THE SKY was slate grey and spitting rain, the sea softly rising as our car navigated the drowned and rutted track in Gaza's ramshackle port.
On the quay, parked beside rusting metal hulks were a police car and vehicle with the letters TV on the bonnet. We were the first to arrive to greet the SS Dignity, the Free Gaza movement's third vessel to sail from Cyprus to the Strip to break the Israeli siege and blockade.
The contrast with the arrival of the first mission was dramatic.
In August the SS Free Gazaand the SS Libertywere mobbed by tens of thousands of Gazans celebrating the first vessels to reach Gaza without permission of the Israeli occupation authorities. Yesterday, the Dignity, a four-decked yacht, and 27 boat people were received by a handful of worthies from non-governmental agencies and half a dozen media folk.
As she stepped onto the quay, Irish Nobel prize laureate Mairéad Corrigan Maguire said uncertainly, "I'm not much of a sailor but it's worth the trip to get to Gaza."
Alan Lonergan from Ballina, Co Mayo, said the voyage was rough and most were sick, but he was happy to endure "if in some small way I can acknowledge the dignity and humanity of the people here in Gaza."
The Free Gaza movement notified Israel, as the occupying authority, that the boat would sail. Israel responded by saying it would be stopped. When the Dignityentered Gaza's waters, Israeli naval vessels approached. After the Dignityinformed Gaza port that it was on its way in, an Israeli boat got in touch. "What is your home port?" "Limassol." "What is your flag?" "Gibraltar." "What was your last port?" "Larnaca." "Where are you going?" "Gaza." Pause. "Ok." Pause. "Thank you."
And in sailed the gleaming white Dignity, flags flying from all its masts, a large Irish flag for the four Irish citizens aboard.
Mayo man Derek Graham, who served as mate on both voyages, grinned when asked how she handled during the 270-mile voyage. "She's sweet as a nut, very stable in the water, we didn't have to struggle with the helm."
Caoimhe Butterly, an Irish peace activist who has been in the region since 2002, stated: "I am overjoyed to have arrived in Gaza and to have symbolically broken the siege, but that joy is tempered by the stark reality of the situation here and the collective silence of the international community."
Journalist Gideon Spiro, the sole Israeli passenger, observed: "I was very surprised that they let us through . . . They are more sensible than I thought." The first place the boat people went was the government hospital where a tonne of basic medical supplies was delivered to senior medics.
More than 260 Palestinians have died since the siege was imposed in early 2006 because Israel refuses to issue permits to go abroad for treatment.