Danit Cohen-Zhurbin, 68, a grandmother of four, has spent the last four years sailing around the world on a yacht with her partner, Ilan. Speaking with ynet from the Atlantic Ocean on their way to Cape Town, South Africa, Cohen-Zhurbin described the endless adventure she calls home.
'We left Europe four years ago and sailed around the world,' said Cohen-Zhurbin, who has also run a yacht rental business for the past 25 years. 'We do not really know where we will go next. Probably Brazil, and from there to the Caribbean, and then we will decide how to continue.'
The longing for her grandchildren is strong, and she returns to Israel for visits every few months. 'The grandkids send me videos telling me, “Grandma, come back already.”'
Asked whether she misses a normal life on land, she answered firmly: 'Not at all. The sea keeps me young. Only the age goes up, but I feel young at sea. It is amazing.'
What should people who see the world from land understand about what you see at sea, or through the sea, that you cannot see on land?
'There are many places we passed along the way that you simply cannot reach without a yacht, really isolated places, villages and tribes in the global south. Those corners still exist, and only a yacht can get you there. Beyond that, life at sea is full of things you cannot see from land. If you look at the map now, you will see about 20 ships around us, cargo vessels, sometimes fishing boats. And every day we run into a completely different kind of life. Yesterday seals passed by us, we see lots of dolphins, and now we are already waiting to see the first whale. The sea is full of life.'
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'There are places you simply can’t reach without a yacht.'
(Photo: Danit Cohen-Zhurbin)
Sailing on a yacht is often seen as something expensive, but Cohen-Zhurbin says it is not necessarily so. 'One of the advantages of loving the sea and yachts is that there are all kinds of options,' she explained. 'You can buy a yacht for 50,000 shekels and you can buy a yacht for 50 million. On the way we see many people, especially in the more remote places and also here nearby, modest people living on small yachts, not big ones. Life at sea is much cheaper than life on land, and that is how they can live many years in retirement.'
Cohen-Zhurbin feels more comfortable at sea than on land. 'I do not get seasick in any situation,' she said. 'I have land sickness. When I am on land too long, I start to get a bit shaky. I have owned a yacht rental company in the Tel Aviv marina for 25 years, so I have been at sea for many years. I started when I was young. My father had a yacht and we sailed to Turkey and Greece.'