Rave Reviews
|
| |
|
Newsweek,
March 2008
|
The Netherlands' capital is a watery place, nestled well below sea level, and touring by water provides a great way to view the rows of 17th-century canal-side homes and warehouses. Forgo the cumbersome cruise-boat tours that crowd the major waterways and take a more pleasant, personalized journey through the backwaters. The St. Nicolaas Boat Club is a little-known gem that offers daily tours on their small fleet of quaint, authentically Dutch canal boats. Bring a picnic and a bottle of wine, and see one of the most beautiful European cities from its most unique vantage point. For the pleasure, your ship captain will accept donations at the end of your voyage, and tours can be arranged only by visiting Boom Chicago, a comedy club and bar in the Leidseplein square. Read more.
|
Lonely Planet's
The Netherlands,
2007
|
If you blanch at the thought of the foggy windows and stale commentary of the
big glassed-in canal boats, do yourself a favour and try this not-for-profit
venture, which takes small, old barges out onto the canals. ... The trip will
definitely show you a different side of the city. Read more.
|
Australia's Getaway.
November 18, 2006
|
A great video story on Getaway. This is THE big travel show in Australia.
|
New York Magazine.
October 11, 2006
|
A nice write up by James Wallman in New York magazine.
|
Boston Globe.
January 11, 2004.
|
Read what the Boston Globe says about us! They make us out to be a bunch of
pirates, arrgh! ...on the canals (pdf file)
|
| |
|
Guestbook
|
Giddyup
February 2007
from frommers.com
|
I "second" Michael's recommendation of the canal tours that are run from the Boom
Chicago Club. The group that runs the tours is called the Sint Nicholaas Boat Club:
http://www.amsterdamboatclub.com/
Their small boats are perfect for seeing the small canals that the big tour boats can't
access. Our guide was wonderful and would answer any questions we had. I highly
recommend their tours and by going with them you help them to preserve their historic
boats (the club is a non-profit organization).
Here is a photo from our tour:
http://www.destinationunknownjournals.com/photos/amsterdamboattour.jpg
Enjoy! PB
destination:unknown journals for travel
http://www.destinationunknownjournals.com
|
Brendan and Jane Wilson
September 2006
|
Hi to you all,
And a BIG thanks to Diego for our fantastic boat ride on Wednesday 6th Sept (our 31st
Wedding anniversary). I found your details in the Boom magazine and the boat ride helped
to make our day extra special.
I was bit hesitant to join your party, and half expected drugs drink and debauchery (after
reading the magazine write up) and was presently surprised by Diego's calm sober
demeanor, the fact that we went on the midday trip probably meant that all the party
animals were still asleep!!!
I hope Diego managed to get his new sofa home as all his "friends" had disappeared in
his hour of need!!!
I have attached a couple of photo's and look forward to meeting up with some more of the
crew the next time we visit the "dam"
Happy sailing!
Brendan and Jane wilson
|
William
August 2006
|
I just wanted to let you guys know what a fantastic cruise you guys (and girl) put together.
Nicole couldn't possibly be more pleasant and informative during our outing and we had a
great time with her as our captain. We had an absolute blast touring sections of
Amsterdam that we might have never seen, thanks solely to St. Nicolaas Boat Club. I will
definitely refer you guys to anyone who is going to Amsterdam and look forward to renting
out another boat next year. Thanks for the wonderful service you guys provide. You now
have a lifelong patron.
Thanks again,
William
|
from tripadvisor.com
|
Rating: 5 of 5 stars
Amsterdam: St. Nicolaas Boat Club:
"The only boat ride that's really fun"
Aug 18, 2005: A TripAdvisor Member, New York, NY
Amsterdam's canals are the best and most unique feature. Venice of the North? forget it.
Venice is the Amstedam of the South.
Normal tour boats are exactly what you think, but nothing special. St. Nicolaas runs 12
person open-air boats that are much more fun. Captains know a lot about Amsterdam and
aren't like the big boats where they press play on the tape and try not to fall asleep.
One of the best things to do in Amsterdam!
|
Whoo... Check out this
account of a trippy boat
ride. I found it on the web. I
love when somebody high
off their ass calls a sober
captain paranoid!
If the author reads this,
can you please drop a
line? Perhaps a picture?!
|
Day 5: Wednesday 15 December 2004
This, the last full day we were to be in Amsterdam, was reserved for all the things that we
hadn’t gotten to before….
This was also the day I had decided would be most auspicious for taking mushrooms…. I
explained to the helpful people at the Magic Mushroom Gallery about a bad experience I’d
had on a previous mushroom experience & told them my plan for the next day. They wisely
chose the Mexican mushrooms for me, and I took the fungi back to my hotel room, leaving
them by the window where it was still cold. It was recommended that I eat them with
chocolate to enhance the experience, so we bought some Droste dark chocolate pastilles
at Albert Heijn the next morning before walking to the Katten Kabinet….
K towed me in the direction of the Leidseplein for our assigned time to meet up with the St.
Nicolaas Boat Club people at Boom Chicago.
By now it was raining off and on, and we stopped at a vlaamse frites place to pick up some
snacks for the upcoming boat ride. I was far from interested in food at that point. The
nausea in my stomach had receded but was still there. Food was something I used to eat,
but had ceased contemplating for the time being. As the frites were being prepared, my
attention strayed to yet another cat, this one belonging to the frites store’s owner. The cat
was white with white whiskers, and was intent on some pigeons trotting around a puddle
outside. As I watched its flicking whiskers the sunlight reflected off them, making
multicolored patterns as though I was watching a sea anemone’s waving arms. Luckily I
was soon again being towed to the Leidseplein.
We went in Boom Chicago and asked for the St. Nicolaas Boat Club. They sent us upstairs
to wait because we had the fries with us, so we ascended a narrow spiral staircase that
led us to a comfortable platform up on the next floor. Eventually a swarthy bald fellow
approached us, telling us that he was Diego, the boat captain for the St. Nicolaas Boat
club today. Diego, from Argentina, began to gently persuade us to give up on going out on
the boat today. He explained that the rain was picking up, that it felt 10 degrees colder out
on the water, that the boat was open, etc. All the discomforts were outlined. It was a bit like
going to the doctor.
My mind, on the downward slope of the mushroom peak it had been on, was still a bit on
the malleable side, and I would have been happy to sit in the comfortable lounge all
afternoon. Diego’s arguments seemed so reasonable, but the real reason I was eager for
him to go away was that his face kept shifting erratically as I hallucinated. All the darker
flesh tones and what would have normally been the faint patterns of veins in his face were
pulsing into an artificial prominence. I was becoming uncomfortably aware that Diego was
made of flesh, and it was bothering me.
K, however, was not to be deterred by the Argentine’s warnings. We had expected this sort
of shitty weather because of our last trip to Amsterdam in December, and we had dressed
accordingly today, our clothing layered & our rain gear at the ready. Once Diego heard the
story about this being our one year anniversary he said: “Well, I realize that you guys are
serious about this, so I guess I should at least take you out on the water for a while.” We
were in. No one else had showed up for the ride.
He led us to an open heavy black metal boat & had us climb in as he readied the engine. I
think he told us that the old diesel engine boat was from the WW1 era. The boats are
maintained by the city, and anyone who has taken a certain boating/safety course can use
them. The semi-legal aspect of the thing is that the boat club is not really allowed to
operate as a sightseeing, moneymaking entity, so he had to take certain precautions in
case we were stopped by the water police (as I think he called them).
He was very paranoid, always looking down canals and beyond other boats for these
police, though we never actually got close to them. He had concocted a story for them, and
coached us on it every time he thought he saw a police boat. “You are my friends, friends
of Julie,” he’d say. “You’re K, and you’re…Brian? Right?” Brian is not my name, but he kept
bringing it up for these cover stories so many times that (probably because of the
mushrooms) I began thinking that for all intents & purposes it may as well have been.
Diego was interested that we had stayed on a houseboat. He wanted to rent one for him &
his wife (an American working for an advertising firm there) for some special occasion. I
tried to steer him the correct way down the Brouwersgracht, but everything looked familiar
to me thanks to the mushrooms, and we realized we had gone the wrong way. I never did
figure out the route he traveled, as my mind refused to follow anything liner for more than a
few seconds at a time.
We did end up at one point in the canals of de Wallen, in one of the quiet, residential parts.
It looked as though someone had been evicted from their apartment, as there was a huge
pile of belongings right next to the canal. We all eyed it with interest as we drifted past.
Diego decided, several hundred metres later, that he wanted to go back for a hat he’d
seen. Without further ado, he pulled the boat over to a slippery wooden pier and leapt out,
handing the line to me. The wind caught the heavy boat and began to pull it away from the
dock. I hung on, tugging it back and wondering what would happen if K started drifting
away as Diego was rooting through someone’s trash. He returned seconds later, falling
on his ass as he slipped on the wet dock’s planks. He had gone back for a captain’s hat,
which he now modeled for us, disappointed at a large hole he found in it.
Thanks to the mushrooms, the whole incident made me feel like I was a character in
some Groucho Marx movie - Diego Marx. We eventually got under way again, heading
down onto the Amstel and then back up to where we’d started near the Leidseplein. At the
end of the St. Nick Boat Club tour, you sign the guest book & put a donation “whatever you
want” into a coffee can. The book was almost completely full, and I remember signing it
with frozen fingers on the back inside cover. We were generous in our donation since
Diego had frozen his ass off puttering around on the water with us.
Captain Diego responds:
I remember my beginning phrase, the boat-house conversation, I remember slippering, i
remember when i fall, the broken captain hat, the anniversary thing... I can’t remember the
people.
The boat was attached to the dock, the place is the dock in front of Waterlooplein. They
would never cast away.
Boats support by the city?!!! WWI motor!!! I guess when tourist are completely stoned we
should use colourfull drawings in cardboard. or play grateful dead songs aboard. Diego
Marx hahaha.
Mushroooms, chocolate and fries is never a good idea. |
Michelle Smith
Boston, MA USA
|
We visited Amsterdam in summer 2005. It was our first time, and
we were amazed at how wonderful the city is. By far, the highlight was our
boat tour with Rod and Ken. They were informative and entertaining.
A special thanks to Ken for his hospitality (aka use of his apartment), and
to Rod for his overall presence. It wouldn't be Amsterdam for us without
Rod!
|
Patricia Rikken
Raamsdonksveer, Holland
|
Hi, I am the sister of Toine Rikken and I am so proud to read all this about my brother.
I miss him very much, but I love the way that Peter writes about all the things they did
together and for the boat club. Many greetings and good luck!!
|
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
|
