12 Sep 2025
Captain John was marvelous!! He met us as we were boarding the ferry to Marken and unfortunately had to explain to us that our public transportation ticket didn’t work on the Volendam Marken Express. This could have been frustrating, but John immediately calmed us and explained what we needed to do for the ferry ride and he said not to worry, as he’d wait for us. We told him we were taking a return bus to Amsterdam. He told us to stop by the pilot house and he’d explain how to catch the return back to Amsterdam. We stopped by the pilot house and John welcomed us in. He explained how to catch the return bus to Amsterdam, but also explained to us about the waters he was navigating, his ship, and the challenges of captaining a flat bottom 70 ton ship in cross winds. As we entered the Marken harbor, he explained how he was maneuvering the ship to turn 180 degrees with minimum clearance. John executed the maneuver flawlessly. We will definitely look for Captain John on our next crossing and look for his beautiful wife captaining a ferry in Amdterdam. Fantastic job John!! Julie and Ken