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Another hectic year, full of surprises!  APOGEE covered approximately 5,130nm from Malaysia to Israel, while we visited and toured eight countries along the way.  Deciding that we needed a little R&R after this year’s adventures, we traveled via the “big bird” which landed us safely in NJ on 7 September.  We plan to return to Israel on 5 March 1998 where Apogee is patiently awaiting our return.

We departed Malaysia on 12 January 1997.  We had a beautiful, nine day, northeast monsoon sail to Sri Lanka helped by a current which had APOGEE harboring race ambitions at times.  Arriving in Galle, we found the harbour full of yachts, many of whom we knew and would also be going up the Red Sea and into the Mediterranean.  While in Sri Lanka, we and another sailing couple, Ray & Maggie (TIEN FE) toured the interior in a hired van with a driver-guide.  Cows, dogs, goats, tuk-tuks (3 wheeled taxis), bicycles and oxen carts vied for space on the narrow roads.  We visited an elephant orphanage and saw the famous Kandy dancers.  We were fascinated by the extent of manual labor in Sri Lanka.  Men, hanging from ropes down very steep cliffs, hand-chiseled stone for building roads while earth moving was done via bucket brigade; sand was removed from riverbeds by men diving with bowl-shaped scoops.  We were duly impressed by the ancient historical ruins and the beautiful tea plantation terraces stretching for miles across the hillsides like a carpet of green velvet.  Plots of vegetables rose like staircases up the mountainous interior.  Magnificent sand beaches stretched for miles along the south coast which is a birdwatcher’s paradise.  After an exhilarating five days covering 1100 km, we arrived back in Galle Harbour where the all too familiar sound of underwater explosives, supposedly to discourage Tamil Tiger frogmen who may enter the harbour, would jolt us from a sound sleep in the wee hours of the morning.
........

Janet and George
 

Sudan
 

 Sri Lanka

Oman
 

Camels

  Bomb Map

  Fish

More to follow in Issue 52 of the Southern Cross Newsletter.....
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