Preparing for the HRA and the Suez

After we got back to the ship yesterday we got a notice that we were to have at 5:15 PM, just after we sailed from Israel, a guest and crew drill because we were passing through an area known as the High Risk Area (HRA) for Piracy and we were using an International Transit Corridor.  We will be sailing through the Suez Canal, the Red Sea, and the Gulf of Aden.

There are three levels of this alert. At a “Code Yellow” announcement we are to be certain to close the curtains of our cabin and keep off all unnecessary lights. At a “Code Orange” we are to open the door of our cabin and move to the interior of the ship and with the “Code Red” alert we are to turn off all lights, move to the interior and lie down on the floor. The Captain….Master of Seven Sea Voyager… Gianmario Sanguineti sounded very serious through all of this drill. We practiced them all including the ship speeding up at the Red Alert

Since the Launderette is across the hall from our cabin we chose to go there instead of getting on the floor for the Red Alert.

We did a Suez Canal transit in 2005 and there was no drill like this at all. Wilbert, our Cabin Steward, has been on board since 2008 and he said these drills happen every time the ship goes through the Suez.

It really seemed to be more of a drill for the crew but we all participated except the lady in the laundry doing her wash. We do know how hard it can be to get access to the washer and dryer and she was not to be dissuaded by pirates or anything else.

Early on the morning of Wednesday, November 20^th we sailed southwest to commence our transit of the Suez Canal. I was up at 6:00 to watch the process. The air was foggy or smoky so the first photos were no so hot. Along the way were apartments and small houses. There were small boats everywhere and several ferries crossing the water taking people to work. 

The Suez Canal, located in Egypt, is 101 miles long and connected the Mediterranean with the Gulf of Suez, a northern branch of the Red Sea. It officially opened in November 1869.

There is a long history of interest in connecting both the Nile River in Egypt and the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea. It is believed that the first canal in the area was constructed between the Nile River delta and the Red Sea in the 13^th century BCE. During the 1000 years following the construction, the original canal was neglected and its use finally stopped in the 8^th century.

The first modern attempts to build a canal came in the late 100s when Napoleon Bonaparte conducted an expedition to Egypt. He believed that building a French controlled canal on the Isthmus of Suez would cause trade problems for the British as they would either have to pay dues to the French or continue shipping goods overland. As he began to plan

a miscalculation of the difference of the sea levels indicated it would be too difficult to construct this.

The next attempt was in the mid-1800s when a French diplomat convinced an Egyptian Viceroy to support the building of a canal. In 1858 the Universal Suez Ship Canal Company was formed and given the right to begin construction and operate it for 99 years. Construction began in 1859 and the canal opened in 1869 at a cost of $100 million.

The canal has been a pawn in many of the conflicts and political disputes around the area.

I got up at 6:00 and watched the early sailing. The air is really smoky and so not so pleasant on the balcony. We sailed by apartment complexes and small flat roofed houses. There were many, many boats in the water filled with men rowing as hard as they could. Several of them waved at our ship.

We sailed first for about 4 hours and the stopped in a holding area to let the northbound traffic pass us by. Then we were off again sailing south. The whole transit took about 12 hours. The captain said the traffic was very light today. The canal is not wide enough for two ships to pass beside each other so this holding area is needed.

Unlike the Panama Canal where a system of locks makes the sea level get balance, the Suez has no locks because the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea’s Gulf of Suez have approximately the same water level. It takes about 12 hours for the transit.

It is really strange to sit and watch  the commercial freighters sailing through what appears to be sand as they make their way north to the Mediterranean.

Otherwise today, Wednesday, November 20^th has been a lazy and relaxed time of sailing and waiting.