Suez Canal, Egypt

Suez  Canal, Egypt                                         March 31, 2017

                                      WELCOME TO EGYPT.... east toward the Sinai Peninsula

                                    The beginning of the Suez Canal....city of Suez at 5:00am

Today the Amsterdam is traveling north on the Suez Canal from the Red Sea at the city of Suez to the Mediterranean Sea at Port Said.

The military ship in front of the Amsterdam

Ships following us...we were the third ship in the lineup heading towards the Mediterranean sea.

After ten years of construction work, it opened in 1869 allowing water transportation between Europe and Asia without navigation around Africa.

Passing a Mosque  in The City of Suez....

Nice home built next to the protective wall.

The canal is 121 miles long, 79 feet  deep, and 673 feet wide.

                                                         Sunrise over the Sinai Peninsula

                           Container ship passing on the other side of the sand dune....Ballah By-Pass

Incredibly it contains no locks because sea water flows freely through the canal.

Sailboats were on the Great Bitter Lake....one of the two passing zones of ships going north to south

It is basically a single lane canal with passing places at Ballah By-Pass and in the Great Bitter Lake.

An interesting fact is that the Canal north of the Bitter Lakes flows north in winter and south in summer. The current south of the lakes changes with the tide at Suez.

    

We passed under one bridge....several tunnels go under the canal and there are lots of ferries that travel from one side to the other.

                                                  A train ran beside in the canal in the north

Up to 56 ships travel through the canal daily taking an average of 15 hours traveling time. Currently the canal has revenues of 5 billion dollars a year paid to its owners, the Suez Canal Authority of the Arab Republic of Egypt.

Green fields prospered where water was available to the west of the canal.

                                 To the east was the Sinai Peninsula, a vast land of desert sand.

                                                          Great wall looking toward the Sinai Peninsula

A great wall followed the canal on both sides....with look out towers about every quarter mile....keeping this canal safe from terrorist must be an incredible job.

                                                Wall and look out tower looking toward eastern Egypt

Our journey up the Suez Canal was another great part of our adventure this year….one we will remember for a long time.

                       Sun setting over the Mediterranean Sea at the northern end of Suez Canal.