The Suez Canal

Wednesday 09 November – Passage through the Suez Canal. I’ve always had thoughts of going through the Panama Canal, possibly on a dedicated cruise. But I never thought I’d be going through the Suez Canal, and there are many people on the ship who were just as excited as I was when they found out that the itinerary included going through the canal.

I had no idea what to expect; there were several people saying the entrance was “over here,” or “over there.” Our entrance time was stated as 1 AM. We entered the Suez Canal at Port Said at around 2 AM (it’s difficult to tell exactly where it begins), and I went to bed about a half hour later.

Leading the single-line convoy from the northern entrance heading south, we arrived at Great Bitter Lake around 8:45 AM, we dropped anchor to allow the incoming ships to make their way in from the southern entrance, and then we pulled anchors and left the Great Bitter Lake around 10:45 AM. We were second in line this time as we followed a very small passenger ship (Clipper Odyssey) in the convoy out the Southern mouth of the canal, exiting around 2:30 PM.

We were now in the Gulf of Suez heading SSE around the tip of Saudi Arabia to make a “left turn to go visit Jordan and Israel.

NOTE: Rather than posting photos on this page, I am putting them on the “Photos: Barcelona – Dubai NOV 2011” on the right side of the blog. By putting them there, they should be easier to find. Let me know if you prefer it that way.

Some interesting observations (okay, they were interesting to me; you tell me if they are interesting to you or not): there were many ships at anchor apparently awaiting their turn to enter the canal, and since we did not see a long line following us, the ships must be waiting for clearance “papers,” a different day, etc.; we saw many very small boats fishing in the 103-mile canal; the Egyptian side was far more developed than the Saudi side; many people waved to us, even the military personnel with the rifles (I was later told that only about 3 cruise ships transit the canal each year, so it is a novelty to see us go by).