Golan Heights

On the Golan Heights, Yom Kippur, 1973 - Syria invaded

Israel on the holiest day of the year with an overwhelming advantage in tanks, artillery and men.  The Israeli army held on at great sacrifice. One of the greatest tank battles in history played out in the Emek HaBakha Valley commemorated now as the Valley of Tears.  At a war memorial, we listened to a recording of a tank commander's radio communication while he was surrounded by Syrian forces. Although in Hebrew, we could feel the tension in his voice. For a detailed description of the battle click
War on the Golan. 


Our time on the Golan was, in contrast, serene with the exception of our wild ride in TOM CAR ATV's from
Kibbutz Merom Golan  to an old Syrian "hospital" near the border. We kicked up a lot of dust and made some noise! The "hospital" building, now abandoned, was actually a Syrian weapons depot and command post. We were right on the border about the time Israel bombed Syria to destroy weapons destined for Hezbollah.  But all was peaceful on the border.


Before the Six Day War, Syrian forces shelled the Hula Valley at will forcing children to sleep in bomb shelters. But the more serious issue was Syria's attempt to cut off two of the three sources of water for the Sea of Galilee, the only water supply for Israel at the time.  The water orginates in the Golan Heights.

Much of the Golan Heights looks like West Texas, good land for cattle.  Now that Israel controls the Golan Heights,  farms have blossomed on the land. Later, after touring a winery we had lunch at an olive oil factory here.

The next day we traveled North through the heights to Birket Ram, a Druze village, for lunch. We had Falafel, ground and fried chickpeas, in a pita with salad and humus. Yum! After lunch, we turned East to Banias - also known as Caesarea Philippi.  More about that later.

St Peter's Primacy & Capernaum

Rock Upon Which Jesus Cooked
 the Fish - copied from Wikipedia

May 3 - Again, the sky is clear and blue over the Galilee .  After a visit to the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes, we moved a  short distance along the shore to St. Peter's Primacy. The former church marks the site where Jesus fed the five thousand. The latter marks the site where he fed the apostles after his resurrection.  Here Jesus told Peter to feed his lambs, marking Peter as the head of his church. See also the Wikipedia articles on St. Peter's Primacy and the theological debate about Peter's appointment as the leader of the apostles. 

We had Mass here in a beautiful spot on the shore of the Galilee.

Before heading up the Golan Heights for the afternoon, we watched a movie about the discovery and preservation of a fishing boat from the first century. See Jesus Boat.

May 4 - Dawn brought another beautiful morning on the Galilee. We visited Capernaum before heading for the Golan Heights again. A big bicycle race around the Sea of Galilee closed the roads so we were stuck for a little while before the police agreed to escort our bus through the race course. How nice was that!

 Capernaum, unlike Nazareth, was located on an "international" travel route. Its residents would have been routinely exposed to new and different ideas of travelers from a wider world than the Galilee. That Nazareth, on the other hand, was relatively isolated may explain why Jesus was accepted in Capernaum while facing rejection in his home town of Nazareth. 

Capernaum was also a fairly wealthy town, its residents receiving income from farming, fishing and taxes on travelers crossing the border.

A church built in 1990 sits above an earlier church built to mark the location of Peter's house. We had Mass here.

Check out the excellent photos at  Bible Walks-Capernaum.

We learned something else from Marian along the way. When the Bible uses two names for a person, the second name is a modifier that emphasizes something about the person. Take Mary Magdalene, for example. Magdalene refers to the town of Migdal and also the Hebrew word for strong. Migdal was a wealthy town. Thus, the Bible is saying Mary Magdalene was a wealthy and a strong woman. 

On the Shores of Galilee

Living Water - The Jordan River flows into the Sea of Galilee from the North and continues flowing through the Jordan River Valley at the south end of the sea. So, the Sea of Galilee gives as well as receives. The Jordan ends by flowing into the Dead Sea so the Dead Sea receives but does not give. By this example,  Israeli  school children are taught that those who give as well as receive live; those that only receive die.

Ten hours from Newark, our plane landed in Tel Aviv without incident. Bags collected and pilgrims herded together, we boarded our tour bus to travel via a highway that follows the ancient trade route, the Via Maris, to the Ramot Resort Hotel that overlooks the Sea of Galilee. Following an excellent meal under the stars, we fell into our beds over twenty-fours after leaving Punta Gorda.

The next day we started at 9 AM and did not return until 10 PM.  Following a visit to the Mount of Beatitudes with a devotional interlude with Father Jerry, we toured the archeological sites of Korazim and Bethsaida. The latter link will lead you to a site with a cool video about the ongoing archeological work at Bethsaida. 

After lunch at the fish restaurant of the Ein Gev Kibbutz, we boarded a boat for a trip across the Sea of Galilee.  Engine shut down, our boat rolled with waves in the middle of the Galilee while we celebrated Mass.

Before dinner at Decks in Tiberias, we were also baptized in the Jordan River at the Yardenit Baptismal Site.

Each day begins early and ends late - sometimes as late as 10PM. After three days of touring, we took Sunday morning off for a little time to relax around the pool. 



Click on Pictures       

Cruising South with PGSC

With the PGSC Gang at the Naples Railroad Museum

Pig-It, Hog-It...and Rain                     
                                                                        
Cards dealt and played. Points counted and recorded. Players rotated around the tables shaded by the Farmer's Market tent.   While we happily played Pig-It, Hog-It, a great card game, the southeastern sky darkened and turned black.  We were anchored in Marco's Smokehouse Bay with a half a dozen other sailboats  from the world famous Punta Gorda Sailing Club (PGSC).  

The bay is deep, blue and the holding excellent. Gorgeous homes line the shore and fish jump in the water.  Winn-Dixie provides a nice dinghy dock - a short distance from the anchorage.  About two blocks from Winn Dixie, the Farmer's Market tent stands in a large green field. That's where we played boccie ball , ladder ball and of course the card game "Pig-IT Hog It."  

The Radar Now App on my phone showed lots of rain headed our way as we played one more hand.  Joanne & I left our hatches partially open to provide Bleu Kitty a little air so we hurried back to our dinghy ... but NOT in time!  Not too bad, we had some mopping up to do - but the inside wasn't soaked. Rain came down in buckets for an hour or more.  Happy we were that we didn't decide to wait out the rain on shore.

After 10 days of fun with our fellow sailers in PGSC,  we said 'goodbye' and headed North. We actually sailed from Capri Pass to Gordon Pass.  After a night at the Naples Yacht Club we motorsailed to St Charles Yacht Club in Fort Myers as the wind died out.   There we met friends from IYC and from the Panama City YC and enjoyed a nice dinner with them.

As we headed North on the ICW, the southern wind popped up to over 25 knots providing quite a boisterous sail.  I tried to reef the main while sailing downwind and messed up. Before I could recover, Longhawk from our old marina in Texas came motoring by heading South for Marco and the Dry Torguas!  What a surprise to see them.  They yelled "Richard,  Richard" trying get my attention as I tried to straighten out the sail. Fortunately our opportunity to greet them was not missed because Joanne hailed them on the VHF.    We sailed up Charoltte Harbor tacking on broad reaches from Marker Five to Ponce and home once again cheating death on the inland seas! 


Pelican Bay  &  St. James City

We sailed down to Pelican Bay Sunday afternoon to meet the Punta Gorda Sailing Club Monday evening. That gave us a day to meander along the beach watching rays, shore birds and waves lapping on the sand.  We found a few nice shells including another arrow head sand dollar.   


We had never anchored off St James City at the south end of Pine Island so we were happy PGSC decided to make it our day's destination.  After dropping the hook, we dinghied to the Waterfront Restaurant for happy hour beer and good "peel and eat" shrimp.


Manatzas Pass East Mooring Field & Pink Shell

On a mooring ball for two nights in the Manatzas Pass East Mooring Field, we  dinghied to dinner at Salty Sams a short ride away. The next day we tried Doc Ford Rum Bar for lunch and the very popular Bonita Bills for happy hour - no shirt, no shoes, no problem.  Then we moved to a slip at the Pink Shell Marina for a night.  We made good use of the Pink Shell Resort's showers located in their lavish spa and the swimming pool for a day.   What a nice place!


On the Ball at Naples

We were on the ball at Naples (City Marina) for two nights. The second evening we had an early bird dinner with Nick and Maryellen at Bleu Provence, a nice little French Restaurant.  We played Pig-It, Hog-It on the city dock, visited the train museum, and a few art galleries near the city dock.


Inside To SmokeHouse Bay

We left Naples late in the morning to allow the tide to rise. With a 2'  high tide  we were able to take the inside route from Naples to Marco. We saw a lowest depth of approximately 5' 8",  but some boats drawing a little over 5'  bumped a few times.   This is a pretty route but even with our 4-1/2 ft keel, it is only passable with a high tide.  There is an interesting anchorage along the way but I didn't want to take the time to look around and end up entering Marco on a falling tide. Maybe next time!  We anchored securely in Smokehouse Bay in 17' of water.  Condo developments surround the bay that are upscale and attractive.  A canal leads to a nice dinghy dock supplied by Winn Dixe for easy provisioning.  From the dock one can walk to numerous restaurants and shops including a small West Marine store.  All in all, a great place to anchor and spend a few days in paradise!

Pictures

Note - Somehow this post has been hacked - links have been added to words like "shoe" or "next" but the link associated with the word doesn't show up when editing the page nor does the word appear to have an assoicated link. Viewing in HTML mode doesn't help either.   I have tried to delete them but they keep showing back up!  First time this has happened.

 

Pedal & Play in Paradise

HERALD PHOTO BY PAMELA STAIK
 

April 6th found us riding in the Third Annual Pedal and Play in Paradise.  Proceeds benefited the Leukemia &
Lymphoma Society and TEAM Punta Gorda’s Bicycle-friendly Community Initiatives. We chose the 10-mile Mystery Tour and the City Manager’s/History Tour with Punta Gorda’s City Manager, Howard Kunik.

As we rested in the shade along the City Manager's Tour, a photographer for the Punta Gorda Herald snapped our picture.

Along the Mystery Ride we answered questions like "What's free at Joe's Garage?" Each correct reponse garnered a ticket for a drawing for door prizes. We answered  all the questions correctly to no avail as no prizes came our way - but hey, it was fun! We rode along the Harbor Walk and pleasant streets new to us.  Signs along the trail through the Edison College Campus warned "Beware of Alligators!"

Highlights of the City Manager's Tour included the construction of pathways around the old Best Western and along Shreve Street.  The pathway along the Peace River behind the hotel connects the Harbor Walk along Gilchrist Park with the East Harbor Walk. We were really happy to see this bike path becoming at reality.   Things happen here in Punta Gorda with our tax dollars!


Punta Gorda Pathways

Cape Haze Pioneer Trail

The eight mile  Cape Haze Pioneer Trail  lies along the bed of the former Charlotte Harbor and Northern Railroad.  On a chilly Saturday morning we biked the trail and rewarded ourselves with lunch at the Fishery Restaurant.  Egrets congregated in the water along the trail. Eagles fed their two babies in a nest high above us.
See a full report on the PGI Islander's website.


Cape Haze Pioneer Trail - Visit Florida    Photos

Hawaii

After an arduous 10-hour plane flight from Ft Myers, we arrived at our daughter, Michele, and her boyfriend, Bryan's home in Kona, HI in time for a dinner snack and bed.  We awoke to a beautiful day in paradise.   Kahaluu Beach Park Snorkeling  was on the agenda.  The park is located just minutes away!  This turtle greeted us as we viewed the other colorful fish through our masks. Click to see Fish video posted Picasca Hawaii web album.

 Ho'o makaukau! Hoe hapai! Imua!  Our paddles dig into blue water as we help drive a double hull canoe with ten members of the Keauhou Canoe Club early one morning.  "Hut", calls the #3 paddler on the 14th stroke! "Hu", we answer on the 15th stroke and altogether switch sides, driving the big 45 foot canoe further out of Keauhou Bay and onto the ocean.  What a great group of folks. What a great way to start the day. Click to see Canoe video posted on Picasca Hawaii web album.

Later on we traveled to Captain Cook's monument On Board Hula Kai., a lovely boat that took us 17 miles down the coast.  We saw a whale breaching and whales chasing one another.  It's awe inspiring viewing these creatures who travel every year from Alaska to Hawaii to mate and bear their young.

Michele surprised us by taking off from work to drive us up the coastline by Kealakekua Bay , our final destination being
Volcano National Park.  She booked a night at the gorgeous
Volcano Village Lodge.   It was a very special place hidden in the rainforest - too pretty to describe!  She wanted us to experience the volcano at night and to see it's glow. The pictures just don't do it justice!  We then went for a wonderful dinner at another lodge in the area.  We were surprised how the volcano area had changed.  Almost 20 years ago, we visited and there were active lava flows not far from the road.  Now, most of the lava is underneath a crust and not very visible except at night near the volcano.  The ranger explained how the landscape is changing and growing on this young dynamic island.

One day we borrowed Bryan's jeep and traveled to Pololū Valley   Pololu Valley - Let's Go.  More beautiful scenery and landscapes with trecks along the coastline. 

In between all the fun, we caught up on missed epidoses of Downton Abbey.  Their wonderful neighbors also invited us for a lovely dinner.  Check out our Photos !