15 & 16 November - sea day and Suez Canal

Spent the 15th heading towards Port Said.  We arrived there in the afternoon as expected and the first thing we have to do is wait, as ships go through the canal in convoy starting early in the morning.

The captain said he didn't know exactly when we'd start - maybe 4am.  As it happens the ships thrusters woke me a bit after 3am and we got up, but really not a lot exciting happened - basically all the ships just got lined up in position to start.

This is one of the first 'almost daytime' shots; we're already in the canal here.  The two little boats immediately behind us are tug boats, and the ship behind them is one of the other two cruise ships in this convoy - the Norwegian Jade.  

 

The other cruise ship is in front of us - it's a much smaller ship called the Ocean Dream that's not with any of the mainstream cruise lines.  However, in another life it was the Pacific Star - a P&O ship based in Brisbane. 

Altogether today there were 22 ships in our south-bound convoy and 42 ships in today's north-bound convoy.

Early shot of the canal, somewhere near the northern end

Tuk Tuk - heading along the highway faster than the ship

Bridge that can be opened across the canal

The canal now separates into two lanes here, so the northbound and southbound convoys can pass each other

Sinai - the port side southbound - generally much drier than the 'Egypt' side

Lots of ferries that duck across between ships

And another swinging bridge - you can see it's not ready to be used yet

A few of the ships behind us

And two going in the other direction

Not all the ships using the canal are huge

First, the start of a long line-up of trucks waiting to use another opening bridge. Then, others at the same place were using a ferry but I suppose the ones waiting for the bridge were just too big for the ferry:

Out of the canal, looking back at one of the container carriers still making its way around the last corner at Port Suez:

Next stop is Aqaba, with another sea day in between.  We had another small diversion overnight - another medical evacuation to a city in Egypt, but we're now well on our way to Jordan.