Day 55 - Suez Canal

We spent a good part of the evening waiting for our transit to start. We were actually going to be early to our pilot station so we slowed our speed. The captain told us that it was likely our transit wouldn't start until 3 or 4am and offered to call us when 'something interesting' was going to happen. Of course we're both too excited to sleep so we spent some time up on the bridge. I had been up there about 11pm and the sky was so clear. It's amazing when you're out in the middle of nowhere (i.e. no city lights) how many stars you see on a clear night.

Our transit didn't actually start until about 6am and I had just come on the bridge as the captain was calling my mother in the cabin. The morning was quite foggy and the early pictures didn't come out too well. The picture for today is actually of a bridge near Ismailia I believe. I'll have to wait until I perhaps have internet access to figure out where it actually goes as I forgot to ask one of the pilots. It's amazing to think that you're sailing 163km through the desert. It serves the same function as the Panama Canal but just looks and feels so different.

Just before lunch we pulled into one of the two-way bypasses (just about a third of the way through). Most of the traffic on the canal is one-way so at times you need to wait until it's your turn. We spent the afternoon doing a little shopping... well, someone did come aboard with wares to sell. I think in the end only one of the passengers bought anything. The rest of the day was spent watching ships come through in the other direction. It was actually after sunset when we pulled out and completed our voyage through the canal.