Recuperating in Isreal:

Redwings Round the World

Recuperating in Israel

30 April - 6 June, 1997

Approaching the Holy Land - Thank God! We Made It!

So ok after six months of trying to keep up the daily log we admit we were totally burnt out on it and the entries have severely (completely) lapsed over the past six weeks. Israel was, and needed to be, a bit of a break from everything. During our trip to Cyprus, we put some of the pieces back together. Here they are:

Thoughts on Our Time in Ashkelon - Colleen

We are currently on our way to Cyprus, 24 miles to go. After 38 days in Israel (a number fresh in my mind as I've just paid the marina bill!) without writing we're pretty behind. But you've all been complaining that I don't write enough, so here goes. I'll try to give a synopsis of our time there...

It was pretty shocking to be back in the first world, and on relatively solid ground tied up to a dock. We found it an adjustment to deal with people again, like marina office staff, who would answer questions and give advice honestly on things around town without expecting a tip or having some other agenda, like sending us to their friend's shop so they can get a kickback. We spent the first few days in relative relaxation, we saw some films; Titanic, As Good as It Gets, Goodwill Hunting, and relished the opportunity to shop in a proper supermarket for such delicacies as meat and cheese. Just taking a proper shower again everyday was excitement enough.

Kerry and Laura went off travelling for a week before Laura's departure. I took the week to clean out the entire insides of the boat. Pulling everything out and scrubbing. Once again, the smell of dettol on my hands was impossible to get rid of. The boat was incredibly dirty. Outside dirt from the Red Sea was soak into every rope and corner of the boat. The high pressure hose of water the marina is well known for came in handy releasing all the grime. The days were filled with pretty hard work, but it was so relaxing again to not have the worries of the Sea when one went to sleep; "will the anchor drag, etc..." It was very nice to just have Aaron and myself again alone on the boat. We got into a nice rhythm of days. Perfectly contented I did all the cooking, he did all the washing up. It was much easier than with a crowd, where dishes tend to pile up, until someone comes around to doing them.

The girls returned, and Laura soon left for the U.S. We had a little drinks party on the boat with Tina and Paul of Asteroid, Phillipa of La Scala, Bin and Elizabeth of Dracamaris, and Susan of Marebella. The departure seemed toughest on Kerry.

Soon after Aaron and I left to spend two days in Jerusalem.I really wanted to get away from the boat. After about 10 days straight of cleaning, I needed desperately to forget about it for a day or so. We took a hotel in the Old City by the Jaffe Gate. A bit of a high priced fleabag; hotels are very bad value in Israel. During the days we wandered the alleys and sites of the old city, and in the evening we went up to Ben Yahuda St. and sat at the cafes reading. Jerusalem was only an hour's bus ride from Ashkelon, pretty easy trip.

My sister Mary soon arrived for 5 week's holiday with us. We rented a car to collect her at the airport. She was laden with huge boxes of boat supplies, and only a tiny backpack of her own belongings. Richard of Malkat Singapore came up with us for the day. We timed it so that we could collect our rewelded bow roller from the boat yard in Tel Aviv Marina. This is the bow roller damaged in the collision with a fishing vessel in the harbor of Misawa. After a huge effort to find the boat yard and parking, the damn thing wasn't ready. Dealing with the boat yard over this thing was to prove the most frustrating aspect of our time in Israel. Everytime we went for it - despite calling ahead to confirm it would be ready - it was unfinished, and the price of finishing it slowly crept up. The man in charged of the yard was a round Israeli called Duba. We kept coming up with bitter nicknames for him, "Tuba", and "Do ya". Then someone in the yard revealed that "Duba" was actually a nickname itself he had from childhood. Duba means "fat guy" in Hebrew, and only us as non-Hebrew speakers couldn't appreciate how funny it was that this guy walked around accepting the appellation "Fat guy". It was even on his business cards, and his personal home phone listing in the telephone directory.

From there on my days were mostly filled varnishing. Either helping Kerry, or doing it alone when she went away. Memories of Shelter Cove came back - days completely filled working without time to think about or do anything else. The endless road to seven coats of varnish.... We had let some of the exterior varnish go so badly is had to be stripped off to bare wood. in between each coat was the sand-down, then wash down, followed by taping up, before the varnish could be laid. The whole process became more traumatic as we had to time it for the varnish to be laid and partially dried before the cats woke up and walked all over it. This combined with the drive to get a coat on everyday( we were cycling days of different pieces) to make the deadline before we left Israel meant we couldn't stop to dillydally all day.

The Varnish Queens

Other boaters in the marina couldn't resist commenting on our feverish, and never ending work as the walked by. "What are you doing? A total refit?" We seemed to be the only ones in the marina at this pace. It was particularly bad one evening when a boat at the end of our dock had an early evening cocktail party. Without fail, every guest on the way to the party boat had some smart-aleck remark for us. What was worse were the remarks on the way back down the dock from the party boat after they'd had a few drinks in them.

For all the work and suffering of the human crew of Redwings, the cats were having the times of their lives. Basil and Sybil hooked up with the local tomcats, and would spend everynight out roaming the marina and the hill behind. They usually returned promptly between 5:00am and 6:00am when the sun rose. They would meow to announce their arrival, leap on top of our bed and then go to sleep for the day after the evenings escapades. Of course, one time, early in the stay Basil pushed it too far and didn't return for two days. Per usual we were out of sorts worried over him. We met many people looking for Basil up and down the docks calling "Here kitty kitty..." For days strangers would come up and ask if we'd found our cat yet. We got close with the Israeli night watchmen, and bonded with just about every pet owner in the vicinity, including one old eccentric with two dogs, two cats, and three kittens on her boat.

The most fortunate encounter stemming from Basil's disappearance was with Israelis Oded and Jacob. They were living and working on a catamaran on the hard standing. Jacob came out one night as he heard me calling for Basil. Their cat Sushi was also missing. We were to learn that Oded was a professional carpenter. He fixed our wooden boom gallows (cracked in the smash up through the Straits of Bab el Mandeb), and other sundries, for a reasonable price. Up until then all boatwork quotes were so extortionate, we figured we would have to save all non-welding repairs for Cyprus (not to say the welding wasn't extortionate, we had just already committed to the jobs).

Sushi eventually came home as did Basil one morning at five am. Basil did not return alone though. After his nights of carousing he brought home a full coat of fleas. We only discovered this after he'd been under our covers for a few hours. So dealing with the fleas occupied us for several days. Kindly, Oded supplied us with an excellent flea spray that seemed to do the job eventually.

The first week we were in Israel, there was big trauma with the cats falling in the water. The docks were 6 or 7 feet from the water, and there was no way for them to crawl back up if they fell in. Basil went in one evening at about 11:00pm. Fortunately I could hear him moaning from across the way. It was a very cold night and he had probably been in about a half hour swimming around trying to find a way out. Eventually he drifted down to a boat and clung to their rudder, but couldn't get up onto the boat. He was so frightened and disoriented that he wouldn't climb up my sweater when I held it down to him. I had to take my pants off and climb down into the very cold water to get him.

Sybil was the next to go. One evening Phillipa came over for dinner/drinks. She was walking down the dock home, when Sybil up the opposite end of the dock got startled by her figure, and ran off the dock into the water. Phillipa yelled to us, and Aaron and I ran out. Sybil just swam and swam, but wouldn't pay attention to our calls or towels that we put over the side for her to crawl up. She kept swimming by boats, and we woke our neighbor to ask if we could go on his boat to reach for her. She swam by too fast, but the neighbor joined the rescue party. On to the last boat of the dock. We woke the owner as Sybil swam around the boat three times ignoring us in a trance. By now Phillipa, Aaron, the two separate neighbors, and I kept circling his decks after her. Finally we realized Aaron would just have to jump in after her. He dove into the freezing water, and without a murmur she was pleased for him to lift her up to me hanging over the dock side, then get passed to Phillipa above.

Our social life improved immensely while dockside. La Scala was around for a while as was Marebella. Richard from Malkat Singapore was often around as well, trying to find odd jobs in the marina to raise some cash. Raffi was up in the more expensive Herzalia marina with Malkat Singapore. We visited each other a few times, but unfortunately really didn't get to see him too much. We were so preoccupied with the mountain of work, and he was focussed on re-immersing himself into Israeli life, teaching at the local university. We spent a lot of time with Paul from Asteroid. As a professional boat captain he was full of useful advice on the "art" of varnishing. We saw less of Tina as she seemed quite preoccupied with cross-cultural relations- i.e. Israeli beaus.

All this time Mary somehow managed to amuse herself while we worked on the boat. She tried desperately to tan her freckly body, which proved an occupation in itself. She kept inquiring how was it that we had such deep, even tans. I told her varnishing in the sun all day was the trick, but she declined the suggestion. She spent two days in Jerusalem, and three days in Tzafat.

Mary, Paul, Aaron and I went on an excursion to visit Petra, Jordan - an ancient city (c.2000 years old) that was carved out of rocks. On the way back, we stopped at the Dead Sea, lathering ourselves with the local therapeutic mud, before floating in the most salinous body of water on earth, and also the lowest point on earth.

A couple days before we left the marina, a rally of 60-70 boats cruising the eastern Med came in. The marina organized several events for the occasion, that we were all invited to. The highlight was a gala "dinner" followed by shows of local dancing and then dancing for all. Unbelievably they started serving beer at 7pm, but refused to release the food until 10:00pm. By the time to eat, having drunk for three hours on empty stomachs everyone was smashed out of their brains. We thoroughly enjoyed the folk dancing shows, and made ample use of the band's music to work off the alcohol ourselves. Brazilian dancers in sequined bikinis led us all in the limbo. Kerry enjoyed herself so much she never returned home. When it came time to go provision at 9am, her bed was unslept in. Last we saw her it was 1am, and she was muttering about heading to the surfer beach bar with Richard.

The night before we left for Cyprus Paul had us all over for a lovely dinner, followed with the three and a half hour video of Laurence of Arabia. We felt it compulsory as the film focused on places we visited in Jordan. I could barely keep my eyes open for the last hour, exhausted from the push to get the boat ready for the upcoming passage. It was 1am when we were finally going off to sleep, and I couldn't imagine how I'd wake up the next morning at 5am.

I did manage to crawl out of bed shortly after 5. We readied to boat to leave, Paul came by to wish us off. Sybil was back from the evening's fun, but Basil still hadn't returned....At about 6am, we could see Basil galloping down the dock. We started the engine and prepared to cast off the lines as he jumped aboard.

Travels in Israel - Kerry

Monday, May 4 - Laura and I began the day early, wanting to get to Jerusalem in time to have a full first day there. Having spent all day Sunday cleaning all the stainless steel and teak on deck, not to mention wanting a break from the boat after the long trip up the Red Sea, I was rather anxious to leave the marina. On our way out, we ran into Andrew from Marbella, who, surprise, surprise was also headed towards Jerusalem in a rental car with fellow Marbella crew Jeffrey and Susan. Though we were all friends from our initial meeting in Phuket, Thailand, I have a feeling Andrew's affinity for Laura prompted the quick offer of a ride along with them to Jerusalem.

As they had no idea where they were going (no maps, guide books, etc) or where to stay, they left it to me and Laura to dictate the day (actually, days, though we didn't know it at the time) and lead the way. They all made room in the back for our luggage, and we all piled in for the short drive. On the way, we stopped to see the Latrun Monastery, originally founded by the French Trappist Order. It was a beautiful spot, though we missed the times for a tour. Instead, we had lunch and picked up a couple bottles of the monastery's famous wine and made our way to Jerusalem.

Jeffrey was driving, and Laura and I were attempting to navigate, and we got very lost. Finally, we made our way into the Old City, where no parking was available, the main reason why Laura and I did not want to get a car. We were approached by someone who of course wanted to help with parking and an eventual tour of his shop, who said he'd give us parking for a while. We found a hotel nearby, the New Imperial, located right near Jaffa Gate which we decided to give a try. I was still out dealing with the car, while Laura and Susan handled the rooms - resulting in one triple for me, Laura, and Susan, and a double for Andew and Jeffrey.

It was quite an interesting place, and proved to be a good spot for the next three nights. The main clerk at the front desk, an American woman named Alice involved with graduate studies in the area, turned out to be quite a talker. It was impossible to enter or leave without a good 20 minute discussion of whatever was on her mind. At one time, the New Imperial must have been a really nice hotel, but was in the middle of lots of renovations, which only lent more character to all the happenings of the place. Our balcony overlooked the Citadel, and a lot of interesting street activity.

After finally checking in and splitting from Marbella for the afternoon, Laura and I basically spent the day lost in the Old City. This proved to be quite a good way to see many sites, and we covered a lot of ground until 8:00 that night. Upon our return, we saw Marbella at a nearby restaurant, and we soon joined them. Their dinner and drinks had apparently been well underway, though they were eventually quite dissatisfied with the food. Andrew finally called over the owner, complained, and received some other dishes which they seemed satisfied with. Soon after, Susan retired for the night, and the rest of us found a pub in the New City which served Guinness, to everyone's surprise. We spent many hours there, exchanging some sailing stories and others, until the small local band began to play. Andrew was annoyed that I didn't like one of his off-color jokes and told me that I had the sense of humor of a Kiwi girl. I have since confirmed with other Australians that I do not have the sense of humor of a Kiwi, but rather could distinguish between a good and bad jokes. Fortunately Jeffrey remembered the 12:30 curfew at the hotel and we headed home. When we arrived, we met two Brazilian airline stewardesses staying there, as well as another employee of the hotel, Mohammed. It was arranged that he was going to show us around some of the area the next afternoon.

Tuesday, May 2 - Laura and I spent the morning exploring the many places we hadn't seen the day before, and returned in the early afternoon to meet Marbella for our scheduled tour. We went to some of the more out of the way places, including the Mt. of Olives, and a tour of the Arabic sector as our guide was Arabic, and then spent the afternoon at the Israel museum, which was really wonderful. Most interesting were the Dead Sea Scrolls though there were other endless exhibitions. That night, we had signed up for a tour to the Dead Sea, Masada, Jericho, Ein Gedi and a couple of other things. The big catch was that it left at 3:30 am, in order that you could climb up Masada to see the sun rise over the Dead Sea. The climb was more than I had bargained for at that time of the morning though we made it. We met some interesting people in our group, including two fourth year medical students at Sackler in Tel Aviv (who knew the Sackler students we had met in Luxor), and a couple from San Francisco, one of whom owns a restaurant there, and the other a younger woman who had recently graduated from Smith, having attended Amherst for a semester - and so we knew a few people in common.

The day was very interesting, and though we thought we had said our good-byes to Marbella as they were due to return to Ashkelon that day, we ran right into them at the Dead Sea. More good-byes - only to return to the New Imperial and find that they had checked in again for one more night! So, we did say our final good-byes the next day to Jeffrey and Andrew who were leaving to tour England and the US before we would get back to Ashkelon.

Wednesday, May 6 - After more time in Jerusalem, Laura and I took a bus to Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee which, at least initially, was big disappointment compared to Jerusalem where I could have happily spent weeks. We were picked up right away by a representative of the Hostel Aviv, which is where we had intending on staying anyway, despite their pro-active bus stop searches for meandering backpackers. The place was ok, offered cable tv which we hadn't seen in a while, and eventually drew us in for several hours of 90210 repeats and bad made for tv movies. Most importantly, they offered rental bikes which we wanted for the next day to bike around the Galilee. We strolled around for the late afternoon, and decided to see a short film located in the really touristy area called "The Galilee Experience," chronicling its 4000 year history. Laura was a bit cynical, but we both agreed it was a good overview and worth the price. We arranged for our bikes the next morning for an early pick up which later proved to be advantageous, given the events which unfolded throughout the next day.

Thursday, May 7 - Biking around the Galilee had been suggested to me by my friend and recent old roommate Jess, as well as by several guide books. In the end though we were glad we had done it, we were also convinced that Jess and others have never actually ridden around the whole Sea of Galilee!! We began around 7:30, and made many stops along the way for a while, as I wanted to see the Church of St. Peter, the Church of the Multiplication of Loaves and Fishes, the Mount of the Beatitudes etc., etc. I was wearing long enough shorts to gain admittance, but Laura had to wait outside of several of the holy spots. We also got a glance at a recently discovered wooden boat dating back to 100 BCE to 100 CE which was fascinating given its preservation and restoration. Laura met a professor while there who was lending his opinion on some of the programs she was applying to for the next year.

All was going well, despite the steep hills and occasional glances across the Sea, causing me to wonder how long it was actually going to take us to reach the other side. Unfortunately, at some point along the way, I saw a sign for some hexagonal Byzantine pools, supposedly an amazing place, according to a map I had purchased the day before. Laura was really intrigued, and so we decided to bike up the road which had a sign saying 4-Wheel vehicles only. The scale on the map was hard to read, and whenever we thought of turning around, one or the other of us would say with great conviction, it can't be that much farther. I finally gave up my half-riding/half falling adventure, and threw my bike into some bushes on the side of the road, deciding to walk the rest of the way. Laura did the same, and off we went. Another hour or so later, and an hour of rain later, we decided to abandon the search for these amazing natural wonders, just wanting to get out of there. We biked most of the bumpy way down, and were very relieved to hit the main road.

Relief soon turned into panic and disbelief as we discovered Laura's rear tire had a flat. It shouldn't have been a shock given what we had just done. So, we decided to make our way to the nearest public place, which turned out to be a restaurant. Starving because of our delay, we had foul sandwiches and cokes, and pondered what our next move would be. We went out to the main road, Laura took off the back tire, and held it out to show passerby's that we needed some help. Within five minutes, a man in a pick-up truck with a huge dog in the back slowed down, and we explained our story. He agreed to bring us to the gas station down the road, whose air hose was broken. He thought for a bit, and then Laura saw a sign pointing up a huge mountain saying bikes for rent. She thought they could fix her tire for her, and he agreed, and realized the the man with the bikes was a friend of his on the kibbutz located on the very top of this mountain.

This man was really so nice, and we couldn't have been more fortunate to have him help us. We talked a lot on our drive, which took a while to get used to, as he had a very severe stutter, so communication was a bit slow at first. When we finally got to this farm area in the middle of nowhere, we pulled down a driveway and hundreds of new and old bikes came into view. We never really figured out who actually uses all those bikes. At any rate, we all hopped out of the care, including this man's dog, whom he had for about a year and a half and was still a puppy, though an extremely large size puppy. Not a minute later, one of the biggest dogs I have ever seen tore around the corner of the barn, baring teeth and saliva flying everywhere. He immediately went for our new friend's dog, and a half an hour of close calls ensued. The owners couldn't control the dog (looked like a huge rotweiler), and he kept trying to corner the other dog and attack him.

The whole time I couldn't believe how much trouble we were causing our friend in the pick-up truck, who was obviously distressed about what was going to happen. At one point, his dog almost made it back into the cab of the pick-up truck, but the other dog bit him on the tail and pulled him back down! Then, the dog tried to hide behind his owner, and he kept trying to get out of the way of the other dog gnashing his teeth and growling. The rest of us were doing the same, just moving around in circles, trying to avoid both dogs. Finally, however it happened, the chasee dog did jump back into the pick-up, the other dog was controlled, and we all shared some nervous laughter. The man installed a new tube, and we talked for a few more minutes and then sped down the mountain on our bikes. Half way down, our friend drove by, stopped and screamed, "So you are ok, I am free now?"

We proceeded to bike the rest of the 60 kilometer trip, passing some other places of interest but we weren't that interested at that point. Close to the end, we passed a hitchhiker who Laura jokingly said could hop on the back of her bike. Not too much later when we were stopped for ice cream, he came walking up, and asked us if we remembered him, which we didn't right away. Then he sat down for a while, and it turns out he was living on the kibbutz we biked by, and was trying to get to his school where he is currently studying to be an area tour guide. I didn't realized how seriously this is taken, as their courses seemed to be fairly rigorous ones, ranging from history to politics to religion.

After that rest, we finally made our way back to the hostel, exhausted after the day's events. We had originally thought of heading to Tzfat for the night, but returned too late and spent another evening at the Hostel Aviv.

Thursday, May 7 - We woke early, intending on spending the day in Tzfat with enough time to make it to Acre on the coast that evening. Upon arriving at this bus station, once again we were greeted by a hostel owner, whose name now escapes me. She was an older Russian woman who took us on a long walk up the windy roads of the town built on the side of the mountain. We told her we did not intend to stay, only needed a place to store our bags for the day, which she agreed to for a couple of shekels. It was lucky for us that we weren't spending the night there, as it was one of the worst places I had seen in a while. As much as I liked her, and later learned from another person I met that she really needed the money, I would have had a hard time actually sleeping there. Laura warded off an aggressive tour guide who wouldn't leave us alone, after they argued about whether or not he was being aggressive, and we went off on our own to explore, beginning with the beautiful park of the citadel and its amazing views. We walked all over, ending in my favorite part which was Artists' Colony - a string of studios and stores in former Arab quarters. The streets themselves were intriguing, with intricate tilework all over the place, and more and more studios around each new corner. We had an interesting discussion with one of the Safed Candle shops owner's sons, who spends half the year working there, half working in LA at their falafel shop. Laura and I each bought some of these beeswax candles, traditional to the area, and reluctantly returned to the bus station for the trip to Acre.

The bus station turned out to be a far walk into old Acre, but we managed and had some help finding the Paul Hostel, which we would never have found otherwise. The man who brought us there was related to the owner, and we threw our packs down and went out for a tour of the town. This turned out to be a really crazy place. We chose it as we figured if we stayed for the weekend, a lot would remain open (as opposed to the rest of Israel, celebrating Shabbatt Friday and Saturday) because of its large Arabic population. We were certainly right, and this town had something going on at all times of the day and night.

Friday, May 8 - We spent the day wandering around the many complicated roads and alleyways of this old city, surrounded on all three sides by the Mediterranean. The Old City had been destroyed and rebuilt something like 14 times, and had an underground Crusader city as well. We walked the perimeter along its walls, and had a really enjoyable day. Approaching one part of the old city, we heard drums for hours on end. We finally found where it was coming from, and it was a huge group of elementary students practicing for a march around the town the next day. That night, we sat and ate in a restaurant on top one of the walls by the harbor, where we watched a lot of the local happenings. We had been invited to a beach party by one of the locals, who baited us by saying that Americans were too mistrusting, and why wouldn't we just come with his friends? Actually, he was really just baiting me, as Laura told him she was Australian, and therefore escaped all the US criticisms for once. I was getting annoyed, and he finally left - and Acre being a small place, of course we say him everywhere the whole time. Laura had to answer to "Hello, Australian" for the remainder of her visit because of her story. We did meet an interesting American that night whom we had drinks with for a while. Jim is temporarily stationed outside Be 'er Sheva, working for a computer company, helping to install programming for the Israeli army. An avid diver, he shared some information about diving in Eilat.

Saturday, May 9 - This town was really bustling all morning - from wedding marches to the marching drum band competition, which we could never figure out why they were actually celebrating. We sat for a while with the friend we met the first day (who showed us to Paul Hostel), and he happened to know most of the people in the wedding march, as he was related to a good number of them. However, he has been living in Switzerland for a while, and so didn't really even know which cousin was getting married. He explained that he didn't try to talk to us much that first day, as he knows how boring it is to get asked all the same questions about the US, and what we were doing in Israel, etc. In the end, he took us into some more sites as his friends worked them, including part of the underground city and the old Turkish baths. We really enjoyed this town, and it was too bad that we really couldn't spend more time there. We had told our friend Rafi on Malkat Singapore that we would spend a night in Herzliya on the way back to Ashkelon, so we took a bus there in the early evening.

We arrived in Herzliya via bus, but was dropped off on the highway as it was really a direct bus to Tel Aviv. So, we wandered around for a while, no one could really point us in the direction of the marina, and we ended up taking a cab there. We found Malkat Singapore with some of Rafi's relatives there, and enjoyed talking to them for a while. They invited us to visit their kibbutz, which unfortunately we never had time for. Soon after, Richard (one of Rafi's original crew from Phuket and now one of our good friends) and Polly from Marbella (who had literally jumped ship in Ahskelon and moved herself on over to Herzliya) arrived back from a trip to Jerusalem, and we all went out to dinner at a Yemenite restaurant. Laura and I weren't that excited, having found it difficult to actually even find any food while we were in Yemen, but it turned out to be a decent place.

Sunday, May 9 - Rafi had plans to go to Tel Aviv later that afternoon, and so agreed to meet us with our bags and Richard so we could spend the day in the city and then head back to Ashkelon. We had already spend one day in Tel Aviv, so this second day we spent walking around Old Jaffa, and some of the trendier areas, looking for a cappuccino maker which Laura wanted to give Aaron and Colleen as a parting gift. It was a good day, and at the end we met a really nice graduate student whom we could have spent more time with, but had to go meet Rafi. Eventually we made our way to the central bus station, and back to Ashkelon that night.

The rest of my time in Ashkelon consisted of a three day trip to Petra, another day in Tel Aviv, many movies at the Ben Gurion Mall, and even many more days stripping, sanding and varnishing the teak on board. So that you don't have to be as bored as I throughout the process, I'll spare you the details. Most of it began when Aaron and Colleen went to Jerusalem. During that time, Paul from Asteroid and Richard were unbelievably helpful during the first few days, when all the hardware had to be removed from the cockpit. On top of that, Paul really gave me essential information about doing it all correctly, and provided daily moral support with frequent visits. The beginning was the most difficult, as stripping back the wood took an unbelievable amount of time. By the time the actual application of the varnish came around, it was pretty easy and eventually boring, as it was so repetitive. Colleen helped in this latter process, which helped speed it all up. And now, it is all done for the moment, for as a woman at a barbecue felt inclined to tell me, "Well you know, varnishing is actually never really done..."

12 May, Ashkelon Marina - Laura on Leaving

Laura - Few things make me squirmier, less graceful, and wishy-washier than a drawn out farewell so I will try to keep this brief.

Here in Israel my complexion blends well enough that people ask me the time or for directions in Hebrew. In Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, the Maldives, Oman, Yemen, Eritrea, Sudan, and Egypt nobody approached me in their native tongue. My Hebrew is limited to "shalom" and "schmuck" but the assumption that I fit right in (except for the fact that I'm not wearing a tube top, high heels, and lycra shorts, which seem to be quite the fashion) is a hint for me to split for home. The foreign adventure on Redwings is closing out. I can get Ben and Jerry's and I saw Titanic. I'm at the edge of the western world. A one-month trip has turned into six months and I'm getting low on cash.

It's a good bit to recount in a brief adios, but suffice it to say that since the day I set foot on Redwings not quite sure which rope was the main sheet and which was the main halyard my sailing technique has come a long way. The physical challenge of the Kings Cup, the long passages across the Indian Ocean during which I thought I'd go mental, the infamous scary night in the Straights of Bab El Mandeb, the relentless pounding of the Red Sea, night watches, working on the boat, and heart-pounding games of Hearts have all made me a sailor. I was already a traveler by nature, but at sea I met unbelievable characters and went ashore places I never would have otherwise gone.

So of course, it is hard to go. I sat here this morning doing the morning oatmeal ritual knowing I would be on an airplane in 18 hours and listening to the Aaron, Colleen and Kerry talk about boat work to be done over the next month and for plans to sail to Cyprus, Turkey and Greece. And I thought, what am I nuts? I'm going home when I could do all that? But the fact is that sailing from Singapore to Israel, and all that happened in between, has made me itchy with excitement about life in general and I'm dying to get out there on my own terms.

At 1 a.m. tomorrow, six months to the day that I left home in Massachusetts for this adventure, I will once again board a big jet plane. In 11 hours I will fly farther than I have sailed since November. (Of course, I needn't pretend that I flew to Singapore and came to Redwings seeking an efficient mode of transportation to Israel.) The options are graduate school in the fall or scope out a job and get to work. That sounds like two choices, but really I know my options are limitless. Rather than being unnerved by the prospect of making decisions and chasing down opportunities I feel ready to do just about anything. And if someday life ceases to be an adventure somebody please remind me to go sailing again.

Ciao.

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