Don't sink here!" a keeper of the lock yelled , and closed the door behind us. We assured him that our amphibious Volkswagen, in which we sat, is well sealed and that we already had some kilometers behind us. "Where are you going?" "To Dresden in Germany," we replied.

He looked at us with mistrust. "Why don't you go by the road?" Many people could not comprehend why we trudge along swimming down the river nearly three days, when we could cover the same distance during four hours on the road. However this vas the very reason of our trip. To swim all the way in a car. We wanted to test our car by a long trip on the river. We have been interested in its waterproof state, movement ability in the stream, fuel consumption and in lots of other data, which we could acquire only by the voyage. Volkswagen factory produced only a few of those amphibians. We sought documentation, spare parts and experiences with great difficulty. And our hard work brought some fruit.  Our snow-white swimmer drove in a rough terrain the same way as an American jeep Willys, and attracted great attention along the way.

   On the bank under Manes bridge in Prague pretty girl broke a bottle of Pilsener beer against the front of the car, cameras started shooting and we slowly moved in the water. Our eyes were fixed to the wooden floor looking for leaking water. It would be shame to sink the car right at the start of our trip! The water level rose around the sides of the car, and than came soft rocking. We have been afloat. It was Friday afternoon and up on the embankment peaked the traffic rush. We could hear the sounds of horns of nervous drivers. Vltava river was the only free way out from Prague. But we did not escape the eyes of police. Soon their boat circled around us. We prepared the permission (it was in the time of communist government), but they were only curious. They followed us for a while and than disappeared as quickly as they appeared.

   It looked that all will be OK and nothing can endanger our journey. Prague was still in the sight when we felt unpleasant shake. The water around us turned black. We had run aground. The propeller ran on full but the car helplessly stood in the middle of the river. We noticed the buoys, which 20 meters to the right demarcated the narrow strip of the safe way. What to do now? Jump in the water and to try push the ton of iron to the deep corridor? But we have wheels! We are not sitting in the boat but in the car! Short pull with the handle, the car shook and all wheels begun to scratch the mud. We slowly crawled back to the deep water.

   The country before Mělník was drab and Vraňany's channel seemed to be endless. Eventually we came to Elbe, where the gentle stream increased our speed a little. It was too low until now. Only five km per hour on an average. At such a slow speed the driver loses his attention. He thinks that nothing can happen. But on the water you can't do what you can on the road. We approached to the lock, which had the door still closed. I reduced the gas and my friend Frank raised the propeller up, which had the same effect as putting on a neutral on the road. By inertia we floated  to the door. A couple of meters from the door I stepped on the brake but nothing happened. I quickly pull the hand brake, and only when the car did not slow down again I realised the nonsense of my efforts. It is not possible to brake and reverse on the water. Fortunately we had a paddle at hand.

   Petrol in the fuel tank decreased quickly. When we later reckoned a fuel consumption, we found it about 65 l per 100 km or 3,25 l per hour. In Ústí nad Labem we had to buy fuel and when we returned to the river in the port, some shipman came to us. "If you meet ship with a towboat going  from Děčín upstream, quickly get out of the water or you will go down to bottom with your can", he warned us. We looked at him uncomprehendingly. "It creates waves this high," he added, and indicated with hand somewhere over the headlights. We were little scared. To run out from the water was not possible everywhere because of big boulders on the bank, working as regulation.   

"One of the first big voyage with swimmer from Prague to Dresden in Germany on the river Moldau and Elbe. It was in 1968. We swam through the locks as the ships."

Soon we had forgotten the danger. On the way we met two young girls with kayaks on their trip to Děčín. During happy conversation we forgot to watch the way and buoys. We deviated from navigable waterway again and the wheels begun to hitch the ground. Frank immediately turned steering wheel to the left but it was too late. We turned around against the stream but in this perturbation the engine stopped. The car became uncontrollable. We rotated helplessly like a matchbox and the engine did not want to start. And right at this moment, the ship with full loaded towboat appeared, fighting against the stream. When we saw the terrible waves, we wanted to jump in the rubber boat and run away. With the paddle in the hand we tried to keep our Swimmer in the right position, front against the waves. One wave from the side would be enough to turn us. Fortunately the engine switched on again, and we succeeded in navigating out of this dangerous situation. By now  it was too late to try to escape out onto the bank. The ship passed and its propeller changed the calm waters of Elbe to the raging ocean surf. First wave was the worst. It went over the spare tire to the front of the windshield. Swimmer reared up and immediately its front fell down into the water as if it wanted to flip. And than came the  next wave and the car begun to rock in the rhythm of waves. They shattered to the spare tire and we were afraid that water would get in the car. But it did not. Waves decreased and the car calmed down.

   We approached the frontier. Conformably to some ridiculous regulation for ship transport between Czechoslovakia and East Germany (it was in 1968) all private boats had to pass through the border by the road. And so we left river and drove through the Check point and Customs on wheels.

   Destination was not far yet, but it still took all afternoon till we floated under the first Dresden bridge. We were afraid about finding a good place for leaving the river in the town, but the whole right side of the riverbank was ideal. More difficult was to get from the bank to the streets. Dense crowds of Germans accumulated around our Swimmer with flapping Czech flag at the rear.