Wyllie visited Holland several times, sailing and making drawings and watercolours. The best documented of these visits was in 1888, which resulted in the exhibition 'Netherland Waterways', held at the Fine Art Society, London, accompanied by a narrative 'The Log of the Ladybird', written by Wyllie’s wife.

This watercolour of the Haarlem Yacht Haven appears stylistically to date from rather later, when Wyllie had developed a more fluid handling of the watercolour medium, working increasingly 'in the wet', on stretched wet paper. In 1898-99 he exhibited at Agnews a watercolour (or watercolours) of Dordrecht, which may have resulted from a recent visit, when this watercolour may also have been painted.