January 22nd - Suez Canal

As I write this, we have exited the Suez Canal and entering the Red Sea.  It was a beautiful sunny although cool day for the transit.  We got a notice from the ship to expect changes in this high security area.  I’ll have more on that tomorrow.

Unlike the Panama Canal, the Suez has no locks.  It is a straight shot from the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea.  Largely dug by hand and some machines available at the time, the Canal opened in 1869.  It’s been in operation since then although wars have shut it down at time.  The longest was in the 1970’s for 8 years.

It is 120 miles long and ships transit the Canal in convoys.  Today we were # 3 in a 19-ship long convoy and the only passenger vehicle.  We got a lot of stares along the way from people on shore.  I’m sure they’ve seen cruise ships before but not this time of year and maybe not one quite this big.

There is one bridge spanning the canal and we went under it in the early morning hours.  It’s called the Peace Bridge and was built with aid from Japan, unfortunately it’s not open to civilian traffic and never will be.  The Egyptian Government is too afraid of terrorism.  There are two tunnels under the canal and another two being built so the bridge is largely redundant.

Along the sides of the canal, every mile or so you see these pontoons.  These are here in case the military ever has to cross the canal.  They can be put together and vehicles can then cross.

Although the canal is mostly one way there is one section where there is two-way traffic.  It’s funny to see ships go on the other side of the ‘sand dune median’.

I’ll leave you with some pictures of our day in the Canal.  We are in Aqaba Jordan tomorrow the gateway to Petra.  Some folks we know were going to take a private tour to Petra but it’s been cancelled because of snow!  The ship’s tours are still going and they were able to get a seat with them.  Good thing, Petra is a bucket list item for a lot of people.  We’ve been to Petra before so we’re visiting the Wadi Rum area.  A desert made famous by the exploits of T.E. Lawrence, better known as Lawrence of Arabia.