SY "Kamu II" at anchor, off the beach, N of some conspicuous looking mooring buoys (probably very near to or on top of an unmarked u/w pipeline – luckily without fouling the anchor), at 9 m depth, on soft sand.
Click below for an interactive satellite view of our anchorage:
Testing and tuning our rebuilt Hydrovane self-steering device which performed flawlessly and powerfully, even when we were broad-reaching and running down-wind.
Motoring uneventfully the second leg, about 56 nm, between Ismailia and Port Suez at an average cruising speed of 6 knots with the professional assistance of Suez Canal pilot no. 2, a Mr. Khalid, who did all the Arabic talking on the VHF radio with the pilot stations, gave us valuable navigational advice, told us about his family, never pressed for baksheesh or wanted to use the heads or to go down below, and who, taken as a whole, behaved very friendly, knowledgeable and courteous - US$ 15.- baksheesh as a well-earned tip were gratefully given and gratefully received (the bonus of US$ 5.- was for his extra help when we had to anchor in the Great Bitter Lake and arrived at Port Suez after dusk only due to a traffic jam caused by one of the super tankers in the southbound convoy which we were not allowed to overtake).
Refuelling 150 litres of murky diesel fuel for US$ 0.40 per litre, delivered to SY “Kamu II” by the club factotum Karkar in jerry cans from the local petrol station.
Motoring uneventfully the first leg, about 49 nm, between Port Said and Ismailia at an average cruising speed of 6 knots with the professional assistance of Suez Canal pilot no.1, a Mr. Ahrabi, who did all the Arabic talking on the VHF radio with the pilot stations, gave us valuable navigational advice, told us about his family, entertained us with his prayers behind the mizzen mast, never pressed for baksheesh or wanted to use the heads or to go down below and altogether behaved very friendly, knowledgeable and courteous - US$ 10.- baksheesh as a well-earned tip were gratefully given and gratefully received.
Watching super tankers and huge container vessels (the canal allows passage of ships up to 19 m draft or 210,000 deadweight tons and up to a maximum height of 68 m above water level) appear to glide through the desert as they made their way through the 135-years old Suez Canal - one of the world’s most famous canals.
Making good uneventfully the distance of about 130 nm between Ashkelon/Asia and Port Said/Africa in about 36 hours thus for the first time ever approaching the continent of Africa with our in South-Africa registered sailing yacht.
Bidding farewell to the Mediterranean, our cruising ground of the previous 5 years, and entering the 105-nm long, single-lane Suez Canal (with passing places in Ballah By-Pass and in the Great Bitter Lake), our one-way road to the Red Sea and to the Indian Ocean.
Marvelling at Port Said’s waterfront architecture with its famous landmark, the Suez Canal Authority building.
Shelling out the total of US$ 478.- (US$ 210.- canal dues for the never measured 30 tons of Suez Canal Gross Tonnage of SY “Kamu II”; US$ 128.- port authority fees, which included quarantine, immigration, customs, insurance, explosives and drugs check; US$ 40.- port clearance; US$ 100.- agency fees) to the Felix Maritime Agency +20663333132 for a transit passage (from Port Said via Port Suez to Aqaba/Jordan - no visas for Egypt necessary).
SY "Kamu II" with her stern to the concrete jetty and with one permanent bow mooring, later alongside a finger pontoon. NIS 900.- or US$ 202.- per month, based on a 10-month contract.
Click below for an interactive satellite view of our marina berth:
Shuttling to and fro many times between the modern, somewhat non-descript Israeli city of Ashkelon, our second home, and Tel Aviv, “the Mediterranean metropolis that never sleeps” which was founded on land purchased from Bedouins N of Jaffa, by sherut (the Israeli long-distance taxi: one way NIS 18.- or US$ 4.-) and every time enjoying the verve of Tel Aviv, especially (i) on Dizengoff Street in the heart of the White City (a UNESCO World Heritage Site) which comprises the world's largest concentration of Modernist-style buildings (inspired by the Bauhaus school and Le Corbusier), (ii) at Neve Tzedek, a neighbourhood built by Ashkenazi settlers after the First Aliyah at the end of the 19th century CE, (iii) at the vibrant area around Carmel Market, (iv) at the ancient port of Jaffa (the port from which Jonah set sail for Tarshish and was later swallowed by a whale - according to the Bible) and (v) on Tel Aviv’s cosmopolitan beachfront with the “thwock-thwock” of matkot (beach paddleball) as the sun sets.
Sharing a rented car with Jan & Doug from SY “Hanna”, thus (i) touring the untamed and spectacular Negev desert (a melange of brown, rocky, dusty mountains interrupted by wadis [dry riverbeds that bloom briefly after rain] and deep craters, which covers more than half of Israel) all the way down to the Red Sea, (ii) hiking through the breathtaking Makhtesh Ramon erosion crater (the Wilderness of Zin where Moses wandered in search of the Promised Land - according to the Bible) en route, (iii) holidaying at the modern resort town of Eilat in the Gulf of Aqaba (checking out the marina with some 250 yacht berths, visiting the Coral World Underwater Observatory S of Eilat, DM Konni: diving and interacting with dolphins at Dolphin reef), (iv) exploring the oldest copper mines in the world and impressive rock art in the Timna Valley Park, and (v) enjoying a game drive through the Hai Bar Arava Biblical Wildlife Reserve (where the Asian wild ass, or onager, has been successfully re-introduced into the Negev).
Matt: (i) Repainting the deck, the superstructure and the cockpit of our steel ketch SY “Kamu II” with two coats of white HEMPEL’s Poly Best, a reliable two-pack polyurethane topcoat which is durable and resistant to UV degradation and abrasion, (ii) rebuilding the aluminium frames and the woodwork of two large deck hatches and fitting strong burglar bars, (iii) installing two new BOSCH alternators to the Perkins 4.236M diesel engine, (iv) mounting a rebuilt Hydrovane self-steering device to the transom, and (v) hot-dipping our worn 45-pound CQR bow anchor - many special thanks to fellow Israeli sailors and good friends Eli from SY “Chirocco”, Reuven from SY “Alkyon” and Sharon from SY “Moby Dick” for their advice and help.
Spending days in the comprehensive Israel Museum in Jerusalem, the guardian of Israel’s national wealth, especially in the Judaica and Jewish Ethnography wing (about Ashkenazim Jews from Germany, Austria, Russia, Rumania, Galicia, Poland, Moravia, from W Europe, from the Americas and the Commonwealth who speak Yiddish; about Sephardim, Ladino-speaking Spanish and Portuguese Jews who fled to Jerusalem after the introduction of the Inquisition and their expulsion from Spain in the reign of Isabella I; about Arabic-speaking Jews; about Maghrebin from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya; about Iraqi Jews who before coming to Jerusalem had lived in Iraq ever since the Babylonian exile, the oldest community outside Israel; about Urfali Jews from southern Turkey and Musta’rabim, descendants of Jewish families who never went into exile and adopted the life but not the creed of their Muslim Arab neighbours; about Yemenite Jews and Baghdadi Jews; about Iranian Jews who speak Persian; about the strictly observant Jews of Cochin who are divided into three castes who do not marry or even dine with one another - White Jews at the head of the hierarchy, Brown Jews and Black Jews the most numerous; about Syrian and Lebanese Jews; about Georgian and Bokharan Jews; about Kurdish Jews; about Karaite Jews, fundamentalists from Iran and Iraq who believe in a literal reading of the Scriptures and reject all rabbinical interpretations; about Dagestani Jews, who once spoke an Iranian dialect known as Tat; about Crimchake Jews from the Crimea who speak Judaeo-Tatar; about Black African Jews from Ethiopia and White African Jews from South-Africa and about so many others), and looking with awe at the Dead Sea Scrolls in the Shrine of the Book.
Having a great social Shabbat outing with a picnic in the neighbouring AshkelonNational Park (where Samson, Goliath, Herod, Alexander the Great and Richard the Lion-Hearted may have walked the streets of this ancient Philistine city) together with other wintering and visiting yotties from Israel, the USA, Sweden, France and Germany.
Squeezing out an 8-month extension of our tourist visa from the Soviet-style Ashkelon branch of the Israeli Ministry of Interior for NIS 435.- or US$ 95.- per person; thanks, Hillel, for helping us to cut through a thicket of red tape and for walking more than an extra mile for us, and thanks, Paul Theroux, for providing an explanation: “Boat owners are independent, stubborn, finicky, and famous for doing exactly as they please; there are few sea-going socialists.”
Enjoying the week-long visit of our daughter Ulrike (pregnant with our first grandson Raoni Samuel) and her partner Chris, a banana from Toronto, hiring a car and touring together the Negev desert (studying the Nabataean ruins, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, at Avdat, once the most important historic city and seasonal camping ground for Nabataean caravans travelling on the Incense Route between Petra and the Gazaen ports, and hiking together to the Makhtesh Gadol crater), passing sea level on (very) dry land and visiting the Dead Sea (climbing Masada - symbol of Jewish resistance to Roman rule, floating in the brine, and taking the full muddening at Ein Gedi Spa) and, last but not least, strolling through the Old City of Jerusalem.
Answering the question “Maa-nishtana ha-leila ha-zeh?” and celebrating pesah (Passover) inmemory of the Exodus, the freedom from slavery of the Children of Israel from ancient Egypt that followed the Ten Plagues, according to the Bible, with our Zionist friends Chen (thanks for the matzo [unleavened bread], for the delicious Seder meal [including the less delicious maror [bitter herbs] and for the traditional four glasses of sweet red wine) and Ohad (thanks for the brilliant haggadah) in their West Bank settlement of Qarne-Shomeron which exemplifies the Jewish state’s political strategy of “facts on the ground”.
Matt: Watching, together with many pilgrims, the annual Good Friday procession (organised by the Franciscans and protected by M4-carrying Israeli border-police officers) alongthe crowded Via Dolorosa, or Way of Sorrows, the route that Jesus allegedly took as he carried his cross to his crucifixion at Calvary (now a part of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre) in the Old City of Jerusalem.
Matt: Studying the ancient sluice system that periodically flushed the harbour to prevent silting at Caesarea Maritima, Herod the Great’s (King of Judaea, from 37 to 4 BCE) city on the sea (mid-way between Tel Aviv and Haifa), and comparing this design with the ongoing dredging of the harbour entrance at Ashkelon Marina - a problem exacerbated by a strong north-setting current that carries massive quantities of sand from Sinai.
Doing an extended sightseeing tour through the Upper Galilee (Mark Twain: "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.”) thus visiting (a) the Sea of Galilee (also Lake Kinneret or Sea of Tiberias), where many of Jesus’ miracles are said to have occurred including his walking on water, calming a stiff breeze, and his feeding of 5,000 people in Tabgha, and (b) the strategic Golan Heights with traditional Druze villages and modern Israeli moshav and kibbutz settlements, together with our good friends Pnina and Uzy: (i) exploring Israel’s best preserved Roman amphitheatre of ancient Samaria at Scythopolis (now: Beit She’an) and the ruined 12th-century CE Crusader castle of Belvoir, (ii) relaxing with the help of the most delicious St. Peter’s fish aka tilapia and Tammy’s spiritual energy at Kadita near Safed, Israel’s major centre for Jewish mysticism, home to the kabbalah movement and the klezmer capital of the world, (iii) touring the Hula Valley Nature Reserve and watching birds there, (iv) hiking up to the 1229 CE Nimrod Castle, the most impressive of Israel’s Crusader castles, and last but not least, (v) breathing the nostalgic atmosphere at the Rosh Pina Pioneer Settlement Site, one of the oldest Zionist settlements in Israel and the site where the Messiah will appear at the end of the world (according to the kabbalah tradition); many thanks for being such wonderful hosts and friends, Pnina and Uzy!
Antifouling our ship SY “Kamu II” with red-brown commercial bottom-paint from Tunisia (Astral Super Ionitox for TD 45.- or € 32.- per 5-litre can) on the hardstand in the boatyard of the Ashkelon Marina and being lifted out and launched back into the water safely (NIS 2,967.- or US$ 645.- for the travel lift including bottom wash and two weeks on the hard) by one of the best travel-lift drivers of the Mediterranean - many thanks for your professional job, Eran and Mishka; ... and (Matt only) defending our ship on the hard in an ugly all-out fistfight against two Israeli soldiers who, while being on leave, trespassed and broke into our seemingly uninhabited ship during the small hours.
Refilling one of our 9-kg LPG cylinders for NIS 130.- or US$ 28.30 at the marina.
Laundering for NIS 10,- or US$ 2.20 per 6-kg load at the big DIY laundromat (washer and drier) in the marina.
Meeting participants of the EMYR (Eastern Mediterranean Yacht Rally) and sadly realising that international cruising rallies have turned more and more into commercialised and politicised building blocks of mass tourism with its problematic social and environmental consequences: (i) alienation between diverse cultures, (ii) reduction of human relationships to customer satisfaction, (iii) strengthening of state and government instead of the local people, (iv) increase in prices for boat-related services, and (v) more regulations for the independent cruiser.
Konni: Flying to Germany to visit her mother, her friends and especially our daughter Ulrike, who gave birth to our first grandson, Raoni Samuel, on 5 August 2006 (a healthy, 3,910 g heavy, and 55 cm long boy) - congratulations, Ulrike and Chris!
Matt: Daysailing off the coast of Ashkelon with fellow Israeli sailors and friends Henry, Ralph, Isaac and Seth.
Matt: Enjoying tremendously many stimulating philosophical and technological discussions with my respected friends Ralph, Reuven and Seth about both the spiritual aspects of life as well as the practical aspects of boating and seamanship - thank you and todah, Ralph, Reuven and Seth, I will be missing you very much.
Matt (whilst Konni was safe and away in Germany): Surviving an incoming terrorist Qassam/Grad missile from the Gaza Strip whose warhead had hit the boatyard of Ashkelon Marina, had detonated on 14 August 2006 at 8:05 a.m. and had missed SY “Kamu II” by about 100 m, shit happens.
Leaving Ashkelon after almost one year (many thanks to Chippie & Henry for the most lovely farewell party on board of their SY “Mistral III”) and beating along the shallow N coast of the Sinai into light north-westerly winds towards Port Said, the northern terminus of the Suez Canal, also entertaining a guest on board - a little icterine warbler (Hippolais icterina) who had rested on our push pit and who was chirping: “… next year in Jerusalem!”
Click below for an interactive satellite view of our anchorage:
