Water Sports

Water Sports

Tel Aviv has no shortage of water-sport opportunities, and even some that may come as a surprise. In addition to enjoying the more obvious swimming, sailing, and windsurfing, you can rent pleasure boats on the Hayarkon River and water-ski on the artificial lake at the Yehoshua Gardens.

Boating

Yehoshua Gardens (Hayarkon Park) (03/642-0541), along Rokach Boulevard in the northern part of the city, rents out pedal boats and rowboats (NIS 60 per hour) and motorboats (NIS 80 per half hour). You can also opt for pleasure boats, which take up to 100 people for 20-minute rides (NIS 12 per person); bicycles; or tandems that take up to six people (NIS 45 per half hour).

Sailing

All sailboats require an Israeli license to operate. However, you can charter a sailboat or a yacht with a skipper at the Old Port (03/527-2596).

Scuba Diving

The Dugit Diving Center (250 Ben-Yehuda St. 03/604-5034) serves as a popular meeting place for veteran divers. Although the view beneath the surface of the Mediterranean Sea doesn't offer as breathtaking an array of fish and coral as the Red Sea, it's a good place to start. Diving courses are available Dugit holds diving courses for all levels. Diving equipment is available for sale, and for rent on a daily basis to licensed divers.

Swimming

The Gordon Pool (Eliezer Peri 14, near the end of Gordon St. 03/527-1555), a Tel Aviv institution since the 1950s, at present open only during July and August, includes an outdoor Olympic-size pool of saline groundwater changed daily. Entrance to the pool costs NIS 50. It's open daily 6 AM-7 PM.

Waterskiing

Park Darom (03/739-1168), in southern Tel Aviv, runs waterskiing without boats: cables attached to a revolving crane pull you around an artificial lake, a system that holds no appeal for some but is particularly good for beginners. Costs are around NIS 70 for half an hour, including instruction, on weekdays, and NIS 81 on Saturdays. It's open daily from April through October, but hours vary, so call in advance.