BACKGROUND INFO:
The Suez Canal is a sea-level Egyptian waterway running between the Red Sea and Mediterranean Sea. It was completed in 1869 after 10 years of construction but has been enlarged several times since. It is now 120 miles long, 79 feet deep, and 673 feet wide. It is a single lane with passing lanes in two locations. There are no locks, as Panama Canal has, as water passes freely between the two seas. It allows transportation between Europe and Asia without ships having to sail around Africa. The average cost per ship to transit the canal is $251,000. Just like the Panama Canal, the Suez Canal runs north-south. Bet you thought they ran east-west! There are three convoys of ships transiting the canal every day. One north bound and two south bound. Spacing between the ships in convoy seems to be about 1 mile. In 2014 they expanded the canal which doubled the daily ship transits to 76 per day. There is a 9 mph speed limit to help prevent erosion of the canal banks. North bound convoys (that’s us) begin their transit from Suez at 4:00 am so as to be “synchronized” with the southbound convoys at the passing areas.
The Suez Canal is much more different than the Panama Canal. Obviously, no jungles for one thing and certainly not as humid here. Mornings are quite cool. It is hard not to notice that there is a BIG Egyptian military presence in the canal zone. We are passing several small military bases and guard shacks, of sorts, are spaced every quarter mile or so along the canal. Sometimes just one guard or may be several. Uniforms or guards do not look nearly as sharp as the US military. Some whistle as we pass by and some yell “welcome”. In my opinion the big military presence is to protect the canal from any land based terrorist attack on shipping. The last thing Egypt wants is for a ship to be sunk in the canal, blocking it. They receive around $15 million per day from the canal. Their tourist economy is pretty much dried up due to terrorist attacks being carried out in the country. Regent and other cruise lines will not stop at Alexandra, the port for Cairo, anymore. I wanted to leave our ship for two days to go see the Great Pyramids outside of Cairo but deemed it just too dangerous.
We entered the Great Bitter Lake, which is about 1/3rd of the way point of transit. There a southbound convoy was parked waiting for us to pass so they could proceed. Here we passed a small peninsula sticking out in the lake and on the end of it was what used to be the vacation home of the ex-Egyptian President, Mubarak. At 87, I think he is still in prison.
The canal cuts through the desert with the right side (Sinai side) being barren and desert-like. On the left side (Cairo side) there is a “green band” along the canal with farming and villages. In 2013 our suite was on this side. This year we are on the desert side with not much to see except sand!! The farms are quite small (5 acres each) as the government took all the land away from the wealthy land owners and divided it up. Obama would fit in well here! There is no machinery just hand labor and some donkeys. Egypt is in big trouble.
Now we are passing the city of Ismailia, which is the half way point on our transit. It is a fairly large city with a nice sized lake just south of it. This is where the Muslim Brotherhood party originated. Also located here is the “Bayonet Monument” which is a monument to the 19 day, 1973, Arab-Israeli (Yom Kippur) War.
At noon the Captain said we should reach the Mediterranean Sea around 4:00 pm. The temperature now is 73F. We passed a swing railway bridge near Ismailia, which at 1100 feet in length is the world’s longest steel swing bridge. Then when we were about ¾ of the way along the canal we went under the only bridge over the canal, the Al Salam Bridge. It was opened in 2001 and links Europe with Africa. It has a clearance over the canal of 230 feet. I am noticing a LOT more new construction going along the canal now when there was zero back in 2013.
WHAT WE DID TODAY:
Not coughing nearly as much as yesterday so hopefully I am on mend. We both went up and worked out this morning, after I had taken a few days off. Surprisingly, not many in the fitness center today.
From 11:00 to 1:00 pm there was a "Galley Brunch". I went down and walked through the galley for some photos which I will put link to at end of this post. There were all kinds of neat displays and scrumptious foods set up as you walked through the galley. I just took photos then went up to La Veranda for some fish and chips.
We will be attending an interdenominational Easter Sunday (on Saturday as we will be in port tomorrow) service at 4:15 this afternoon. The headliner entertainer show will be a pre-dinner (5:45) show this evening. It features Peter Cutler, a vocalist, pianist, and comedian from the UK. (By the way, the magician last night was good but I just do NOT care for magicians.)
The other day Donald, maitre'd up in Sette Mari, asked me why we had not been up to dine there. La Veranda buffet is turned into Sette Mari, an Italian restaurant, in the evenings. So I told him at noon today that we would come up for dinner tonight. We did not like the looks of the Compass Rose menu for tonight. We have known Donald for quite awhile as he is the most senior crew member with over 15 years working for Regent. Great guy!!
There is more construction now along the canal, but I am still using my 2013 photos. So here is the link to those photos. As a reminder, you will have to "cut and paste" the link onto an open browser. When open, left click on first photo to enlarge it and then you can see caption I wrote on left side. There is an arrow midway down left side of photo to go through photos.
https://goo.gl/photos/qcsK2vpCJYAzdiuZ8
Link to some photos taken yesterday evening and today.
https://goo.gl/photos/NL6gyr8TVs2s6sMp8
Tomorrow morning at 7:00 we should be docked in Haifa, Israel. Haifa is a two hour drive north of Jerusalem. Knowing Israeli security, I expect they will be wanting to do a face-to-face passport check with us.
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