James and Jennifer Hamilton are underway again on their Norhavn 52 Dirona, just cruising from London to Harlingen, on the North Sea just above Amsterdam, where they picked up a new dinghy. Then they headed north, to Norway, where they will spend the summer. They just crossed the Arctic Circle, cruising the Lofoten Islands on the southwest coast of Norway (becoming the fifth Nordhavn to cross the Arctic Circle).
One of the most well-traveled couples we have encountered, the Hamiltons bought Dirona in 2009 and cruised around the Pacific Northwest for a few years, but they have been living and working aboard full time since they left Seattle in 2012. The Hamiltons have already made one circumnavigation and are now cruising around the North Atlantic and the North Sea for at least another year before heading back home.
Their latest trip was a relatively easy 267-nm run from London down the Thames and then up the English Channel to the North Sea and Harlingen. They spent a night anchored at Stangate Creek before entering the channel; it was the first time they had anchored out since last October in Scotland. “It was wonderful to get back on the hook again,” Hamilton wrote in his blog. They ran into thick fog on the channel at first, but the waters were calm for the rest of the trip with relatively light traffic.
Then they hit the traffic lanes heading into Amsterdam, and the MFD screen was filled with AIS targets that included dredgers, pilot boats, police boats, ferries and a high-speed catamaran. A medieval city, Harlingen dates to 1234; the basin they tied up in dates to the 17thcentury. After they got their new dinghy, the Hamiltons turned Dirona north toward Norway: Read more:
https://mvdirona.com/2018/05/london-uk-to-harlingen-hl/
