Suez Canal Thursday, February 20, 2020
The NCL Spirit left the dock around 11:00am.
We could see the magnificent Bahia Gardens on the hillside.
We entered the Suez Canal the next morning at Port Said, Egypt sailing down it until mid afternoon...at around 8 knots. The canal is 120 miles long. It saves ships many, many miles from having to go from the Indian Ocean around Africa to the Atlantic. The color of the water was a clear aqua.
A tug boat followed us through the canal. This canal has no lock system with water flowing freely through it. A surprising detail about the canal....the waters north of the Bitter Lake flows north in the winter and south in the summer. South of the lake the current changes with the tide at Suez.
We passed by several homes on the western side.....
as well as military compounds.
Fishermen were abundant....all rowing....not a motor one.
Great Britain and France owned the canal until July, 1956 when the president of Egypt, Gamel Abdul Nasser, nationalized his country. This led to the Suez Canal crisis and in November, 1956 the Suez Canal Authority of Egypt started maintaining it.
The land bordering the canal where there was irrigation present were fertile and green.
Guard posts were stationed about every mile or so and a high wall ran along most of the canal.
The construction of the canal took place in 1859 and was opened in 1869.
The eastern side of the canal was vast sand dunes.
These floaters were stationed periodically along the canal to place in the water to construct an instant bridge for crossing to the other side.
Evidence of both the rich and the not so rich lived along the eastern portion of the canal.
After passing through the Ballah Pass and Great Bitter Lake went sailed by Port Tewfik, the most southern city on the canal. It was interesting to know that our ship was one of the 47 ships that sailed the Suez Canal today. During our time on the canal, we only spotted container ships and petroleum refinery ships. In 2019....17,225 ships traversed the canal.
The NCL Spirit left the dock around 11:00am.
The Israel Navy put on quite a show for us as we sailed out of the harbor back into the Mediterranean.
We entered the Suez Canal the next morning at Port Said, Egypt sailing down it until mid afternoon...at around 8 knots. The canal is 120 miles long. It saves ships many, many miles from having to go from the Indian Ocean around Africa to the Atlantic. The color of the water was a clear aqua.
A tug boat followed us through the canal. This canal has no lock system with water flowing freely through it. A surprising detail about the canal....the waters north of the Bitter Lake flows north in the winter and south in the summer. South of the lake the current changes with the tide at Suez. 
Fishermen were abundant....all rowing....not a motor one.
Great Britain and France owned the canal until July, 1956 when the president of Egypt, Gamel Abdul Nasser, nationalized his country. This led to the Suez Canal crisis and in November, 1956 the Suez Canal Authority of Egypt started maintaining it.
The eastern side of the canal was vast sand dunes.
These floaters were stationed periodically along the canal to place in the water to construct an instant bridge for crossing to the other side.
Evidence of both the rich and the not so rich lived along the eastern portion of the canal.
No comments:
Post a Comment