The Suez Canal Passage

Nov. 9, We are not yet in the canal itself and it is past the 1:30am projected time.  However, we are inching closer all the time.  One pilot boat came a bit ago and now is gone, we have had up to five pilot boats on the port side at one time. Birds have gathered, first it was a few and now there are hundreds of them.  They peruse up and back along the ship hoping for something tasty to churn up I guess, but none seem to be feeding.  I do want to see when we enter into the canal itself so I am trying to stay awake! You can see the time on the photo in the lower left corner.  We have entered the Suez Canal.  Goodnight it is after 2:00am.

We woke about 8am when they brought our coffee and John’s breakfast but we were tired, not moving, so we slept longer.  We had just arrived at the “Bitter Lake” and this is where our convoy stops, drops anchor, and we all wait for the northbound convoy to pass.  We also stopped at another much smaller lake during the night for the same reason.  We also went under a bridge at some point while sleeping.  Anyway, we really got up about 10am, had the coffee, showered and headed up to the 12th deck for a starboard side view as well since we are pulling up anchor and heading on our way again.  From 1967 to 1975, 15 ships were blocked from leaving the Bitter Lake.  I do forget which war this was but Egypt closed the canal so these ships sat here all that time becoming knows as the “yellow fleet” due to the sand that coated them.  By the time they were allowed to leave only two could do so under their own power.  It is interesting to watch the north bound ships slowly pass by and all of us heading south to queue up.  There is much more “traffic” here than I saw on the Panama Canal. 

Oh boy, the weather has drastically changed.  I had on long pants but went back and switched and got our hats.  It is pleasant but quite warm in the sun.  From here on thing will only warm up I am sure. The best views seemed to be facing into the sun.  We have Egypt on the starboard side on the African continent and Egypt on the port on the Asian continent. It is green and lush along the African side but so dry and brown on the Asian side. There is also a road that goes under the canal and here it is coming out on the Asian side. At some points along the way people shouted, whistled, and waved and we did so back when it happened.  We had a quick bite for lunch, Indian food in the Windjammer, posted the blog, and then rushed back out to watch our progress.  All too soon we are exiting the canal and entering the Gulf of Suez.  Our trip was to last until around 6pm and we came out about 2pm.  We never heard an explanation as to why but it was fine.  We watched several pilot boats leave but we missed the crew who fell from one of the boats as they had not detached the “paint line” as they were supposed to do.  The captain announced that and added that he was just fine, though wet.  It was unclear to me if it was Egyptian crew or one of ours but I think Egyptian since I believe he said “he was on his way” just fine.  John thinks it was one of our crew.  Anyway, all was well. 

It was just about 3pm so I headed off to jewelry class and some quiet time alone there.  Well, not really alone as there were a lot of women, but different company.  There was a small charge this time so fewer people and it was quite fun.  John wanted to go back to the cabin to rest.  We met up again a bit after 4pm and put a few things together for our full day trip to the Dead Sea tomorrow. 

Dinner was at a table for 8, we really couldn’t hear or talk to the people at the other end.  One couple was from Canada and one couple from New Zealand, plus Stuart and Darlene.  I had the fish and it was scrumptious!

I might not post my blog for a couple days.  We will spend the whole day tomorrow at the Dead Sea plus the very long drive there and back.  The day after that we will be gone all day as well to Petra and Wadi Rum.  Then just 3 miles away we go to the Eilat, Israel port, so we will be quite busy.  I will be doing good just to write it and post later when I can, so don’t worry Mom!  After the very busy next 3 days we will have 5 days at sea to catch up!