4/27–Suez Canal Passage

We sailed all day yesterday, out of the Gulf of Aqaba and into the Gulf of Suez.  Around midnight, we anchored outside the mouth of the Suez Canal to await our sail time.  Mickey Live approximated our entry time around 4:30 am, and we (in our craziness) want to be up on deck as we enter the canal, so we set our alarm for 4:45 thinking this would cover all our bases.

Ugh. But you know – when in the Suez Canal…..

It was an incredibly early morning, but worth it.  We stumbled out of bed and went in search of coffee, which is not exactly as easy as it sounds.  They had coffee in the buffet, but they had run out of paper cups. Eventually they found a new supply and we were good and ready to go upstairs to watch the sail in.

It was really neat – to be able to watch as we quietly left the Gulf of Suez and entered the canal, sliding noiselessly past the huge Mosque at the entrance to the canal.

We were hoping for a beautiful sunrise over the canal, but as luck would have it, it was totally cloudy that morning. So we took a few quick cloudy sunrise pictures over the desert, then headed back to the cabin and on with our day.

We hit the gym, hit the breakfast, then the balcony to watch our progression through the canal. Ed had shrewdly picked a cabin on the port side of the ship so that we could stay on our balcony and watch the Egyptian side of the canal – which was more developed and way more interesting than the Sinai side.  The Sinai Peninsula side had nothing but uninterrupted desert. Miles and miles upon miles of sand and dirt – nothing more. So we enjoyed our view of the different towns and encampments – and the many, many military installations along our route.

The Egyptian side of the canal has a wall running the entire length (yes, we spent the day quipping about templates and designs and sharing, etc.), with military lookout towers placed strategically every few kilometers or so.

There are also these odd floating dock looking structures at various intervals throughout the canal. We thought that they were possibly used as temporary docks when ships had to pull aside to let others pass, but found out that they were actually floating bridges to be used at a moments notice to allow troops and tanks to cross the canal.  Always nice to have a reminder of where you are, and the history around you!

As the day progressed, well, morning actually, we continued through the first part of the canal – with mostly the same scenery – sand, walls, military outpost, and the poignant Egypt = Peace message on a large sand dune.

Until around 8:30am we entered the Great Bitter Lake.  It was like an ocean this lake. 

It took us about an hour to sail through, and once we exited, we entered into the new canal, dug on the other side of the original canal to allow more traffic through the system.