Zwolle Barges

Barges are hardly unique to Amsterdam, as the Netherlands is crisscrossed with canals.  While barge transport is still very active the commercial ships are generally larger leaving older vessels affordable to individuals for recreational use or even homes.

I sketched these in Zwolle, which is about 80 km. from Amsterdam and a charming destination in its own right.

I never met a boat I didn't want to draw

Havana Harbour is a huge, well protected industrial port.  Cargo and military ships, stationary cranes, even mammoth cruise ships in and out daily.  However there are several dozen small fishing boats moored along the west approach.  These are predominantly inboards with tillers and the colour scheme seems to be the red, white and blue of the Cuban flag.  

Northwest ready for winter

This time of year most recreational boats along the North Channel have been pulled out of the water for the season.  This steel trawler must have started out in life as a working boat, and has a few dents in her hull to prove it. I'm guessing its has been serving as someone's 'cottage' in it's senior years.  As far as Northwest and her owner are concerned the gales of November are free to come early.

They use a travel lift in the Gore Bay harbour, which is a wheeled frame with slings to pick up the boat and manoeuvre between the quay and storage yard.  As a result,  owners leave the masts up all year on sailboats, so haul out and launch are a quick job.