01 - 30 November 2014: Tsipy celebrated her birthday on Saturday (a little earlier so we could include Carol Ann). She sang the famous Beatles song "When I'm 64" and we had lots of friends over for the party. Here are some photos.

Work continues on the boat, I repaired some broken slats on the teak deck of the gangway. I am reinforcing the decking with two stainless steel strips to support the ends of the slats. I am also rebuilding our folding chairs. The seats started ripping apart (UV at work), so I had new seats made and I am putting them together with SS screws and nuts instead of the rivets. Here are a couple of photos of the work. Varnish work was on hold due to rainy weather but can now continue.

I celebrated Thanksgiving with Steve, Dave, Brain, and Barbara at Mike's Place and we had a great German dinner with Gadi at Bayern before Dave, Brian, and Barbara left for the US. I made a 30km bike ride to Yafo with Yosi and Israel on the last weekend of Nov.

01 - 31 October 2014: Life in the marina continues, I am going to the gym (Holmes' Place) five times a week and feel much better as a result. Our Friday afternoon gatherings are still great with lots of newcomers. On 8 Oct, we had a rain shower (really rare for this time of year) and one of our friends captured this shot of Odelia under a double rainbow.

Carol Ann, our friend from Tampa, arrived for a visit on 12 Oct. Since it was Sukkot (vacation time for all Israelis), we did short trips to Yafo, Tel Aviv, and Apollonia in the first week. The second week included trips to the Caesaria, the Dead Sea, Masada, Jerusalem, Zichon Yacov, Haifa, and Carmel. For her last week, we went north to visit Nazereth, Capernum (loaves and fishes), Tagbe (walking on water), Yardonit (St John baptismal), Rosh HaNikra, and Akko. We enjoyed an overnight visit with Motti and Jackie to shorten the driving times. Here are some photos of her visit.

01 - 30 September 2014: We have settled into the marina and reconnected with most of our family and friends. We are enjoying seeing everyone after the summer. On 8 Sep, Jean-Claude and Patricia (SV Tololea) returned to Israel to celebrate Patricia's birthday. They came to spend a couple of days with us. We had a BBQ with Debbie and Moshe (Papa Joe) on Monday evening, some beautiful lamb from Dudu's. We are going to Shuk HaKarmel today for shopping and Yemenite soup at Shemon's.

Noga brought Yishai over for a visit, he was very interested and alert. Hungry too! Didi and Mashka also came over and took a kayak around the marina. I also took them out in the dinghy for a swim offshore. My friend Meir came by with two of his daughters, Bareket and Carmel. I gave them a dinghy ride inside the marina, it was too rough outside.

On 18 Sep, Estee, Sharon, Noga, Yishai, and Shira came to help us celebrate Lushi's birthday. On 21 Sep, Dani and Aya dropped by for a visit (just in time to help me with car repairs). On 22 Sep, Steve, Gadi, and I went to Shemon's in the Karim for Yemenite soup.

The normal Friday afternoon gatherings continue. On the 26th, we had three Americans: Steve, Dave, and Brian; regulars Yosi and Gadi; new comers Nir and Haney; and returning vets Mike, Batsheva, and Hava. All but Yosi and Gadi ended up staying for Shabbat dinner. We had a great time as usual. On the 28th, Steve, Dave, and I joined Gadi at Bayern, a German place near Gadi's home, for an Octoberfest celebration. Great food, beer, and company!

19 - 27 August 2014: We moved to Fethiye to take duty free fuel on the 19th. On 20 Aug, we refueled and anchored out in Fethiye to wait for Alon and Roni. They arrived on Thursday (21 Aug) on the ferry from Rhodos. We had dinner at Pasha and left early Friday morning for Boynuz Buku. We regained our normal spot in the afternoon and spent Shabbat in the bay. We were finally able to connect with Ersal (Necla was still hard at work in Ankara) and we met Patricia and Muriel again.

On Sunday 24 Aug, we left Fethiye bay for Kekova. We spent the night on anchor but went in to visit Ugaciz, the tombs, and had dinner at Ibrahim's. We left early Monday (25 Aug) for Israel. The weather was good, mild seas and almost no winds. We checked into Israel in Haifa around 2100, then cruised down the coast to Herzliya. We arrived back in our place about 0400 on 27 Aug. We are in H-53 in the lagoon (same place as last year), so come and see us.

21 July - 18 August 2014: We returned to Boynuz Buku on 21 July and regained our normal spot after one night at anchor in the middle of the bay.

I finished varnishing the rails and Tsipy polished all the stainless on the hull. We were happy to get Moshe and Debbie (Poppa Joe) back from Orhanyie, they anchored next to us and we had a wonderful time with them. They moved to the restaurant dock for their last night in the bay and we joined them for dinner. Our friend Patricia on Entheros was there also with a her friend Muriel.

On 5 Aug, Papa Joe left for Kas and we moved to the Gocek city marina for a few days. Blues took the dinghy in for an engine service and to repair the engine pivot to improve the steering. It was really hot in city but we had shore power so we used the air conditioning at night. We stayed in the marina until Friday and then headed back to the bay. We were lucky and got our normal spot again. We had Samim, our Turkish neighbor on Kiss over for Shabbat dinner.

We met two Israeli couples while we were in Gocek, Victor and his wife have a Hunter 42 and stay in Herzliya. Liora and her husband are from Givat Ela and know Motti and Jackie. They came to the bay and rafted alongside for an hour or so.

We had Fatoush, her son, her sister (Ayse) from Germany, and her kids over for a day. They drove over to Ali's restaurant and I picked them up in the dinghy. After lunch, we took them for a donut ride before returning to the dock. The photos are from their return trip.

Samim returned with Ella, a friend from Ukraine, and we had them over for drinks. I ran into Swanie at the dock. We had met them last year in Atalantis, just north of Khalkis. They also joined us for drinks.

12 July 2014: We are still in Boynuz Buku but will be moving to Gocek tomorrow (Sunday) and will be hauled out of the water on Monday for bottom cleaning, painting, and other maintenance. We plan to be out of the water for one week.

The days here in the bay are peaceful, here are some photos I took today showing the wide range of boats in the anchorage. The first two are of a beautiful private yacht, converted from a Bosphorous steamer. It is one of two here in the Gocek area, both owned by the same family (his and hers). The third photo shows a 250+ ft motor yacht peeking out of one of the side inlets in the bay and contrasts nicely with the 40 ft charterboat in the middle.

02 - 04 July 2014: We are still in Boynuz Buku, enjoying the warm weather, swimming in the clear waters, and doing lots of maintenance on the boat. I did some critical repairs to the teak deck on the bow, enough to get us through the summer, and I plan to remove the deck this fall and go to non-skid on the underlying fiberglass. I am also doing lots of varnish work. I now have two more coats of high gloss on the outside doors with two more to go. I also started on the railing, removing some of the covers, wet sanding, and varnishing. They are in pretty good condition (thanks to Bob) but need some TLC. Tsipy is doing varnish work on the inside of the pilothouse doors.

We dressed the boat with flags (in the correct flag order, thanks to Sonya) for the the 4th of July celebration. No other Americans are in the area (or at least no one came by to proclaim it). We met an Israeli family (Micky, Avital, Yonatan, Itamar, and Orya) on charter and had them over for dinner on 3 July. I added some photos of the flag-dressed Odelia and our dinner.

24 June 2014: Tsipy returned from Israel with a big smile and bearing boat parts and mail. Giving me something to do for a change! We have really enjoyed meeting with Liora, Eitan, Moshe, and Debbie every evening (shifting between boats) for drinks and sometimes dinner. It was very pleasant.

On my birthday, Tsipy made one of her world famous lemon meringue pies and we had a small party on board. Heski and Malia, another Israeli couple, joined our group just in time for the party.

On 23 June, we had Patricia from Entheos with two friends (Tracy and Mary) onboard for drinks and a farewell for now to Sea Pearl and Papa Joe. They are headed to Marmaris for a few weeks.

16 June 2014: Tsipy returned to Israel on 12 Jun for the Brit Mila for Noga and Eyal's son Ishai. She is returning on 17 Jun. Our congratulations to the proud parents and grandparents. We had a huge boat in the bay, at least 200+ feet, with a helicopter. I caught these photos of it landing.

Debbie and Moshe on Papa Joe joined us on 15 Jun. They had a rough crossing with high winds, waves, and engine problems. After check in at Finike and a stop in Kas, they are glad to be in relax "zombie" mode for a bit.

07 June 2014: Sea Pearl arrived from Gocek on 2 June and anchored near us. We had dinner and dominoes that night on Odelia.

On 3 June, we celebrated Yakov birthday (with my favorite lemon pie), helped Eitan go up the mast on Sea Pearl to replace his anchor light, and Yakov departed for Israel in the afternoon. Utz arrived in the afteroon and we tried on the new dinghy chaps. He returned to Marmaris on 4 June to make some alterations.

The weather has been little stormy with lots of rain and some winds. We hope it clears soon. Utz returned with the chaps on 7 June and we installed them. Once they stretch a bit into the shape of the dinghy, I will do some final adjustments.

23 May 2014: We did our sea trial and commissioned the freezer/refrigerator in the main salon. I will commission the watermaker once we clear the marina. We plan to leave on the 25th or 26th of May (still depending on weather). Yakov Raiman (a classmate from Tsipy's kibbutz) and Ken Fucik (a friend from the marina) will be crossing with us.

Rachel, Yehuda, Tsipy and I attended Yosi's 70th birthday part on the 23rd. It was a beautiful party, a wonderful family, and we enjoyed it tremendously. Here are some photos.

07 Apr 2014: We had a wonderful visit with Loretta, a good friend from our diving days. She came on 24 Mar and was able to stay for 2 weeks. We did quite a bit of touring with her. The first day to Acco and Rosh HaNikra, then to Nazereth, Capernaum (the Loaves and Fishes site), and the Golan Heights on the second day. Tsipy took her on day trips to Caeseria and Jerusalem and I joined them on trips to the Dead Sea and Masada; Kuzat Yavne (a kibbutz); and Yafo. She also took a sail with Sylvan on his catamaran. We really enjoyed her stay and hope she did too.

We had to replace our washer (after 14 years) and they just finished the install and already had to replace the water pump. Hope that is not an omen. We are also preparing (read cleaning) for Pesach (Passover).

14 Mar 2014: We returned from the US after the memorial service for my mother held on 12 Mar. The service was at the Royal Plaza, where she lived for the last eight years, and was attended by her family and friends from there and the community. She was 92, lived a full life, and did not suffer at the end. She was loved by all and will be missed. She was cremated and her ashes interred with my father's in Lewiston.

"For me Dot was not a mother-in-law, she was like my mother. When Rick told her that he was dating a Jewish girl and planned to marry her, she was worried because she had never known a Jew before. Once we met, she immediately loved me and I loved her too. She was a very warm and loving person and I sure will miss her." - Tsipy

12 Jan - 02 Mar 2014: I have been working on the dinghy. As you might recall from last year's log, the front lifting shackles were ripped out of the hull while we were in Greece. Mike reinforced the front bulkhead with plywood and fiberglass and we relocated the lifting shackles. He taught me quite a few tricks for fiberglassing and I was eager to use them.

The join between the console and deck was begining to crack, so I decided to reinforce that join, and while I was at it, to reinforce the front seat hinges and the rear seat mounting. The seats were originally installed with self-tapping screws through the top of the honey-comb deck and they were not very strong.

I removed both seats, then glassed in a teak strip for the front seat hinge and three teak strips for the rear seat mounting. I installed stainless steel T nuts on the bottom of the strips before glassing them onto the deck. The first pictures show the raw glass in process. After the strips were secure, I faired the joins, painted the deck, and then reinstalled all the seats and fittings. While I was at the rework, I also installed a new white all-round light, LED red and green side lights, a new VHF radio, and a new antenna. Since I was painting, I added a green trim stripe on the seats, console, and engine cover to match Odelia. At my friend Yuval's suggestion, I added "Odelia" decals on the engine stripe. I also installed a new solar light on the engine. It will act as an anchor light for the dinghy when it is tied off behind the boat. I think it looks better than new.

On 1 Mar, we hosted a reunion of Tsipy's class from Kibbutz Palmachim. The last photo shows the classmates.