The Voyage of the Mighty Tenho: arrived in Ashkelon Israel

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

arrived in Ashkelon Israel

Seventy-two hours and about 500 nautical miles....first day a bit bumpy, second day great sailing, third day mostly motoring. We'd e-mailed all our passport info ahead of time, then called it in to the Israeli Navy at 40 miles out, had an Israeli Navy escort at 20 miles and gave them the same info, then were met on the dock by 7 security people. We were separated for questioning, every hold and space on the boat opened and inspected (Hugo's black saxophone case seemed to cause momentary alarm until they had John open it), swabs taken on various surfaces, and then we were free to go to immigration, customs and marina check-in.

So here we are in Ashkelon, about 6 miles above the Gaza Strip. First time we've been a country where our guide book includes a section on "What to do in a Rocket Attack," but this looks like a good homebase for exploring the Dead Sea and Jerusaleum!

Israeli Navy escort off the coast

1 comment:

heidi johnsonFebruary 21, 2013 at 11:20 AM
Wow, now that's security! Were you separated from the kids as well?
At least they know you aren't pirates;)
ReplyDelete
Replies

Add comment

John, Tessa, Hugo (12) and Maggie (9)

Having spent 10 years in DC, we moved onto the boat in June 2012, with the intent of sailing across the Atlantic to the Mediterranean for a year. As of June 2013, we've sailed from the U.S. (Annapolis, Maryland) to Bermuda, then to the Azores, to Lisbon and down the Atlantic coast of Portugal and Spain, through the Straits of Gibraltar, along the southern coast of Spain (with a quick trip to Morocco) to Ibiza, then Sicily, through the Corinth Canal and Greek islands, winter in Turkey, a few weeks in Israel, with a side trip to Egypt. After a month in the Adriatic in spring, we all sailed to the Azores, where mom, cat and kids left by airplane, leaving John and crew to bring the boat back home to the Chesapeake.