This is the only harbour on the north-west side of Almere; the Markermeer is actually quite big so there can be relatively big waves at this side of the polder - however, at this location they prepared for harbour activities while constructing the polder; walls towards the lake with a small opening and a big sheltered area behind the wall. Big enough to have room both for the yacht harbour, some commercial activity and even a big anchorage. There are drawbacks with the big size - despite being inside the sheltered area, the yacht harbour has installed breakers around their harbour. Came to think, Markermeer was not a part of the plan, the plan was to just leave a wide shipping lane and then construct a Markerpolder at the other side - hence the walls are actually meant to protect against swell from passing ships, not from natural waves ... but I digress.
I totally forgot to take photos of this harbour while being there, shame on me. I did take photos of two birds though:
Here is the banner from their web page:
Our arrival and first impressions
We came in the late night and with relatively much wind, relatively much waves, and it was very dark. My wife woke me up just as I we approached the opening. Well ... where was the opening? Maybe I wasn't entirely awake, it ought to have been obvious with the map, GPS-position and even radar ... but I saw two lights, pointed to them and said ... "probably there". We went closer ... and eventually when we were really close to the wall we realized ... oups, no opening there. In the next moment we spotted fishing equipment in the water! We were very close to getting entangled in the fishing gear, but managed to turn around in time, found the real opening and got in there without troubles.
We would totally just have dropped anchor if it wasn't for that we're currently having some problems with our anchoring equipment. This harbour is of the kind where every boat place has two poles aft (shared with the neighbouring boat places), with ropes going from the poles to a floating dock, a quite popular arrangement in Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and probably many other countries we haven't visited yet ... but an arrangement that is quite rare to see in Norway. Since it's so rare in Norway, this kind of mooring is quite a bit outside our comfort zone. Except for the "out of our comfort-zone" (meaning we don't have much practice with it), our problems with it are:
- We have a quite big and wide ship - it's hard to figure out if the opening between the poles is big enough or not - and if it isn't, we may end up sort of stuck between the poles.
- It's hard to protect against scratches from the poles. Vertical fenders doesn't help at all, and it's sort of non-trivial to pad the boat with horizontal fendering. The poles are usually padded with plastic, I don't ever think we got any scratches from such poles, but if there is wind in the air the forces can be quite strong.
- We sort of need to be four places at the same time - at the steering position in the boat, at both sides of the boat to throw ropes around the poles, push on them to ensure there won't be any scratches, and fix/adjust the ropes on the boat side - plus in the bow, to ensure one doesn't crash with the float and to jump onto the floating dock and attach ropes to it (to ensure the bow won't drift sideways).
I believe I should be able to do all of the above alone under perfect conditions (perfectly wind still weather and no current in the water), but in windy conditions it's really best to be three or four persons. When arriving we were only two adults (actually, two non-sailors with us, but they were sleeping - we tried yelling at one of them without any success) and the wind was relatively strong. We were quite proud that we actually managed to moore up in one of the places and that without using the bow truster (it's very noisy - for one thing, other people in the harbour may wake up - but it's also a really horrible experience for those sleeping at the top of it). The ropes on the sides helped us quite much.
The harbour was with good capacity, we had many free places to choose between. We also considered just mooring up on the inside of the breaker - it would also be quite difficult since the wind was blowing the ship away from the breaker, and we would be without land connection, but if nothing else it would be something we're used to doing.
Next morning we learned that the place we had occupied wasn't really available, but we could lie with the long side towards the floating dock (like we prefer) just right by the harbour office.
Harbour facilities and fees
Next morning we went to check in and pay harbour fees. The staff there was super friendly (despite the rolling photos on their web page displaying almost only old men, the staff and other people we met was relatively young), and at around 20 EUR for a 13.5m (43.5') boat the harbour fee was affordable. I believe they didn't have laundry facilities (which didn't matter much to us as we took all our laundry to our friends in Almere). The buildings were rather primitive and didn't look much nice. I found the toilets OK, but there were some huge spiders in the ceiling, which was a big problem as some of our arachnophobic children refused going there. Unlike our previous experience outside Amsterdam, soap was provided. I didn't check the shower, but my wife said there was no hot water in the shower.
They had a playground, and the kids were happy to play on their playground. They also had some areas that seemed to be for club members only, we didn't investigate. Here comes the best part: bike rental was included in the harbour fee! We do have our own bikes on-board, but getting the bikes in and out of the boat is a big hazzle, so we utilized this offer.
Other impressions
Big spiders everywhere in this harbour!
I wrote up another post covering Almere.
Just when we were to leave, my wife commented that there were only sailing vessels in the harbour, not a single motor boat ... and also that all the boats were relatively big boats. My thought was that probably smaller sailing boats and motor vessels had other ports available that were more preferred, or maybe even for free, like on the inside of the polder. At the other hand, the lock and opening bridge to be passed to get on the inside of the polder is equally much a hazzle for a smaller engine-powered boat as for a big sailing boat.
We spotted a dead fish - that's not much nice - though, unrelated to the harbour. Due to the heat and drought this year, Markermeer is hotter than ever and dirtier than ever, hence some of the fish can't handle it. As long as there is just some few fish dieing it's no big deal - Darwin's theory apply, the survivers will ensure the upcoming generation of fishes are better suited for hot, dirty water.
Selected photos available in original quality on IPFS QmSAApcYvr7RyAc8iuWHmNdKxU4GX6uCWgGxFmAd2bAJHh. License: CC BY-SA 4.0
Links and references
Official harbour site
4sailors (anchorage)
4sailors (marina)
Skyscanner
Marinas.com
Marina on Almere tourist site
We can see and feel your adventure & photograph. But we never can enjoy this. Because are the people of third country. We are not rich....... but we have a beautiful mind that is why we can imagine your enjoyable moments. Thanks for nice article...................
One doesn't need to be rich to go sailing, it's sufficient to be crazy. Like, Jarle Andhøy went from the arctic to the antarctic almost without any funding and with a boat he basically got for free; he's not alone going out for such adventures. Even though this guest harbour costed us 20 EUR (it would have been cheaper with a smaller boat), in this review I'm also covering the anchorage, it's totally for free to use.
I'd also recommend to follow @movingman, he left from the UK with almost no money at all, only a van - and hasn't returned since.
Though ... you are probably right, things are probably much harder in the third world, like getting hold of a working van or a sailing boat for free or almost for free is probably not an option, and getting a passport or visas can be pretty hard. Living the life of @movingman (i.e. searching garbage bins outside shops and finding perfectly good gourmet food) is probably only possible in the rich world. Still, I believe opportunities can be found anywhere. Quite much work nowadays is purely intellectual and can be done from anywhere, with cryptocurrencies it's also possible to get paid instantly across country borders.
Thanks for inspiration....my friend
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I have followed your adventure, and had great fun with your comments on all the annoying installations in foreign waters, some of them being my local Danish ones. Never thought about it being a problem with the aft poles in the harbours for example. I haven't had time for too much commenting lately as I have just come home from vacation, so you'll have my comment about the bundgarnspæle here (the wooden poles out in medium depth water in Denmark).
The owners of the poles are just as annoyed about people sailing around their nets as you are sailing around them, but their main enemy is the skarv! (great black cormorant). Denmark has one of the largest European populations of skarv and they are seen as competitors and thiefs when it comes to fishing. Fishermen are allowed to shoot the bird, who in all else is protected, if they come within 1000 meters of their poles. Most of them hasn't got the time for shooting the birds though and you very often see them sitting there on the poles.
Anyway thanks for an entertaining blog!
A sketch by the Danish painter Johannes Larsen, showing skarvs sitting on the poles.
Yeah, I've noticed that the skarv likes to sit on those poles.
When I was living in the arctic, I thought skarv was a typical arctic bird, so I was surprised encountering them further south. Once, when concentrated on "landing" the boat in a bit tricky wind, I heard a loud BANG. What did I hit now? Actually, it was birdstrike - a skarv had crashed with my mast! After I had tied up the boat I took the dhingy and collected the dead bird from the sea. I tried calling my mother to ask if it was edible, unfortunately she was busy - later I heard that it is indeed good to at it, as long as it's treated correctly - it's needed to bleed it dry as soon as possible, otherwise the meat will get a very bad fishy taste.
I have never tasted it, but my wife's uncle says it's good, almost like red meat. You can also smoke it with fine results I've heard.
They were almost extinct because the fishers hated them, but now they are everywhere and still protected. Like crows they shit the trees they inhabit in big colonies to death, and they eat an awful lot of fish so there have been discussion about allowing some hunt on them. As your mother said they should be good to eat.
That's what we have to be careful for when fishing around here also. I don't even want to imagine some fishing nest around the boat's motor. I'm curious how's the experience from van de Blockq comparing with Kiel? Over there I remember you had some troubles with communication, as Germans don't like speaking English that much. Was it easier in The Netherlands from this point of view?
Yes, it's far easier to communicate in the Netherlands. I think I already commented that on my post "impressions from the netherlands" :-)
Looks like I'm facing memory shortages 😁
NIce. You have told the positive and negative side of the place. It is beautiful so forget the negative part. Just enjoy.
It was very interesting to read yours
observations and impressions of his journey, at the Markermeer
Thanks for the pictures, @tobixen
Too bad there were spiders, dead fish and heat.
I hope your travels were happy and left a good impression!
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