The next season ...

Well, so there we were, back in the Netherlands again, a strange summer full of highs and lows. Back in Harlingen, straight to the Brouwdok of course, which had opened its doors just a few days earlier. Luckily Gerard and the whole crew managed to pull off a fantastic summer, and this winter we’re going to put in the extra floor in the taproom so that next year even more people can enjoy the best taproom in the Netherlands, both in terms of location and beer!

Anyway, in the meantime autumn crept on, everything slowly started shutting down again because of Corona, and Kees got a bit twitchy. For weeks Marion kept saying: oh, just go to Aruba. On the day further measures were announced, but with the news that for the time being we were still allowed to holiday in the overseas territories, I quickly booked a ticket before every flight to Aruba was full. So on 9 November I flew solo to Aruba.

In the weeks before, we’d already done quite a bit of evaluating. The Caribbean is beautiful here and there, but it’s not quite “our” cruising ground. I find it very hot – Marion is less bothered by that. But even more than that, we find it (pre-Corona) very crowded, and although that’s less of an issue in the Pacific, we’re not keen on it in terms of distance versus reward. So back in June the plan was to head up the US East Coast next year towards Long Island and then Maine, and after that to spend a year or two going further north towards Newfoundland and the like. Peace and quiet, nature, and contact again with people who don’t see you as a walking cash machine. (Mind you: there are islands here where that isn’t the case either; we found Martinique and Aruba, among others, very pleasant!) To do that we need a special US visa that you don’t need if you arrive by plane or ferry: a B1 visa. We applied in June and were given an appointment in October. Well, until September, that is, when the consulate cheerfully informed us that they were keeping our money (2 x $160) but had no intention of granting us an interview and therefore weren’t going to issue a visa. Oh, and we’re allowed to try again in Amsterdam within a year. Nowhere else. Great, thanks.

Anyway, in the meantime the virus is wreaking even more havoc in the USA and Canada than in Europe. Not exactly great for carefree, uncomplicated travel, then. And on top of that there’s something completely different. Marion has been asked to be the quartermaster for the Tall Ships Races Harlingen 2022 this time, together with a new director, Lieuwe, whom she gets on with really well. That does take a fair amount of time and also requires her to be around. So in 2022 Marion can’t be away for (long). Luckily she still can right now; in fact, Lieuwe is even pushing her a bit!

In short, all signals at red: so why don’t we just sail the boat back to the Netherlands? And that is now the plan. Because of the weather on the ocean you can’t just set off whenever; you don’t want to end up in nasty storms, and from Bermuda onwards you’re in the same weather systems as the Netherlands.

The rough plan – and that’s all it can be, since the Corona situation changes every week: January: Aruba to the BVI, Antigua or the Dominican Republic (crew: Marion). March: Turks + Caicos April: Bahamas Mid-May: Bahamas - Bermuda - Azores (approx. 20 days at sea, crew Els, André and Marion) End of June: cruising around the Azores (crew Ella, Arnold, Marion) End of July: Azores - UK - NL (crew Ella, Arnold, Marion)

For friends who’d like to grab a few weeks in these parts while they still can, give me a shout through the usual channels. I’ll do a separate post with some options, but if you can’t wait, let me know now (that’s how the big crossing filled up before I knew it, too!)

Oh, and for those thinking: is that poor guy going to be all on his own for Christmas? No, Arnold is flying in on 14 December to spend 2 weeks here. Great fun, of course!

And now that you’re all up to date again, I’ll hopefully post some shorter updates about everything that’s going on here.