Hi All,
So we’re back in Marmaris at Netsel Marina just a 5 minute walk from “downtown” Marmaris. I’m not sure how that will translate into bar and restaurant noise at night, but it will make for wonderful walks for me and lots of exploring each little street for great scenes to sketch. I am determined this time to do just that.
http://www.netselmarina.com/index_eng.htm Our home for the next 12 months.
We left Israel 10:10 AM July 15th.
Bug hunting on DoraMac in the Ashdod marina.
Hooray for our friend Eve who will now be this little kitten’s friend. We passed along the food and the Frontline (which the Russians had bought along with the fish shaped cat dish) to Eve. The kitten already knows Eve as half the time it slept on her boat deck….tiny paw prints gave it away. Eve loves cats so if this little guy plays his cards right, maybe she’ll keep him forever. He loves to curl up next to you and purr.
Fruitcake in Ashkelon
We left Ashdod at 7 am July 15th. Eve came to throw our lines and to make sure the kitten was on land and not on our boat. We arrived in Ashkelon about 8 am with just time to tie up and have our last freezing blended coffee before we met with the custom officials who checked us out from Israel. A very professional, friendly, and “cute” woman who also wanted to know if we liked Israel and would come back. We said, yes we liked Israel, and one day might come back, but not by boat. There are still places there I’d like to visit, friends we met, and one can never get enough of Jerusalem.
We left Ashkelon Marina heading north-west directly to Marmaris, Turkey. We usually average 6 knots per hour but with a constant head wind and swells and some kind of adverse current we spent most of the first day below 5 knots! At one point our passage calculator predicted we’d reach Marmaris 1 am Thursday morning on the 19th! Not good. Luckily things evened out and we averaged enough speed to arrive early afternoon of the 18th just 4 hours or so later than Randal had projected.
Our first night we had company.
A feathered passenger riding a motorbike riding a boat.
This beautiful bird of prey joined us late afternoon and stayed with us during the night. It was gone when I checked mid-morning. When Randal walked past it to come down from the flybridge the bird just flew up to the helm chair. Then it returned to the motorbike and stayed there all night. (Wish Charmaine and Linda had been here for him: they’d know exactly what kind of bird it was.)
If it had been there in the morning I was going to feed it some raw chicken we have guessing it might not like Randal’s pepper salami.
Our weather was clear but the swells were between 3 and 6 feet or 1 and 2 meters with winds between 6 knots to 18 knots. Nothing like our horrible Indian Ocean crossing (now I can say it’s good to have that horrible experience to look back on.) The swells were front to back so our stabilizing fish wouldn’t help. But I’d packed everything away so there was no crashing of things in cabinets down below. I could read for small amounts of time. Actually the movement and heat were quite tiring so Randal and I took turns watching or sleeping the first two days. Night watches were actually easy as there was very little boat traffic. There was lots of radio chatter to listen to as NATO and the Israel Navy and the Lebanon Navy and Turkish Navy patrol.
NATO was conducting a survey among commercial ships asking if they knew about Operation Active Endeavor. It was nice to hear all of those mostly female NATO voices with accents from lots of countries. My favorites were those from northern North America. (I’ve learned you can tell an American voice from a Canadian voice, but not so easily.) NATO and the Israel Navy were mostly female but only rarely was the voice of a commercial ship female. I did listen in when she was interviewed by NATO early during our passage and that’s when I learned what the survey was and why NATO was conducting it.
http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natolive/topics_7932.htm
No looking over our shoulder as we did from India to the Maldives wondering if some unlit boat was pirates, not with all of these NATO boats patrolling. And the ever present Israel Navy. I’ve said this before: Some people complain about Israel security checks. Any time we had to deal with Israel security they were polite and professional. And you never had to worry about some official wanting a “gift.” Israel officials were only concerned if people meant to do harm to Israel and her citizens or “if we liked Israel.” Israelis are proud of their country which they worked very hard to get and do not yet take it for granted. They also don’t feel as safe as we do in the US, even after 911. At night in Ashdod we could hear Israel’s Iron Dome intercepting incoming rockets from Gaza. We would hear what sounded like an explosion but then guessed what it might be. It’s something they deal with on too regular a basis. We were only there for some of it.
"Two rockets fired from Gaza into Israel; Iron Dome intercepts one
Another missile explodes in open area in Eshkol Regional Council; rocket fire marks first projectiles since early Thursday morning.
By Yanir Yagna and Gili Cohen | Jun.21, 2012 | 11:54 PM
But mostly we didn’t think about it. Hopefully, one day, Israel and her neighbors can find a way to make peace and then grow to be friends. I know the parents in all countries, not just Israel, would wish that would happen.
Our Israeli friend Avi showing us the ¾ in steel cover for the window of the “safe room” now mandatory in homes built in Israel. And people own gas masks. (More about Avi when I catch up with the emails about Israel.)
Self portrait…I was bored and tired this passage, which is much better than being Indian Ocean scared.
Or seasick. (Linda, you would not have enjoyed this passage, not even for the bird’s visit…way too much boat movement. More than the passage from Herzliya to Ashdod. )
Diet Nesher Malt Black Beer…Diet, non-alcoholic Israeli version of root beer. (Some people would call it a "why bother."
but I think this stuff is great!!!! Eve turned me on to it and now I’m hooked but down to my last 1.5 litre bottle. To me it tastes like mild beer, not like American root beer. And I don’t really like beer, but his stuff I do. It certainly kept me going this passage.
Randal was mildly seasick and tired.
He felt too sick to drink his usual many cups of coffee and so was even more tired. The boat was hot and rolling so we stayed down in the pilot house rather than on the fly bridge which is cooler but exaggerates the motion. Of course, even sea sick Randal can do what needs to be done.
Captain Randal up and at the helm going into Marmaris Bay.
What a difference calm seas make! At the marina we were directed to a temporary berth and Randal backed in like a pro. I was pretty good with the fenders and stern lines but blew it when the marina guy went to hand me the “mooring line” and I didn’t know what he meant. It’s a line from the dock to the front of the boat when you “Med Moor” which is what we have to do here. In Israel we were lucky enough to tie up alongside. Today we move to our permanent spot. At 11 am our agent Soner, who was our agent last time in Marmaris, will drop off our entry papers and then we’ll go to town to the Thursday market and visit our friends the “cheese guys” and load up with cheese and olives and everything that looks good!
Ru
DoraMac