13 Sep - 31 Oct 2012: We are still in Brunswick Landing Marina. We returned home just in time for Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, and Sukot. We celebrated the new year with friends on board Odelia and then services at the local synagogue.

We had over our friends Tim, Andrea, and Caleb for Shabbat dinner and a dinghy ride. Our nieghbors Roger and Judy on Hanoah also came for dinner before they left for Florida.

We invited the Rabbi, his wife, and Mark (the president of the synagogue) over for a visit on the weekend after Yom Kippur.

Our friends Bev and Dave came in for a few days to wait out Hurricane Sandy (and the end of the season) and then continued their way south. Our friend Utz arrived to spend some time with us while he is trying to get work as a First Officer on a large yacht.

I am closing this log and starting our new log for the 2012-2013 cruising season.

1 Aug - 13 Sep 2012: We arrived in Israel on 2 Aug and will be here until 3 Sep. We are staying in a beautiful apartment in Herzliya Marina (our thanks to Leila).

On our first Friday afternoon, we met our friends Yosi, Gadi, Israel, Yehuda, and Sylvan on Sylvan's catamaran for drinks. After a wonderful Shabbat with Sami and Yardena and their family, we visited the new apartments of Lucie, Israel, and Noga.

We had wonderful dinners with our friends Rachel and Yehuda, one at his new apartment in Olga and the second at Rachel's apartment in Kfar Saba. It was great to spend time with all our friends. I was also able to have several lunches with Yosi during the stay.

Dod Yosef (Uncle Joe) died during our stay and we attended the funeral and the shiva. He was the Rabbi that married us 29 years ago.

We also attended the Sefer Torah celebration at Israel's apartment. We took the Torah scroll donated in memory of Shalom and Haya (Tsipy's parents), the city blocked the streets, and we marched down the streets singing and dancing to the synagogue near his home. It was quite a celebration and the entire neighborhood participated.

We attended the Henna (Yemenite wedding), the real wedding, the Sheva Brachot, and Shabbat Hatan in celebration of Liat and Timor's marriage. It was a wonderful time, seeing all our friends and family again.

Tsipy and I also celebrated our 29th Anniversary on 1 Sep. It seems like only yesterday that I was participating in a Henna and Hatunah, time flies so quickly.

We returned to the US on 4 Sep, spent the night at Ruti's home in Brooklynn, and then continued our travels to RI and MA. We spent one night with Bob on his boat in the Rhode Island Yacht Club and met our friends Steve and Sue (Main Course) and lots of new friends. The next morning I was able to briefly meet some old friends from GD. We spent the second night with Yael and Yacov. Yacov and I went to Foxwoods for a night playing cards and Tsipy and Yael met their old dance group at Bonnie's home for a night of reminiscing and dancing.

We returned to Etty and Jan's for Shabbat and then drove to Solomon's Island, MD to meet Bev and Dave for the night. We then continued to Oriental, NC to meet Hunter and Julie (friends from the Bahamas) before returning to the boat on 12 Sep.

15 - 31 Jul 2012: We are staying here until our 1 Aug flight to Israel. Sami returned from LA and Vegas enroute to Israel. Jan, Sami, and I enjoyed an evening in Atlantic City.

We left Chicago on 16 Jul and headed to Canton, OH and stayed at a local KOA campground. I visited the Pro Football Hall of Fame the next day before continuing on the Hershey, PA. We stayed in another KOA before heading to Etty and Jan's home, the final stop on this leg of the trip.

We left Rich's home after a wonderful visit with him and his family. We then traveled just a few miles north to visit Holly and Fritz (Bev and Dave's family) in nearby Libertyville, IL. We had a great brunch, took a bike ride around to a lake near their home, and joined them at the lake at the end of a regatta. We met some of their friends and joined them for a concert in the local park.

12 - 14 Jul 2012: We arrived in Chicago just in time to meet our friend Rich Schuler (from the Bahamas) and make a boat trip out into Lake Michigan. We had a great time cruising along the shore. The skyline is impressive. On Friday, 13 Jul we took the elevated train into downtown and took a Greyline bus tour around the city. We planned to take an architecture tour by boat but the skies opened up and we returned to Rich's house. Tsipy went to a nearby Temple for Shabbat. We took a bike tour of the nearby Oak Park (home of Frank Lloyd Wright and birthplace of Hemingway) before joining Rich and his family at his parents home for dinner. It was great to reunite with all of them and to meet the rest of his family.

10 - 11 Jul 2012: We spent the night of the 10th in a Belvedere, SD KOA campground before heading into Sioux City, IA. We connected with Adam and Bill Feiges and Dan Kaplan at the company headquarters and Dan took us for a tour of facilities before meeting the wives at Dan's home and a wonderful sushi dinner.

9 Jul 2012: We then traveled into South Dakota to visit the Chief Crazy Horse and Mount Rushmore monuments. Crazy Horse is huge, the entire Rushmore carvings would fit into Crazy Horse's head. Both were magnificent.

8 Jul 2012: We traveled to the Devil's Tower National Monument in Wy and spent the night there in a campground. The tower is a unique, geologic formation rising over 800 feet above the surrounding landscape. There were four sets of climbers on the tower. It was really awe inspiring.

5 - 7 Jul 2012: We left Lewiston after a wonderful visit with my family. Our thanks to Terry and Cathy for hosting us. We traveled east up Lolo Pass into Montana and spent our first night in Butte.

On 6 Jul, we traveled through Yellowstone Park and were really awed by the unique landscape, the many geysers, and the numerous bison but we were disappointed the lack of bears.

We are spending Shabbat in Cody, Wy. I visited the Buffalo Bill Center and was really impressed with the firearms exhibit: over 27,000 weapons on two floors.

1 Jun - 5 Jul 2012: We are enjoying our stay here with my brother, his family, and my mom. We spend as much time as we can with mom and we visited dad's grave site with her. I am playing some poker with Terry and his friends. While we were here, Terry and Cathy were able to take a vacation for a week. We celebrated my birthday with some Carolina BBQ ribs and a wonderful lemon pie. We plan to leave after the Fourth of July celebrations.

Here are some photos:

29 May - 1 Jun 2012:

We left Las Vegas for Bryce Canyon on 29 May. We spent the night camping in the park. What a beautiful spot, the canyon full of red sandstone spires, towers, and caverns.

After Bryce, we traveled north through Salt Lake City, Boise, and finally Lewiston. We stopped at the Warhawke Museum in Nampa, ID. We will be staying here for about a month visiting my mom, brother, and his family.

18 - 25 May 2012:

We left Tommie's on Sunday (20 May) morning and headed west. We had planned to stay in Vicksburg, MS but extended our trip to Monroe, LA and spent the night in a motel. On Monday we arrived in Lufkin. We were very fortunate to that our trip coincided with the birth of Daisy Lex (RD granddaugther) so all of Jodie's kids were able to come to see us. DeAnn came just for a short visit before she had to return to Houston. After some discussion, we decided that we hadn't seen each other for more that 40 years (probably closer to 50 years). On Tuesday morning we went to the hospital to see the new baby and then Rita showed us her stilts and performed some songs.

We left on Tuesday to continue our trip and camped at Lake Arrowhead State Park west of Dallas-Ft Worth. We continued our journey on Wednesday and stayed in a motel in Albaquerque. We left on Thursday morning and stopped by the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert National park for a tour before continuing to the Grand Canyon. We were fortunate to get a campsite there and took some great shots of the canyon on Thursday night and Friday morning.

Here are some photos:

09 - 18 May 2012: Utz was able to stay for about a week and helped us tremendously, including steam cleaning the carpeting and upholstery, preparing sushi, and oiling teak.We dropped him off in Jesup on 16 May to catch the Amtrak train back to Ft Lauderdale for his return to Germany. We enjoyed his vist as always. We then packed up the car and started our summer land cruise.

We spent our first night at the Stone Mountain Park just outside of Atlanta. It is a beautiful campground with famous bas relief of the Confederate leaders: Jefferson Davis, Robert E Lee, and Stonewall Jackson. We used our tent and camping gear for the first time. The weather cooperated and we enjoyed our stay.

We arrived in Madison, AL on 17 May to visit Tommie, Kathye and Tim, and Duane and Jan. We also met Sharon (John's daughter). We had dinner at the Main Street Cafe (the former Madison Jail) and we had to lock up Tsipy for misbehavin'. We are staying here though Shabbat and will continue our journey on Sunday.

Here are some photos.

09 May 2012: Tsipy left on the 8th by Amtrak to Ft Lauderdale and is returning with our car today along with Utz, a friend from Turkey.

On 8 May, Hunter and Julie (from Contigo) arrived on their way back from NC. We met them earlier this season in Georgetown. They took us to a famous local place called B & J Steak and Seafood for some wonderful shrimp and oysters (not for Tsipy). We had a nice dinner and interesting discussions until way past "cruiser's midnight". They left the next morning to return to Titusville and their boat.

In our first week here, we met Talya and her friend Dan through the local synagoge. They very kindly lent us a car until we could get ours from Ft Lauderdale. We had them over for Shabbat dinner. On Sunday, they took us on a tour of Jekyll Island and then dinner and poker at their home in St Simons. Here are some of the photos from that trip: including shots of early electric carts, the Jekyll Island Club and croquet lawn, and the spectacular Driftwood Beach

29 Apr 2012: We spent Shabbat in St Augustine and left this morning for Brunswick. We had a great cruise, no seas or winds.

We arrived in Brunswick Landing Marina and were met by Sherry at our new home (the T head on dock 12). After our check in, we are now relaxing, eating, and unwinding. Here are some photos from the dock.

We plan our return to Ft Lauderdale to pick up our car later.

26 - 27 Apr 2012: We finally left Ft Lauderdale after a wonderful stay with Steve and Zack. Thanks again, guys.

We left early Thursday morning expecting to make an easy outside run to Lake Worth Inlet. Once we were outside we decided to take maximum advantage of a relatively short weather window and make an overnight trip to St Augustine. The trip was good, weather as predicted, and we arrived in St Augustine around 1100 on the 27th.

We will stay here through Shabbat and then cruise up to Jacksonville and then New Brunswick, GA where we will leave the boat for the summer.

1 - 3 Apr 2012: We left early Sunday morning for our trip to NJ. We arrived at Brunswick Landing Marina at 1300 or so and took a look at our hurricane port. We then continued on to Savannah for the night. Steve called about 2230 and reported a problem with our AC power supply for the boat. When he was unable to reset the A-Sea power converter, we decided to return to Ft Lauderdale. We left at 0400 and arrived back here at 1100.

Tsipy is flying to NJ on 4 Apr for Pessach (Passover) while I remain here and wait for Ward's to come repair the unit. I am keeping it alive with an external fan but don't want to leave the boat unattended for any length of time.

11 - 26 Mar 2012: We moved to Steve and Zack's house on Sunday, 11 Mar. We had planned to move on Friday but it was so windy that we delayed our move. It was a short trip (about an hour).

They have a lovely home on a canal off the intercoastal near Oakland Park Blvd. It is opposite Shooters (one of Ft Lauderdale's most famous gathering places). I have included some photos of the back yard pool, hot tub, and landscaping. We have some wonderful dinners on their patio and met Steve's brother, David, and his wife Sue.

We changed our plans again (they had been firmly etched in jello). We have decided to defer our trip to the Abacos until next year. So we bought a new car (a Subaru Forester similar to Kathy's), will stay here until 1 Apr, then drive to NJ for Passover with Etty and Jan. On our return, we plan to relocate our boat to Brunswick and then start our summer land touring early.

17 - 29 Feb 2012: It has been some time since my last update and I am adding three entries this time, along with some photos.

On 28 Feb, we took a birding tour with Carolyn and saw more birds than I even knew existed. Quite an experience. We toured with Jim and Jean from the UK and really enjoyed the day.

23 - 24 Feb 2012: We decided to return to the US to repair a small fuel leak on my generator fuel injection pump. I am loosing a small amount of fuel but I am worried that it is getting worse. We left Georgetown on 23 Feb and went outside to Highbourne Cay. We spent the night there in the marina. On 24 Feb, we crossed to New Providence and are staying with Nick and Carolyn Wardle at Coral Harbor.

We have had a lot of fun walking, touring, and meeting new friends. We met Rich Schuler (from Chicago) at the tennis club with Carolyn and enjoyed a lovely evening at his house for a BBQ and the Oscars.

17 - 21 Feb 2012: We returned to Georgetown from Long Island on 17 Feb. The return crossing was great, almost no waves or wind. We reanchored in Georgetown, near Honeymoon Beach. Mike and Bonnie returned to the US on Tuesday, 21 Feb. We really enjoyed their company.

10 Feb 2012: We are enjoying a new island for us (Long Island). There is a lovely resort here called Long Island Breeze. It has a great restaurant, pool, a lovely view, and lots of services for cruisers. Mike and Jackie do a great job making us feel welcome. Check out their website at www.longislandbreeze.com for more.

We had Bev and Dave as company for the first few days and then they left for Calabash on the north end while we decided to take a land tour. We rented a car and took a driving tour of part of the island, down to Dean's Blue Hole (the deepest blue hole - over 600 feet) and then to Clarencetown and back to Stella Maris. It was a great day.

We had Roger and Jacquie from Audacious (previously on Latitude) on board for drinks one evening.

6 Feb 2012:

Our friends Mike and Bonnie were able to rejoin us for a vacation. They arrived on 2 Feb. We spent the first days in Georgetown, hiking to the monument, playing on volleyball beach, and hiking across to the ocean from Sand Dollar Beach. Tsipy also led an Israeli dance lesson on the beach.

On 6 Feb, the weather turned nice and we were able to cruise over to Long Island with Cloverleaf. The 40 nm cruise was nice and we plan to explore the island for the next few days. We are anchored in Thompson Bay, near Salt Pond on Long Island.

Here are some photos.

31 Jan 2012:

Bob and Mary Lou returned to the cold, cold north on 30 Jan. They were able to stay almost a month. They helped us with the crossing and with lots of projects on the boat; including: new LED lights in our cabin and the galley, repairs to the starboard companionway door, watermaker, and refrigeration pumps.

Ilan and Judy returned to Israel on 23 Jan, we really enjoyed their company and help with the boat. We hope they enjoyed their vacation.

22 Jan 2012: We have been enjoying the warm weather and clear waters. We have been swimming and snorkeling almost every day. We had a nice dinner at one of the small restaurants on the beach with Bev and Dave. Later we took a couple of photos of our guests in their crew t-shirts.

Last week when I went to the dinghy I found a Houndfish dead in the bottom of the boat. It was about 3 feet long with a big mouth filled with sharp teeth.

16 Jan 2012: We made the cruise outside to Georgetown on 12 Jan and got our anchor down about 1400 after a lovely crossing with no winds or waves. We went ashore and walked over to the ocean side for a swim. It was a beautiful beach and snorkel.

Ilan and Judy arrived on 15 Jan for a visit. Unfortunately, the wind picked up the night before they arrived and we had a really wet ride across the harbor.

Here are some photos of Nassau and Georgetown.

10 - 11 Jan 2012: We left Nassau on Tuesday morning and cruised across the Yellow Banks to Shroud Cay. We spent the night there at anchor. This morning we left Shroud and made an easy cruise to Staniel Cay. We met up with Bev and Dave there. We had lunch at the Yacht Club there and swam by Thunderball cave after lunch. We still plan to cross to Georgetown tomorrow and we expect to be there on Thursday or Friday.

7 Jan 2012: We started our crossing on Saturday morning at 0700. We had a small crisis with the helm station on the flybridge but we were able to fix it enroute. We saw a pod of dolphins enroute, so Tsipy was very happy. We crossed onto the banks between Gun Cay and Cat Cay and decided to continue across the banks so we could get to Nassau on Sunday.

5 Jan 2012: We moved from Yaniv's dock to Harbour Towne marina today since he is returning from the Bahamas. While shopping at the local Publix, Tsipy and Bob had a food fight with aloe plants. Kids, what can you do. We met with Yaniv to thank him for the use of his dock and went to Bev and Dave's to coordinate our crossing.

We then had a great night out with Steve and Zack. We went to a Greek restaurant called "OPA" for mezes, drinking, and dancing (some better than others).

29 Dec 2011: We left the Loggerhead Marina in Stuart this morning heading to Ft Lauderdale. We traveled along the Intercoastal Waterway (ICW) to Palm Beach. Tomorrow we plan to go outside from Lake Worth Inlet to Ft Lauderdale. The weather is supposed to be good but if not we will return to the ICW and travel inside.

We will be staying in Dania Cut on a dock rented by Yaniv, a friend of ours from Israel. He is currently in Nassau. Bob and his friend will arrive on 1 Jan and we plan to make the crossing in the first weather window.

2 to 28 Dec 2011: After our return from Idaho, we worked on the boat to prepare for our upcoming cruise to the Bahamas.

I have installed eight new L-16 Lifeline batteries for my house bank and increased the bank size from 900 Ah to 1600 Ah. I also replaced my chargers for a new Mastervolt Combination Inverter/Charger to increase my charger capability. A new digital Shunt/DC Distribution coupled with a MasterView Easy gives me better visibility of the battery system. I then installed new batteries for the bowthruster in the forward cabin.

We found time to visit our friends Bev and Dave on Cloverleaf in Ft Lauderdale, have Frank Lazarra and his family over for a visit, and had dinners with friends here in Stuart.

17 Nov to 1 Dec 2011: Tsipy and I traveled to Idaho to visit my family for Thanksgiving.

My father was moved to full time care the week prior to our visit since he was unable to take care of himself. On Monday, he was taken to the hospital and died the following day on 22 Nov. Although it was not unexpected, it was still a difficult time for all of us. We were fortunate to be able to spend some time with him at the last and to be there for my mother.

Here are some photos from our wonderful Thanksgiving dinner with my brother and his family. Misty, their new puppy, stars in several photos.