Day 38 - Boat Tour & Packing

07.08.2019 37 °C

Today the morning was free, and then we had a boat tour organised for the afternoon.

We decided the best way to spend a free morning, and our last full day in Friesland, was with a sailing trip!

We got up in the morning, and ate the delicious breakfast they provided.

We then got changed into our swimmers, and off we went in the sail boat! Berend, Gus, and us piled into one boat (without Titus who was sleeping), and Thomas and Aagje hopped into the other boat.

We went out into the middle of the lake again, jumped off the boat and swam in the beautiful water! It was just perfect as the day was turning into what was to be a 37 degree day!

The girls were very excited that they each got a turn at steering the boat.

Once back, we headed to a nearby town to quickly do some souvenir shopping. We found it hilarious as they even sold Friesland undies! Auke bought some Friesland shorts (much to Ali’s dismay), and we bought Ali’s Dad a Friesland tie as a joke.

We quickly headed back home, as the boat was due to come to pick us up at 1.00pm.

We had the hot part of the lunch before we left, and they packed a picnic lunch of cold things to take with us.

We all boarded the boat, with the exception of Sander who was sick, and we headed out to cross the lake. Pake wanted to show us where he used to stay in the school holidays as a kid, and where he used to do a lot of fishing.

We enjoyed the piping hot sun while we relaxed on the boat and ate the wraps they had packed for us. Meanwhile, Titus had a quick catnap.

They had large tubs on the boat that you fill up with water and use as a foot bath so people were using them to cool down. Titus loved using it as his own personal swimming pool!

Eventually we made it to the other side of the lake and Pake pointed out places he spent time at.

We headed back out - the plan was to find a nice spot for everyone to go for a swim in. Instead of swimming in the middle of the lake like we had done that morning, we ended up near the edge of the lake in a super muddy area!

Jumping in was unlike anything we had experience before. You sunk straight through the mud and it was shin height or knee height depending on how tall you were. It felt awful, and every step made you sink in more. When we hopped out of the water, we were all covered in mud!

Auke and a few of the others swam to a different area of the lake so we picked them up in the boat, and then we left.

We opened up a bottle of wine, and the captain pulled out a harmonica and handed out song books. Everyone sang along while we headed back.

After this, a few people had a turn being pulled behind in the boat in a ring.

Once back, we had dinner, and then the kids said goodbye to everyone.

We put the kids to bed (not before we had attacked them with aeroguard and killed all the mosquitos!). We then spent most of the evening packing as we had an early flight the next morning.

When we had finished packing, we headed outside to relax for half an hour or so and say goodbye to the family. During this time we saw some people on boats pretending to be firemen while holding a fake hose and with a speaker playing a siren. They ‘put out’ a fire on another boat. It was entertaining to watch!