After dinner we saw the show which was Thom Peterson, The Amazing Guy, who is both a comedian and magician. He was very entertaining and both Myrna and Don were part of the show. Evelyn will no longer set in the front row anymore, so our stage days are done. It's a two way issue, remember you cannot leave early when you sit in the first row and you just never know.
This morning we a woke with the ship in the Canal. We began our passage at 2:30am. It takes about 16 hours to reach the end. We are in a convoy with 22 ship, of which we are number 21. It appears that a lot of the ships in the convoy are container ships. So far I have only seen one cruise ship and I'm not sure about that one.
We are now anchored in Bitter Lake, it is 10:30 am. This is where the northbound convoy passes and the southbound convoy waits. Once all the northbound convoy is anchored in the lake the southbound ships create a new convoy and proceed south. Now we are first continuing south. The Canal and the lake are saltwater and we have seen a number of local small fishing boats. Mostly the land along the Canal is sand, with a number of security buildings and a small number of houses. Mostly sand. In some areas back from the Canal the vegetation is green, but mostly no color at all.
The Suez has a very different feel from the Panama. You can occasionally see villages in the distance and palms and vegetation.
It is much warmer today, but not hot. They are some clouds, but mostly blue sky.
As i mentioned above we weighed anchor at 11:30am and we are now number one in the convoy and will clear the Canal at about 3:15 pm.
Lake Bitter seems to also be a resort area, some beaches and nice housing along the shore line.
Flies are beginning to be a problem and there is a smell in the air somewhat like a stockyard. Maybe the two go together. Thankfully the smell didn't last long. The flies on the other hand drove us from the deck to one on the interior lounges.
We have decided to try the dinning room for lunch. Everyone liked the food in the dinning room, but I'm sure they have the same items in the buffet.
Evelyn and I are relaxing by the pool, which is saltwater, while Don and Myrna are playing bridge. While enjoying bridge I also like to do other things. We can play bridge every other day while at sea.
This southern half of the Canal is much more populated with real cities along the shore. The Suez Canal is the longest saltwater canal at sea level without the use of locks. It's approximately 190 kilometers long.
We have reached the City of Suez, at the south end of the canal, in the recorded time of 12 hours. We are just passing a beautiful mosque along the port.
We are now sailing in the Gulf of Suez in the Red Sea. Tomorrow we dock in Sharem El-Sheikh which is at the tip of the Sinai Peninsula.
Sent from my iPad
Hal
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