We sailed along the Channel and up the North Sea to Amsterdam overnight. It had been a stormy night, with a gale and fairly rough seas, meaning the boat deck and sun deck were closed off, but Vision of the Seas is a steady ship and we hardly felt it.The next morning, Saturday 30th April 2011, found us off IJmuiden where we picked up the pilot for our entry through IJmuiden locks into the North Sea Canal.
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| The pilot boat - blurry photo because it was shot through a window as the outside decks were still closed off. |
We also collected a tug, Svitzer Muiden, which was to accompany us through the locks, along the canal and into our dock at the city's cruise terminal. The tug attached itself to our stern, presumably to keep the ship from swinging due to the low speed. It was at this point that that outside decks were, thankfully, reopened. I hate being on a ship and not able to get outside but I can see why they did it as the wind was incredibly strong, enough to blow you off your feet. It was also probably to save the drunken stag do muppets from themselves.
The ferry
King Seaways was in the ferry terminal on the seaward side of the locks. This is the former King of Scandinavia but was better known to people on the south coast of England as the former Brittany Ferries' Val de Loire, which I once sailed on with some friends in the early 2000's.
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| King Seaways |
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| Entering IJmuiden Lock, the steelworks are on the left |
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| The lock gate opens and we enter the canal to Amsterdam |
The canal was lined with industrial places, as well as farms and highly cultivated countryside. There were oil refineries, oil storage tanks, bulk berths, coal heaps, container ports, science fictiony-looking chemical factories and steelworks with smoke issueing from their chimneys, docks, warehouses, ships, farms, houses, cows, birds...it is a busy place.
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| Acergy Falcon |
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| Brigit Maersk |
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| Frio Murmansk |
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| Gotland Sofia |
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| John F |
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| Rochdale One |
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| Sirius |
Capt. Johansen hit the horns as we arrived, probably not only to let the world at large know we'd arrived but to warn people that we were turning round. It was a public holiday in Holland, Queen's Day, so the Amstel river was alive with vessels of all shapes, sizes and vintages, from decent-sized ships to frail-looking tiny boats and a party was evidently in full swing, so it would have put a bit of a downer on things if we'd crushed anybody!
At the passenger terminal, the brand new
AIDAsol, complete with AIDA's hideous 'eyes and lips' paint scheme, was already there, occupying the rear berth, so we docked in front of her after being turned round.
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| AIDAsol. That paint scheme...! |
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| If your lens isn't wide enough - I only had my 70-200mm on the camera - go for the 'artistic'! |
We were scheduled to remain in Amsterdam until the following day, as was AIDAsol only she was going early the next morning (Patsy was getting up early to get her leaving but I'm not *that* keen, preferring a lie-in! I don't do mornings, particularly early ones, unless in dire emergencies or if I have to be somewhere; I only go to work from lunchtime onward) while we were sailing at 1700.
We decided to get off the ship and walk round to a piece of public land across the canal so we could get some photos of her and AIDAsol docked. It was hot, crowded and a bit of a step to get round there but we could get views of both ships. First though, we could go down to the dockside and photograph Vision from close quarters - imagine being able to do that in the terrorism-paranoid UK where you can be arrested for even aiming a camera at a public building.
I used my 18-55mm wide angle zoom for this picture. This lens is total and utter crap,with softness at the edges and chromatic aberration, and needs replacing but is better than nothing in 'emergencies'.
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| Vision of the Seas from the dockside. Imagine being able to do that in the UK. Not. A. Chance...! |
Then it was the walk round to the other side for more photos. I had far more pressing concerns though, as Southampton FC were playing in a crucial match away at Brentford and with three games left to play, Saints needed to win two of them to be sure of going up, thanks to a massive goal difference advantage over nearest rivals Huddersfield Town. My mobile is not connected to the internet as I am not paying £5 a month for something I hardly use, so I had to get Patsy, also a Saints fan, to check the scores on hers. We won comfortably, 3-0, meaning only one more win was needed. Unfortunately, Hudders also won, away at Brighton, so it was down to the next game, at Plymouth on Monday...
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| Vision OTS against the light. |
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That night was 'formal' dress code. I'd brought some posh gear with me but, to be honest, it's one of the things that puts me off cruising a bit. I hate wearing formal clothes as, frankly, it makes me feel grossly uncomfortable and not 'me', so I was glad when the evening was over because I felt like a complete prat. I don't think I'll be taking a trip on a Cunarder any time soon, they love all things formal, as I understand. I even had a 'Blue Wave' cocktail, also known as 'Blue Lagoon' or 'Blue Hawai'i', which was very alcoholic indeed. With that and a beer a bit later, I felt slightly pissed to say the least - I am not a heavy drinker these days and it doesn't take much to get even slightly smashed.
Dinner that evening, though, banished all thoughts of stuffiness and discomfort as it was easily the best meal we'd had. Lobster bisque (soup, in other words) and a curry were on the menu and they were very good.
We still had most of the next day left in Amsterdam before we were due to leave at 1700, so I am going to have to put that in Part 3, because of the arrival of Cunard's Queen Elizabeth in Amsterdam and our journey back out to the North Sea...
