14th June
Ush has had a field day watching all sorts of military helicoptors and aircraft flying overhead. He was naming them all, I can’t remember the names; most of them were just a list of numbers and letters.
I looked up the BBC on the Web and was shocked to see how sad the situation was in Gaza.
I was telling Tedd how even the kids doing final exams had been kept home and not allowed to go to school in Gaza…Does that mean we have no school either? said Cian hopefully.
The planes, helicopters and muffled booms kept going all night.
The word, previously, was that it’s all in -fighting and perfectly safe for us to be so near, but it’s all so sad. To think that was going on just 5 miles, a long beach away. It’s so tragic.
This morning I urged Tedd to leave. For us to sail to the marina near Tel Aviv, 40 miles up the coast. We both felt like cheap good time Charlies…moving on from the lovely, incredibly helpful marina management people who run this fabulous marina in Askelon. It cost 25 million US to build and is the best marina we have been in on this rally, apart from the totally up market Marina and Sports Club outside Beirut. I went up to the office to pay and was warmly greeted by Michela and Hillel as always; but under their warmth was such a sense of despair and resignation. I thanked them for their help, and assured them that we would tell our friends about their stunning marina, but the words felt so empty. There were about 30 boats left in a marina that caters for hundreds.
We sailed up the beautiful coast, miles of golden sand followed by miles of sky scrapers to Hertzliya, just a short distance from Tel Aviv. We are now tucked into a posh marina, where the boats provide window dressing for the huge shopping malls, and to Soracha’s delight….McDonalds. That was our first stop this afternoon, getting acquainted with a Meccabab - (did I hear that name right? I can’t read a thing in Hebrew). Makes a change from her favourite McArabia in Egypt’s McDonalds. If you want kosher McDonald’s here in Israel you go to the section next door called McDavids.
I asked an Israeli yachtie here today if it’s safe to go to Jerusalem and got an angry response….Of course it is, she said impatiently.
So that’s where we will go on Sunday and Monday, all being well.
