Who are You?

Serafina
Rob & Sarah Bell
Wed 16 Jun 2010 21:59

32:48.2N 35:01.8E

Tuesday 15th June

As the night wore on we heard the committee boat being given the third degree over the radio, firstly by the Lebanese navy, then the Israeli navy and then by a UN warship. Finally they were quizzed by an American nuclear submarine that was leaving Haifa as we were all due!

However the current political tension in the area may just have worked in our favour as initially the first boats approached the ‘gate’ motoring across a flat calm sea around 8.30 am on a clear sunny morning, just two gunboats came out beyond the gateway and worked their way through the entire  fleet of 64 boats (some chose to leave the rally in Junieh), circling each of us in turn, training its weapons on us and then calling the boat in question and asking a set of very brief questions before allowing each boat to continue on its way. Over the next few hours several fast patrol craft came out, each circling and investigating us and all of them brandishing either automatic weapons or deck mounted guns, but none appeared particularly threatening as such, but their state of alert and intentions were very clear!

Gradually the wind began to build a bit and it freed a little to allow us onto a fine reach and so as an experiment we unfurled the twin headsails onto just the downwind side and rigged Serafina as a cutter to see what might happen. We were delighted to see the speed leap up,and far from back-winding the staysail, the new combination proved very powerful in this situation and we soon were zipping along doing up to 7 knots in just 9 knots of wind. We trailed the fishing lures all the while but sadly to no avail, but then this is probably because Sarah had announced that we needed to catch something for tomorrow’s supper! However we did pass through an extraordinary mass of huge jelly fish that looked for all the world like a mass of identical white plastic bags floating just below the surface. Indeed one boat reported them as such. Then as yet another gunboat arrived to take  a tour of inspection round Serafina, we saw a pod of dolphins, but they did not stay with us as the navy boat powered its way over.

As we approached Haifa, we watched another big submarine coming in to port ahead of us and then suddenly there was a very fast police launch calling us up on the radio and just seconds later, having instructed us to maintain our heading and speed, they were alongside holding out a fishing net into which we had to put our passports for a provisional inspection and I had to answer another set of quite straightforward questions. They then disappeared off towards the harbour entrance for a while before returning and giving the passports back. We rounded up into the wind and dropped all the sails as yet two more gunboats passed us by in different directions, but we were clearly of no further interest to them and mostly they just waved hands or weapons.

Our group then gathered together in the mouth of the harbour before being called in to moor up in the tiny yacht basin which proved very tight indeed and our eventual position was not too great as we were alongside a huge motor yacht (Salty Dawg) with a dozen boats rafted loosely outside us – all with quite a scramble over our decks and mountaineering up the side of the hefty ‘Salty Dawg’ to negotiate! Sarah and Lesley spotted a mangrove heron on the bank of the docks as we made our way in through the harbour, which was pretty impressive given all the other things happening around us at the time.

Customs were the first people to board us and once they had declared themselves satisfied (and I have to say that they were extremely pleasant and polite) we then had to all go to the Harbour security office to deal with immigration. They too were very quick and helpful and as requested they gave us our visas as loose inserts into our passports rather than stamping them, which would have meant that we could neither carry on to Egypt nor return to Syria or Lebanon at any time.

Next up we visited the stand set up by the local yacht club who were handing out t-shirts, hats and other goodies as a welcome to Israel promotion. Sarah and I signed up for two tours over the next couple of days, while T & L have opted to perhaps hire a car again and see what they can find. Everyone has been hugely welcoming and the organisers have indicated that of the navy’s questioning of them earlier in the day may have really been to reassure our hosts that we were not here staging any sort of protest rally.

At 7.30 pm we attended a reception followed by a big buffet dinner, but the big difference this time was that the Israeli government had found out just three days ago that we were coming and pulled out all the stops to make this a big event. The keynote speaker was the Minister of Public Diplomacy and Dispora Affairs and he broke the ice perfectly with a witty opening about only just hearing that there was a flotilla of yachts coming from Lebanon and that they (the government) tended to be very nervous about such things at the moment! There were quite a few more speeches and a dancing display from a young dance group followed by the meal and a disco, but having had such a long night and the anticipation of it all, left most of us desperate for our beds and it was not too long before we all headed back to our boats.