Texel is an island just off the Dutch coast accessible only by a short ferry ride.   On Tuesday afternoon we loaded our luggage and bikes and boarded a van-sized bus to drive to Den Helder where we could catch the ferry and visit Ecomare, a marine rescue center and sanctuary on Texel.  Ecomare is set into the dunes leading to the North Sea and is essentially an aquarium and nature center.  It’s very nice if

somewhat predictable.  The afternoon’s main feature turned out to be the ferry, which loaded more bikes and pedestrians than cars.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We returned by ferry later in the afternoon and crossed the Afsluitdijk, Netherland’s longest dike at 20 miles, to get to Makkum, our base for the next 3 days.  Built in 1927-1932, the Afsluitdijk cut off the large bay known as the Zuiderzee (South Sea) from the North Sea, turning it into a large freshwater lake now called the IJsselmeer.  Those Dutch can dike anything!  Later they diked off the southeastern section of the IJsselmeer to turn it into farmland.  This, of course, was long before the days of Environmental Impact Statements.