Exploring my new city by kayak: Rotterdam on the Maas River

Iede chatting with the Port of Rotterdam, who scolded us for paddling the wrong direction and commenced stalking us...

Back in May (how did that happen?) I went on one of my favorite Dutch paddling trips so far: the Maas River in my new city of Rotterdam, with Iede, Marianne, Erik, and Adrian. The great thing about it is that you can get there from the club if you're willing to go through a small lock and carry your boat across a giant intersection in downtown Rotterdam... :D

I won't be writing a long post about this trip, since I waited too long, but some highlights included:

• Going through the lock between Kralingse Plas and the Rotterdam canals
• The look on people's faces when you cross the intersection in the center of Rotterdam in a wetsuit with a giant sea kayak
• Passing a giant cruise ship and an amphibious bus that also goes in the water (but totally just looks like a school bus).
• Navigating the challenging confused waters created by busy Saturday traffic bouncing off the hard edges of the river.
• Getting to know some more club members (Marianne, Erik, Adrian) 
• The pretty views of my new city and its unusual architecture from the water. 
• Learning that Rotterdam was home to Europe's first "skyscraper" - the pretty hotel-looking building in the second-to-last photo. 
• Paddling through torrential rain at the end of the day (no sarcasm - it was fun!) 
• Getting chastised (and then stalked) by the Port of Rotterdam patrol boat for paddling on the wrong side of the river. We were just trying to be safe by crossing at a save location...! They quietly followed us a couple times that day, which is quite amusing when they're 1000 times your size.

This coming Wednesday evening Marianne is organizing another trip to the center of Rotterdam for new members, so I hope to write a bit more about the sights in downtown Rotterdam after that! 

Photos from kayaking through Rotterdam (click for slideshow)

Date: Saturday, May 13th, 2017
Distance: 20.5 km (12.7 miles)
Duration: ~6 hrs (1 hr lunch break)
Weather: Warmish, cloudy, some drizzle on the return trip