After leaving Safaga a day's cruising got us to the pilot station at the northernmost end of the Gulf of Suez, within sight of the city of Suez itself, though when we arrived and dropped anchor after dark it wasn't at all obvious quite where anything was in the confusion of lights.
There were only three or four of us passengers (or guests as Fred Olsen prefers to call us) who got up well before dawn to see us weighing anchor about 4 am just south of Port Tawfiq at the southern end of the Suez Canal.
A confusing ring of lights surrounded our ship and it wasn't at all obvious at first which direction the entrance to the canal was. With the benefit of GPS, digital charts and radar the crew in charge of Boudicca undoubtedly knew exactly where we were and where the hundreds of ships around us were as well.
I didn't see the Suez pilot come aboard but he most certainly was as we moved northwards with, as we were to discover later, a very long convoy of 26 large ships following us. Gradually a string of green lights on marker buoys became visible marking the starboard side of our channel into this sizeable canal. They're just visible in this picture .....
The crowd had swelled to maybe ten or twelve of us as we entered the canal proper at 5 am with our gentle wake breaking up the tranquil waters ...
It was a bit too early for breakfast and there wasn't much to see anyway so I suspect most of us returned to our cabins at least until dawn, while we cruised gently northwards into and through the Great Bitter Lake:
Coming out of the Great Bitter Lake it got a little more interesting as we entered a very new stretch of the canal, only opened in 2015 which significantly enhances the canal's capacity allowing north- and south-bound convoys to pass each other over much of the length of the canal, where previously ships had to wait in the Great Bitter Lake or other wider parts.
This is the start of the new canal:
And here it is at about 25 times normal speed ...
There isn't much really of interest because the large walls of excavated material on either side of canal block any views. Where the walls are lower, the views of the Sinai Desert are not that interesting either.
Occasional things do make the transit a little more interesting such as these impressively long swing bridges (there's one in the above video)
which are usually coincident with ferries (also in the video) which, we presumed, took the traffic across during convoy operations while the swing bridges were used overnight when convoys aren't operating.
The east bank was heavily guarded with regular lookout posts and big walls much of the way. Mr. Trump might like to ask Egypt if they'd like to go and build him a wall? :-)
Some of the lookout posts were even occupied, though the majority weren't ...
Towards the northern end of the canal, where the canal is single lane again, the Murbarak Peace Bridge generated significantly more interest amongst us 'guests'. Note the vehicle scurrying along the military road on the east (right) bank, the only moving vehicle Barbara spotted all day on this road.
It's quite a big bridge and has to be high enough to not block any of the very large ships that can now use the canal. Interestingly, it was closed to traffic as we approached, possibly as an anti-terrorism measure - a large truck deliberately driven off the bridge onto a passenger ship such as ours would not only be a major disaster in its own right but potentially block the canal for days costing Egypt a significant amount in lost revenues. The canal is Egypt's biggest source of income we were told.
A view of the bridge as we headed for the exit into the Mediterranean:
The last point of interest before Port Said and our entry to the Mediterranean was another dual section where we had to actually steer something other than dead ahead
That's how interesting much of the Suez Canal was - a fork became something to photograph ...
Oh and there was some wildlife, not very much really, just a few cormorants ...
And that was it, Port Said came into view on our port side (pun not intended) ....
There were only three or four of us passengers (or guests as Fred Olsen prefers to call us) who got up well before dawn to see us weighing anchor about 4 am just south of Port Tawfiq at the southern end of the Suez Canal.
A confusing ring of lights surrounded our ship and it wasn't at all obvious at first which direction the entrance to the canal was. With the benefit of GPS, digital charts and radar the crew in charge of Boudicca undoubtedly knew exactly where we were and where the hundreds of ships around us were as well.
I didn't see the Suez pilot come aboard but he most certainly was as we moved northwards with, as we were to discover later, a very long convoy of 26 large ships following us. Gradually a string of green lights on marker buoys became visible marking the starboard side of our channel into this sizeable canal. They're just visible in this picture .....
The crowd had swelled to maybe ten or twelve of us as we entered the canal proper at 5 am with our gentle wake breaking up the tranquil waters ...
It was a bit too early for breakfast and there wasn't much to see anyway so I suspect most of us returned to our cabins at least until dawn, while we cruised gently northwards into and through the Great Bitter Lake:
Coming out of the Great Bitter Lake it got a little more interesting as we entered a very new stretch of the canal, only opened in 2015 which significantly enhances the canal's capacity allowing north- and south-bound convoys to pass each other over much of the length of the canal, where previously ships had to wait in the Great Bitter Lake or other wider parts.
This is the start of the new canal:
And here it is at about 25 times normal speed ...
There isn't much really of interest because the large walls of excavated material on either side of canal block any views. Where the walls are lower, the views of the Sinai Desert are not that interesting either.
Occasional things do make the transit a little more interesting such as these impressively long swing bridges (there's one in the above video)
which are usually coincident with ferries (also in the video) which, we presumed, took the traffic across during convoy operations while the swing bridges were used overnight when convoys aren't operating.
The east bank was heavily guarded with regular lookout posts and big walls much of the way. Mr. Trump might like to ask Egypt if they'd like to go and build him a wall? :-)
Some of the lookout posts were even occupied, though the majority weren't ...
Towards the northern end of the canal, where the canal is single lane again, the Murbarak Peace Bridge generated significantly more interest amongst us 'guests'. Note the vehicle scurrying along the military road on the east (right) bank, the only moving vehicle Barbara spotted all day on this road.
It's quite a big bridge and has to be high enough to not block any of the very large ships that can now use the canal. Interestingly, it was closed to traffic as we approached, possibly as an anti-terrorism measure - a large truck deliberately driven off the bridge onto a passenger ship such as ours would not only be a major disaster in its own right but potentially block the canal for days costing Egypt a significant amount in lost revenues. The canal is Egypt's biggest source of income we were told.
A view of the bridge as we headed for the exit into the Mediterranean:
The last point of interest before Port Said and our entry to the Mediterranean was another dual section where we had to actually steer something other than dead ahead
That's how interesting much of the Suez Canal was - a fork became something to photograph ...
Oh and there was some wildlife, not very much really, just a few cormorants ...
And that was it, Port Said came into view on our port side (pun not intended) ....
and there we were in the Mediterranean about 2:30 pm, a couple of hours earlier than expected. Alexandria next stop.
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