36:45.19N 28:56.40E The third day at Ashkelon was a free day which meant a big clean up for Sonsy Lass then a trip into the town centre for provisions. In the late afternoon we received the bad news that Egypt was out as a result of their threatening security problems. A birthday party had been organised on the quayside for the evening and the disappointment of not going to Egypt was soon put on the back burner as five gallons of a Caribbean punch was produced and rapidly consumed, followed by various other beverages. However the situation really came home to us as we were sitting in the restaurant afterwards, when the sirens went off and everyone was evacuated. We were told that where we were actually sitting had been hit by a missile several years earlier.  Ashkelon is less than 20 miles from Gaza and we had been hearing the distant ‘thumps’ from rocket fire during our time there. The rally was advised to leave the area at first light in the morning and head north to Herzilya.  The programme change would have meant our hanging around for four days in Herzilya to take in the final rally dinner. After much deliberation, we decided to leave the rally and head back to Turkey earlier than scheduled. This would give us time for a short break back home before the onslaught of the family sailing season. Very early the next morning we watched the rally leave with some sadness then we fuelled up, cleared immigration and were on our way. The course was a 370NM non-stop hop which would take us three days. Shipping traffic was heavy as we headed north and our AIS told us they were mainly headed to Haifa. This was right across our path so a sharp lookout was required, especially at night. Sharing the watch on a three hour rota seemed to make the nights a touch long.  Our talking books and personal music however took out some of the boredom as we slowly crossed the eastern Mediterranean. Late on the second evening we slipped passed the west coast of Cyprus but too far off to see anything. Our landfall was a lagoon just outside the town of Kas in Turkey.  We anchored in a very pleasant spot surrounded by mountains and in flat calm water we had a good night’s sleep. Early the next morning we started the final leg of our journey up to Gocek, 60NM. This was a great sail as the winds were at last in our favour. Gocek is where we first joined the EMYR rally on 8^th May and  it has been a fantastic experience for us. Never  have we met so many ‘off the wall’ people in one group, made so many new friends and had so much fun. We would not have missed it for the world.