“If you knew Suez, like I know Suez, oh, oh what a canal!”
That’s how Stephen, the cruise director likes to introduce any of the talks on the Suez Canal. Today, not long before day break we entered it and spent most of the day gently cruising down this Egyptian controlled waterway.
What an experience it was.
It was our first look at the Sinai desert, which was the side of the canal our cabin faced. The other side is the Egyptian side, although the Sinai also belongs to Egypt. This was sunrise over the Sinai Desert…
Egypt controls access to the Suez Canal. They line up a convoy of 8 ships and you go through one after the other with about a mile apart. Tugs are placed along the way. This was our tug…
One of the dominant features along the way is the Freedom Bridge. Paid for by Japan, it was intended to unite Israel and Egypt. However, that didn’t work and now this massive bridge traverses the Canal but is not used….
Fishermen abound along the canal…..
They seem to like large ships going past and as soon as one approaches, they row vociferously towards the back of the ship. We guess they have greater success in catching fish in the wake of the vessel. They get some fishing done before the next ship goes by….see the circle below…that’s a fishing boat…
The Sinai desert – described in the Bible as vast and dangerous,
Deuteronomy 8:15
He was the one who led you through that vast and dangerous desert-a thirsty and arid land, with poisonous snakes and scorpions.
We saw miles and miles of sand and sand dunes…
Egypt has control of the Sinai desert and so all along that side it has watch towers and patrol posts. There were many settlements and even a largish town or two along the way…
Naturally, for all on the ship it was fascinating and people gathered all around the decks to observe all the activities and new sights….
On the Egyptian side there were several orchards and fields of crops, although we have no idea of what they were growing…otherwise it was pretty arid.
Another feature of the 193km canal is the largest swing bridge in the world. It is being upgraded so not in use at the moment, but looks pretty impressive…
Mike and I headed for the gym which is at the front of the ship and the gym view is the best….
This is the back view with the rest of the convoy…
One of the things that I must remember to say is that the internet has been down for most of the day. They said when we hit these parts and in the Indian Ocean its reliability drops. It becomes more intermittent and slow, so I am not sure if I will get too many blogs up.
Tomorrow is a huge day for us. We are due to dock in Eilat, Israel at 9am. We will be taken to a nearby airport and fly to Tel Aviv where will do a brief coach tour there before being taken to Jerusalem. After spending the day in Jerusalem, we are going by coach back to the ship. Mike and I have never been to Israel so this is a big day for us.
# 444 of my 1000 thanks is that when I slipped on the deck yesterday, I suffered nothing more than a bruise on my elbow….it was early morning and the staff were clearing the water on the deck. They had a sign up – I was in slip on sandals and did a really good slipping act, sliding across the deck and coming a cropper on my rear….fortunately I have good padding! LOL.
These are the days!
Keep the smile going.
God bless you!
In His Grip,
Helga xx 🙂