22 June
7.30am - We entered the canal at 5.30 am, half an hour early. We are part of a convoy of 28 ships going northbound and in the middle, at the Bitter Lakes, we will pass the soutbound convoy.. Because we're a passenger ship, we get to go first and there are supposed to be two passenger ships following us. There were lots of ships anchored waiting to join the convoy so I suppose we had assigned positions.The man who does the port lectures says that we won't be wanting to observe the transit for very long because it's boring and not nearly as interesting as Panama. I think it's very interesting and one of the main reasons I came on this cruise. There are quite strong winds blowing when we go through our 'secret door' on Deck 11 to get to the bow and there is a lot of sand blowing, visibility is probably down to 300 metres at the moment and although the sun has risen, we can't see it.
8.30am – Had to come in to get out of the sun. Can still see from the balcony but all the interesting stuff is on the port side and we're starboard. We've just passed through Great Bitter Lake and passed the southbound convoy which is anchored, waiting. It is still extremely windy but the visibility has cleared although there is still a lot of sand. It can be felt on everything and my camera was starting to feel gritty.
10.30 – We had a drink for Eddie today as we went through Ismalia – For those who don't know, Eddie, our neighbour across the road, was stationed at Ismalia during WWII. He said that there wouldn't be much to see but it is a HUGE city. So we raised our glasses (champagne of course) to you Eddie.
What an extraordinary day!!! Certainly one of the experiences of my life. Will post some more photos when I get time. We're coming in to Port Said now. Have to get organised to go ashore and also be organised for tomorrow.
We dock in Port Said at 4.00.this afternoon and originally we weren't going to be allowed ashore but now we can stay ashore until midnight so we'll probably do a quick run around town. We have to be ready to go tomorrow at 6.45am for the pyramids.
Find it on Domain.com.au Need a new place to live?
No comments:
Post a Comment