The Suez Canal is an artificial sea-level canal running
north to south across the Isthmus of Suez in Egypt and linking the Red Sea with
the Mediterranean. It was built from 1854 to 1869 by de Lesseps with French and
Egyptian capital and was nationalized in 1956 by the Egyptians. It’s 101 miles
long.
The canal separates the African continent from Asia, and it
provides the shortest maritime route between Europe and the lands lying around
the Indian and western Pacific oceans. It is one of the world's most heavily
used shipping lanes.
The canal is single lane with passing places in Ballah
By-Pass and in the Great Bitter Lake. There are some areas where it is now 2
lane traffic and at one point it splits and we took the right fork while the
left fork went closer to Port Said. A railway on the west bank runs parallel to
the canal for its entire length.
A lot has changed with the canal since we were here 4 years
ago. It was very interesting to see the growth and construction going on.
Captain JP came on and said we had the honor of being in the
number 1 spot in the convoy through the Canal. While it was an “honor” to be
number one, it meant we started the transit in the dark. Greg got up and put
the Go Pro out on the balcony around 4:30. I didn’t get up too early, but with
the drapes open I could see the banks of the canal as we passed by. It was also
cold out. So, I put on Jeans and a Sweater and went out on deck after breakfast
to watch the canal go by. There were a lot of guard towers all manned and we
saw many weapons, military vehicles, fishing boats, ferries take
passengers/cars across to the other side and just a lot of activity with
construction.
I think there were around 30 ships in the convoy and we were
the only passenger ship. We passed
Little Bitter Lake, Great Bitter Lake, Deversoir Bypass, Jabal Mary Am War
Memorial, Lake Timsah and Ismaillia, Suez War Memorial, El Ferdan Railway
Bridge (the longest swing span bridge in the world), Al Ballah By-pass, Suez
Canal Bridge (also known as Egyptian-Japanese Friendship Bridge) and El Qantara
Strait. Part way we exchanged captains and then after Port Said the captain got
off. By 2:45 we had left the Canal and we are now in the Mediterranean Sea on
our way to Rhodes, Greece.
Holland America's Amsterdam behind us as we transit the canal
see the guys face in the hole?
We did take a break for lunch in the “slow” part before
watching us pass under the Friendship Bridge.
these are made for the pigeons so they don't nest in places they shouldn't
long line of vehicles waiting to cross
After we finished the transit it was time for Bingo which
was in the afternoon today to work it around the canal viewing. I finally broke
my losing streak and won $70.00. Bringing our collective total to $2,365.00
Then, there was a passenger talent show which we stayed to
watch since our Bingo Buddy Leonard was doing his card tricks. Only 3 people
volunteered to perform. Besides Leonard there was a guy who sang and a bagpipe
player. Leonard was really good!
The show tonight was a repeat of a production show called
Can’t Stop the Music. It was a good show, but we saw it just a couple of weeks
ago. We were told that this new troupe would have 18 new shows. One of the male
dancers was injured in the last show they did.
We lose an hour of sleep tonight to match the time in
Rhodes. UGH. Much nicer to gain time than lose it, but sometimes it has to be
done.
We have one more Sea Day to enjoy before our 8 ports in a
row……
