakfast in the morning and drinks in the evening.

Seeing Bob Dylan kind of made me feel right at home!

The stairs leading up to our room were extremely steep!

This is what our room on the top floor looked like:

We bid farewell around 9:00 a.m. and began walking to the marina:

These are some of the sights along the way:

There was a great deal of activity in the harbor; a bunch of people were preparing for a one-design (class fleet) regatta:

This structure is called the Dromedary; a draw bridge leads to it:

More bucolic scenery:

After about a mile of walking (25 minutes), we are welcomed at the entrance to the Compagnieshaven Marina:

Along the way to the boat, I made friends with a pair of very talkative Grebes:

This is my favorite name for a boat. It's not a "Man Cave", it's a "Man Boat"!

Once we reached Marius's boat, this duck made friends with me and didn't want to leave:

We were sorry to leave him! We just had a short way to go to get into the lock. Along the way, all of the one-design boats were being towed out of the harbor for their regatta. There were 30 or more of these boats. It got very interesting:

We found out that the lock exists because the lake we had just been in (Enkhuizen) was a salt water lake, and the lake where we were going (Hoorn) was a fresh ("sweet") water lake. That explains the almost zero water level difference. They are trying to keep the salt water out of the fresh water lake.

Once out of the lock, we had plenty of wind, so we put up the sails, and Brock got to skipper for a while:

This tall ship passed by us:

In short order (3 hours total) we arrived back in Hoorn! The steeple second from right belongs to our church/hotel!

Our four-day sailing adventure in the Netherlands has come to an end. We are very appreciative of Marius and Anne-Marie for helping us enjoy this week in the Netherlands! They have been absolutely great hosts!

We returned once again to the Heavens Hotel in Hoorn. This is what our Suite looks like:

It's even fancier than the previous room we had at this hotel; this room has a shower AND a tub!

It has been a very hot day, made more bearable with some nice wind, but we are always grateful for air conditioning and a comfortable bed.

We met Marius and Anne-Marie for dinner at "Da Noi", an Italian restaurant near our hotel. The food was delicious, and our waiter was really charming!

My ravioli, with goat cheese and honey, was perfecto!:

Marius's pizza looked a little crunchy:

Brock liked his seafood pasta, but I think he could have used a larger serving:

To finish, the waiter brought us glasses of Limoncello! That supposedly helps to settle our stomachs. What a wonderful evening!

It is supposed to start raining around 1:00 a.m. Tomorrow we will end up at the Hilton Hotel at the Amsterdam Airport. The weather will determine our activities tomorrow. Let's hope for the best!