2006

The Med Red Rally	We are participating the 2006 Med Red Rally. There will be about 60 boats participating in the rally broken down into 6 groups. We are leading Group 1. The map of the rally is shown. Our crew include our good friends Yehuda, Rachel, Yosi, and Israel.
14 - 17 Apr Herzliya to Port Said	We departed Herzliya marina this morning at 1100 for the overnight trip to Port Said. Most of the Med Red Rally participants are leaving from Tel Aviv Marina starting at noon. We are accompanied by Cloverleaf and the rest of our group will join us off of Tel Aviv. We arrived in Port Said at 0530. Mandy and Ruthie arranged for the pilot boat to guide us into the arsenal marina. The remainder of the rally arrived over the rest of the day and filled the marina. We had a welcoming party by the Egyptian government on the first night. We decided to forego the land trip to Cairo and took a long walking tour through Port Said, visited the Port Said Military museum, and had a lovely lunch and dinner.
17 Apr Port Said thru the Suez Canal to Port Suez	We departed at 0600 for the trip through the Suez Canal. We were second in line, led by the commodore (Easy Sails). The trip down the canal was interesting, lots of war memorials along the way. We avoided having a pilot onboard and arrived at 1900 at the Port Suez Yacht Club and moored fore and aft on the mooring balls.
18 - 20 Apr Port Suez to Twilla Island	We left Port Suez at noon for the overnight trip down the Gulf of Suez. The trip down was interesting since it was through crowded shipping lanes. Yosi and Israel caught three beautiful tuna fish during the trip. The first fish on board Odelia! We anchored at Twilla Island, a beautiful anchorage with clear waters.
21 - 26 Apr Twilla Island to Abu Tieg Marina	We left Twilla for the short trip to Abu Tieg Marina on the African coast. It is a beautiful marina with nice facilities but it reminds me of a movie set. There is nothing outside the row of buildings but desert. We stayed here longer than planned since the weather was uncooperative. Everyone except Tsipy and I took the land tour to Luxor, here are some photos of their trip.
26 - 28 Apr Abu Tieg to Port Suez	We separated from the main part of the rally and made our way up the Gulf of Suez during two day trips (rather that two overnighters). Our group was joined by Banu and we traveled to Sheikh Riyadh harbor the first night and then on to Abu Zneima for the second night. We arrived in Port Suez along with the main body of the rally but avoided the night sails.
29 - 30 Apr Port Suez to Herzliya	We left Port Suez and traveled north along the canal. Our group led the way, the weather was very windy for the last two hours in the canal but once we left it and turned onto our course line to Herzliya it calmed down. The overnight trip was uneventful for us although Cloverleaf had several problems with his stabilizers.
Israeli Independence Day Sail	We participated in the Independence Day sail with the rest of the Med Red Rally. Ruti, Israel, Roni, and other friends and family joined us for the sail. We are recovering from the rally and preparing for our summer cruise to Turkey.
23 - 26 May Herzliya to Finike, Turkey	We departed Israel for our summer cruise. Giora, an old friend from Tel Aviv, and Zion, our neighbor here in the marina accompanied us of the trip. Zion need sailing time for his license so it was great for us. We are making it is a single overnight rather than stopping in Cyprus. We had a great cruise beautiful weather for most of the trip. We did some maintenance on my windlass during the trip.
26 May Finike to Kerkova	We left Finike for the short trip to Kerkova and anchored off of Ugaciz. We spent Shabbat with Cloverleaf and My Mermaid. On Saturday afternoon, we met Ted and Tricia on Rhumb Line and had dinner at Hassans.
28 - 29 May Kerkova to Kastellorizo	We made the short trip over to the Greek island of Kastellorizo. It is a beautiful island with a picturesque village around the harbor. We had a nice dinner ashore and walked around the town.
29 May - 2 Jun Kastellorizo to Gocek	We travelled along the coast to Gocek and anchored off the village. We met Cloverleaf and My Mermaid and had dinners onboard and at the Kabob Hospital. We met Tony and took a ride on his new RIB.
2 Jun Gocek to Fethiye	We travelled to Fethiye Marina to meet our friend Yehuda on Mevoot Yam and to do some maintenance work.
4 - 6 Jun Fethiye to Gocek	We returned to Gocek and met up again with Cloverleaf and My Mermaid. On 5 Jun, John and Francis arrived for a visit. We took them to the Kebab Hospital for dinner.
6 - 11 Jun Gocek to Deep Bay, Boynuz Buku, and Sarsala	We cruised out into Skopea Limani to show John and Francis some of bays. We were joined by our good friends on Cloverleaf at many of the bays.
11 - 13 Jun Sarsala to Fethiye	Nice sail over to Fethiye. We rented a car and took John and Frances to Tlos, the Yaka Doga trout farm, and Saklikent Gorge. They departed on 13 Jun by car for Ephesus and then to Istanbul. We moved out of the marina and anchored near Cloverleaf for a few days.
20 - 23 Jun Fethiye to Gocek	We returned to Gocek to celebrate my birthday at the Kebab Hospital. On 22 Jun, we pick up Dana and Kobe for a short visit.
23 - 25 Jun Gocek to Sarsala and return	We took Dana and Kobe out to Sarsala for Shabbat at anchor. They were able to kayak and tube around the bay. We joined Cloverleaf (with their son Adam and his family) for dinner at the local restaurant. One morning Kobe had a gozleme (one of the local pancake like specialties) cooked on board a small boat that visited the bay. They were able to practice driving the boat back to Gocek for their return flight to Israel.
26 Jun - 10 Jul Gocek to Sarsala and Wall Bay	Tony and his girlfriend Carmi joined us for a cruise, swim, and BBQ while we were in Gocek. We anchored in several bays with Cloverleaf. We traveled to Wall Bay to celebrate Banu's birthday (we met her on the Med Red Rally). Cloverleaf (with their daughter Tami and kids), Bill and Bunny from Onset, and many others joined us for the party.
10 Jul - 10 Aug Wall Bay to Marmaris	We traveled to Marmaris and stayed in Yat Marina for some major upgrades. Anchor added a hydraulic gangway or passerelle to ease access to the boat when we are Med mooring. They also replaced the mufflers. I replace 80 meters of air conditioner water hoses. We reconnected with Yanev and Hagid (friends for Herzliya). Ty and Suzanne (Liberty) who we met in the Bahamas in 2004 came to Marmaris for a visit. I went to New Orleans Academy with Ty back in the 60's. I also added some line reels for the lines we use to tie to shore and a new BBQ.
10 - 17 Aug Marmaris to Gocek, Sarsala, and back to Gocek	We anchored outside the marina and then departed the area early for Gocek. We picked up our new dinghy. It is much nicer to handle than the Zodiac jet boat, more roomy, and drier underway. We met our friends Tova, Yaron, and Einat from Israel and took them out to Sarsala for a few days at anchor. We returned to Gocek for their return flight.
18 - 24 Aug Gocek to Fethiye	We traveled back to Fethiye to get duty free fuel and pick up our passengers for our return to Israel. We met Utz (our friend that did our upholstery) again for a dinner in the fish market. It is a nice place, you pick out the fish you want from the market and one of the restaurants around the market cook it for you. Debbie and Moshe joined us after we picked up our fuel. We had a nice dinner ashore.
24 - 27 Aug Fethiye to Limassol and Herzliya	We made a overnight crossing direct from Fethiye to Limassol. Weather was great and the crossing was easy. We spent one night in Cyprus and then made the overnight crossing to Herzliya. Our thanks to Moshe and Debbie for a smooth trip home.