Passau Tourism
Connected to Water with Body and Soul
The sun setting behind the towers of the old town. Clouds of mist wafting over the Danube. The fresh green that colours the banks in spring. Captain Karlheinz Dick sees all this when he steers one of the ships of the Passau shipping company Wurm + Noé. He enjoys all of this. He can't get enough of it all. For 36 years. "The most beautiful season on the ship is autumn," the 60-year-old says. "The colours of the forest. They always amaze me."
Karlheinz Dick sits in the wheelhouse with unwavering passion. Whether on board the Sunliner on a tour of the Three Rivers. On board the crystal ship on a tour of the Danube Valley. Or on board the new Barefoot Boat, which takes you out onto the Danube on mild summer evenings. How many ships in the shipping company's fleet has he steered in nearly four decades? "All of them," he says.
First command on the MS Johanna
Karlheinz Dick was seven years old when he joined his first ship voyages. "My father was a sailor and was allowed to take me along. I practically grew into it," he says. After finishing school, he began training as a boatman on inland waters. After six years, he sailed for the first time as a helmsman, and soon after as captain. "My first command was on the MS Johanna, the ship that has since been converted into the Barefoot Boat," says Karlheinz Dick. Command in passenger shipping means having full responsibility for the crew and the guests.
He likes to greet them at the entrance to the ship if procedures permit it. "I want everyone to have fond memories of the trip," he says. The views of the floating city, in any case, no guest will forget, he is sure of that. "That's where it gets marvellous," says Karlheinz Dick. Because still, after all these years, he thinks: "Passau is the most beautiful city on the Danube."
Book your boat trip at www.donauschifffahrt.eu
