Wintering in Ashkelon
Its been a while since I updated Chasamba, and there is a reason for this- we have been moving house! Well, actually, its not really moving house as such, thank goodness, just a leisurely sail down the Israeli coast from Haifa, past Herzliya and Tel Aviv to the southernmost marina in Ashkelon.
Ashkelon marina seems to be a really nice place, with friendly and competent staff, a travel lift, good showers and clean water, a wifi network and reasonable connections to the town, which is quite close. It is a big improvement on the Kishon marina we spent last winter in, both because of the facilities and because the weather this far south is a lot better.
Ashkelon is an interesting place, with a rich past. It changed hands repeatedly in ancient times, and was one of the five cities of the Philistines. Later it was the birthplace of Herod, who made it into a prosperous sea port. Richard the Lion Heart and Saladin traded blows here, and eventually the Mamluk sultan Baybars 1 destroyed it completely. In modern times the city was occupied by Egyptian forces after Israels declaration of independance, and won back by General Yigal Alon in Operation Yoav. So there is a lot of history here, and quite a lot of remains, which we are planning to spend a winter studying. The first place we will start will be the Ashkelon National Park, which has remains from several different periods, and after that there are several archeological sites in the middle of town.
The other big find here is the sea life. Ashkelons coast is teeming with fish and crabs, and snorkeling is amazing. There are more fish here than we saw in the whole of Turkey! Yesterday we saw someone catch a 5 kilo tuna with a spear gun, only yards from the breakwater. So it looks as though Ashkelon will be fun!