The Suez Canal

We made it to the mouth of the Suez Canal two days ago having been escorted by (we believe) a submarine.  This is pure conjecture but after watching what I believe to have been a narrow wake from a periscope or radio mast for several hours, with no other explanation, I think it is a fair one.  We were to anchor and refuel overnight prior to joining a convoy the following day.  However, about 10pm Captain Pickford addressed the ship to tell us we would now be navigating the Canal in darkness and we would awake in the Mediterranean.  Many people were a little annoyed by this, as transiting the Suez was to be a highlight of the cruise along with the Egyptian ports. The people who are doing the Sydney to Rome sector only have now missed all of their sector highlights.   The CD (Mark) didn't help when he announced that we couldn't go the next day because a tug had sunk in the Canal making it impassible, so that's why we were going now!  If you can see a problem with that message, you are not alone.

Well we woke the following morning to find ourselves anchored in Bitter Lake about to join the convoy heading north on the second section of the Canal so this saved the day.  

Barron sandy desert on one side with lush green pastures (part of the way) on the other.  There was a very strong military presence along the full length of the Canal with soldiers being posted to guard sand dunes about every two hundred meters.  What a job that must be, standing there all day in full sun with little of no respite.  I did wonder why they were there but it was probably just a show of strength given the current circumstances.

We even passed a partly submerged Tug Boat!!!

On entering the Med we took on fuel and are now heading toward Crete where we will (at last) touch ground tomorrow.  This means that since leaving the Maldives we have now had 9 sea days, including the day in the Suez.   As a result our small group has informally renamed the ship the Flying Princess, in recognition of the Flying Dutchman that never made a port.  Captain Pickford has now asked us to minimise water usage!  At least we're not rationing the food just yet.