I was riding in the wheelhouse with Captain Janos, and he was radioed by the captain of the following ship that we were going to be overtaken by him. Capt Janos dropped a few kms/hr and told me that a lot of these captains have been born on the ships, lived their whole life on them, and are now young men captaining their own ship. They sit in their seat watching TV, drinking vodka, and powering along at 25km/hr (we were doing 18 in a 20 zone) with scant regard for anyone else. So we watched in slow motion as the barge pulled out from behind to overtake us. The AmaReina is 135m long with the wheelhouse positioned about 25m from the bow. The barge was about 60m long with the wheelhouse at the back. That means that the barge captain must decide to pass us when he is more than 200m behind the bow of our ship. 200m at 7km/hr faster will take nearly 2mins to overtake us! And while he’s doing this, another barge comes round the corner in the opposite direction, in the middle of the canal, with his feet up, watching TV, drinking vodka! Now I’m concerned, so I get out my phone to record the carnage!! At the last moment, the oncoming ship veers right and we pass 3 abreast with less than 5m between each ship. Even Marion, conducting an excursion briefing in the lounge expressed her alarm! Capt Janos just shook his head. “F%&@$ idyots!”, he muttered. I wholeheartedly agreed!
Don’t let anyone tell you different. Amsterdam is beautiful. The canals, the architecture, the bikes… the bikes!! Those people on their bikes are pedestrian killers. Seriously, the last thing you would hear before entering through the Pearly Gates would be a bike bell sounding an ever-so-sweet alert… of your immediate demise! Beware the Dutch bike!! Sorry, I was saying how beautiful the city was and was momentarily sidetracked by fearful memories!
Old barges have also been converted into houseboats and line many of the canals. Just as you own the land that your house sits on, so Dutch law states that these houseboat owners own the water that their craft occupies. With so many houseboats now on the canals, they’ve stopped approving any more as there is already congestion problems with private, tourist and taxi boats.