Suez Canal…or how little we really knew!
Every picture we had ever seen of the Suez Canal showed giant ships sailing past miles of sand.
Nothing is further from the truth for the majority of this passage through Egypt!
The passage started with an overnight anchorage at the southern entrance to the Suez. With so many other vessels at anchor around us it looked like a party was taking place! It would have been treacherous if someone slipped their anchorage (didn’t happen)!
We were up at the crack of dawn so as not to miss anything. One ship after another – a great distance apart – we started the day long trek.
Thinking it was going to be all sand, it was a great delight to see a city stretching for miles – ahead and abeam. We couldn’t even guess the population – just miles of housing, farms, businesses, mosque minarets, and daily life. Close up daily life!
There was, to be sure, a great military presence along the banks. Guardhouses protected soldiers with automatic guns (I am ignorant of guns so do not know what kind). But the soldiers would waive while their companions took pictures of them with the QM2 as the backdrop.
One particular event stands out. While using the binoculars I fixed on a small, rather decrepit farm with small buildings and a couple of cows and goats standing around. While I watched an old woman led a donkey from one of the buildings. She then threw a few sacks of something over its back, climbed on and, using a small stick, tapped at the donkey and I could see her riding toward the village just beyond the farm.
I hope this will stick in my mind for a long time.
The Suez Canal has been expanded. The Livingston Channel in the lower Detroit River is a good comparison of what is happening for a good stretch of the Suez with the hope it will increase revenue as more and more ships pass through. There are bridges being built to make it easy to cross to the Sinai, and lots of ferry stops for cars/trucks to cross now. There is one bridge already in place. More expansion of the world!
For a long time we watched a highway that ran parallel along the Canal. We did eventually reach the stretch of sand, and that became a pretty dismal stretch of industry as we approached Port Said and the Mediterranean.
Funny thing: A couple of Egyptian vendors were allowed on board to sell Egyptian souvenirs to us passenger during our trip through the Suez, lol. The craziest stuff, and I peeked and bought, too. Post cards and a poster. Hahahaha.
The Suez Canal was exhilarating and one of the highlights of this great learning experience.
QM2 2018 World Tour 