1 Jan to 28 Feb 

Herzliya, Israel

We are enjoying the wonderful weather here in Israel. This winter has been exceptionally mild. Lots of sunny days. Here is a photo of four Kingfishers, they are pretty rare but beautiful.

We had our usual Super Bowl party in Feb. I made Cajun food: Creole Turtle Soup, Cajun Meat Pies, and Hearts of Palm in Phyllo Dough with Remoulade. Tsipy made lots of veggie stuff for the faint of heart. Our friend Hilla came over to help with the preparation. Here are some photos of our guests.

1 - 31 Mar

Herzliya

We invited the family party for Purim on Odelia. Here are some of the photos from the party. We all wore costumes and the party featured an unscheduled visit from Moammar Khaddifi.

1 - 30 Apr

We spent April preparing Odelia for our summer cruise. I was able to eliminate all of my "To Do" items and we are ready for our cruise.

1 - 31 May

We planned to leave on the 1st of May but delayed until the 9th due to weather. The crossing was uneventful. Gerry and Esther from R-Gem accompanied us and were great cruising buddies. We hit a little chop off of Paphos (the area that Bev called the "washing machine" but other than that, it was good weather for the 38 hour crossing. The only disappointment was the lack of dolphins! Here are three photos as we left Herzliya: the first shows Lisa (Yosi's boat and our neighbor for more than 7 years), the second shows the Israeli Navy patrol boat backing out as we left, and the third is the marina as we departed. It was very hard to say goodbye to so many good friends.

We checked into Finike, got a new cell phone number, some Turkish Lira, and washed down the salt. We left in the late afternoon for Kekova Roads and anchored off of Ucagiz. We had dinner at Ibrahim's. The new docks are great and make the town look much more like a resort area. The photos show the town docks, our inaugural Gin and Tonic, the departure of Gerry and Esther, and the sunrise on our departure from Kekova.

Once we got here, the weather closed in again and we are stuck here until Sunday (the 15th). On Friday, Gerry and Esther took the bus from here to Marmaris to work on their boat and Bob took  the bus down from Dalaman and arrived on Friday evening.

We departed on Sunday for Fethiye and anchored off the town and took on some duty free fuel. We met a wonderful family on Leander:  Paul, Shima, and Alexander (aged 5 months). They are cruising around the world and this is about their 3/4 point. Their son Alexander was born in Istanbul (Shima is Turkish). We hope to see them again. 

We cruised over to Boynuz Buku after refueling and Bob had a Gozleme (Turkish Crepe) from one of the little fishing boats in the area. Hava arrived with her friend Ron to pick up her suitcase and we had two nice days with them. 

We were planning a trip to Cappadoccia for the last week in May and traveled over to Fethiye for the trip. Our hotel was already booked and we decided to delay it until the first week of June. We met Allan and Holly on Summer's Wind and their guests Mike and Heather. Once we returned to Boynuz Buku, we had them over for a few games of dominoes and dinners.

1 - 30 Jun

We docked Odelia at Skopea Marina in Gocek and took a bus tour to Cappadoccia in central Turkey. The 12 hour, overnight bus ride was tiring but the tours of the area made it worthwhile. This area was formed during a volcanic period and the earth was layered with hard basalt and softer rock layers. Erosion carved the landscape into what are described in the guide books as either " tall mushrooms" or "giant penises". Generations of people from the Hittites through the Byzantines, carved their homes into them and in some cases carved entire cities underground. Our tours included most of the famous areas. Here are some photos.

We visited a pottery factory and Tsipy got to try her hand at throwing a bowl. When we returned to Gocek, we retrieved our dinghy from its service and plan to return to one of the bays on Sunday (5 June).

Bob was able to stay with us until the 15th and we spent that time working on the boat and relaxing. We removed and replaced all the screens and then removed and varnished the teak frames for the three Bomar hatches. All was not work though, you can see us at rest. After Bob left we met a nice couple on a 35 year old, steel-hulled sail boat called Eos. Caroline (English) and Serge (French) are 85 and still doing great. They live in Paris and Cognac and keep their boat in Club Marina in Gocek. They shared in my birthday treat: Tsipy baked home-made cinnamon rolls. We enjoyed meeting them and sharing drinks and dinner.

1 Jul to 25 Aug

We remain in Boynuz Buku, our favorite bay in the Gocek area. We had a nice party for the Fourth of July, we celebrated with our friends: Ersol, Necla, Hava, Doug, Dave, Mike, and Julie. Here are some photos:

Necla celebrated her birthday in July, we prepared Belgian waffles for  them on Odelia in the morning and then helped her celebrate in the evening at Ali's restaraunt.

In Aug, we had a Shabbat dinner for nine; Ersol and Necla; Gabi and Klaus; Patricia and Mark; and Hava. It was so large, I had to put two tables together in the salon.

We spent most of our days with our friends  Hava, Ersol, and Necla. Tsipy is doing Yoga every afternoon with Necla and lately with Rotem, Hava’s daughter.  We have prepared the boat for shipping, I have repaired the front deck, side supports, and have completed all my maintenance tasks and Tsipy has cleaned and polished everything.

1 Sep to Present

Dockwise delivered Odelia to Ft Lauderdale on the 22nd of Sep. Tsipy and I traveled to Israel on the 25^th to visit friends and family. We had a wonderful time seeing Yosi and Ruti, Israel and Alina, Idit and Nir, Yehuda and Rachel, Sylan and many others. We had a family gathering one evening to see most of the immediate family and some of the nephews and nieces. 

I remained there until the 1st of Sep before flying to Idaho to visit my family. I was able to spend almost two weeks with my parents and my brother. I cooked a couple of Cajun or Creole dinners: one for my parents and one for Kathy's family.

Tsipy remained in Israel until the 10^th of Sep and then flew to NY to visit her sisters. We both got to FL for the unloading.  

After unloading from Dockwise, we spent two nights at Habourtowne Marina, near Dania before traveling up the New River to Lauderdale Marine Center. Our thanks to Jim for coming with us, it is an interesting ride up the river, lots of bridges and traffic. Once there we hauled the boat, prepped and painted the bottom, had a serviceon  the stabilizers (thanks to Craig and Tammy from Stabilized Marine), and replaced the cutlass bearings (thanks to Roger and others from High Seas). All together a good but expensive process. On 27 Sep, we splashed Odelia and cruised up river a mile to Marina Bay where we will spend a few days completing our work, cleaning up, and finishing the survey.

Next up

The Bahamas!