Our Suez Canal Transit

On April 2 we spent 12 hours sailing in the Suez Canal- actually we spent more time than that. We were to begin at 7:00 and it does take 12 hours to go from the city of Suez to the city of Port Said, but the convoy was about 4 hours late getting started. WE were number 6 and we followed the ship in front very carefully.

There are no locks on this canal; because the water levels are the same, but it is a one way passage with a couple spots where ships can wait for the other direction convoy to pass. Each day there are 2 convoys of about 20 ships that pass north to south and one that gose south to north. It costour ship $300,000 to travel the distance. This canal is the major income generator for Egypt- 22 million dollars a day. Tourism is their second industry.

The canal has functioned since 1869. There is a tunnel under the canal but as the commentator said, "It leaks water, which causes problems." Thought that was quite an understatement.

We were amazed that from the portside of the ship which is on the African continent we saw lovely resorts, residential neighborhoods, commercial buildings and from the starboard side which is on the continent of Asia we saw desert, remains of buildings, lots and lots of military outposts and much sand. In the 1967 - 6 Day War- the canal was closed and did not reopen until 1975. There was also fierce fighting in 1973. There has been a UN Peacekeeping Force stationed in the Sinai Peninsula since 1974. We saw friendly guys waving at us from the shore about every 1/4 mile along the way. It was a facinating day.