March arrived and with it the winds and strong temperature fluctuations that characterize spring in this area of the world. It seemed that only yesterday we hauled out our winter blankets and warm clothes and now here we were looking for short sleeves and shade again.

And then before we knew it, winter returned. April ushered in cold weather again and now we were scrambling for long sleeves and warmer blankets. Last week there was snow on the peaks in the north of Israel! Here on the Gulf of Aqaba, days of serene calm have been followed by strong winter winds with westerly williwaws charging down the mountain slopes. It's been an interesting and challenging spring for local sailors.

We've been busy this winter and if my lack of posts shows nothing else, it goes to prove just how little time I've had for writing. Our travels to Croatia only served to heighten our enthusiasm for sailing Yofy up to the Med and so, much of this winter has been spent working extra hard to build up our cruising kitty. Manny's taken on several new projects building custom AC and refrigeration units for neighbouring boats. One of these projects was for Uri and Racheli who have been building a boat in the backyard of their kibbutz home.



My yoga teaching took on new energy and I found myself busier than ever with workshops and new groups. On Yofy, I began to add several coats of Cetol to our brightwork. Last year, this standard routine was thrown when our local supplier of Cetol went dry. We waited month after month for a new supply to arrive and I squirmed as I watched the sun eat away at the underlying coats. In the end the Cetol never arrived and we learned that the product had changed hands and was now being sold by International as "Woodskin". So this winter I was faced by the grim job of sanding everything down to wood and laying on five to seven new coats of finish.



Between coats we were contacted by a couple of sailors interested in improving their skills while on holiday in Eilat. Would we agree to take them out and teach them some sailing? We met and chatted about their expectations and on a windy Saturday at the end of December we took them out. We were happy to hear that they had a grand time and learned so many things in just a few hours.

Another Saturday about half an hour before we went out sailing, Manny got a call from someone he hadn't seen in 40 years. Uri and Manny served in the army together many years ago. We instantly invited Uri to come sailing with us and an emotional reunion followed. Afterwards we both marveled over how they had recognized each other. If it had been twenty years earlier when they had long hair, I think it would have been more difficult. As it was, they had a terrific day sailing, reliving old stories and catching up.



Mid winter in the wee hours of the morning, there was a fire just down the dock from us. It was a cold night and we had all our hatches and ports closed. Neither of us heard the shouts of "fire!" or the sirens as the fire trucks approached. We didn't even hear the propane tanks exploding, but early the next morning while taking out the garbage Manny saw the last of the firemen leaving and went to inspect the damage.



Four boats were lost in the fire. Luckily no one was injured. It was quite a sobering sight but I think one of the most frightening aspects of this fire was that none of the liveaboards woke up.

As winter came to a close and evenings became warmer we decided to take a break and celebrate with the first BBQ of the season. Manny fired up his dockside smoker and put some charcoal on the grill. We invited our neighbours and before we knew it there was a spontaneous dockside party. For one evening we all let go of maintenance projects, the need to earn some cash and summer plans and had a few beers and some good BBQ.



Do you sometimes look back and wonder where all the time has gone? My father used to tell me that as you get older time seems to fly by faster and faster. Or as Dr Seuss said "How did it get so late so soon?" And here we are at the end of April scrambling to get a long list of projects done on Yofy so that we can do some serious sailing this summer. But that is another blog.