Suez Canal

Today we transited a big 140 mile long, 75 foot deep water filled ditch called the Suez Canal. On the west side of the canal there are many villages and cities along the bank. Beyond civilization, there is 2,000 miles of the Sahara Desert ending at the Atlantic Ocean. To the east, is 100 miles of the Sinai Desert. The history of the canal is long and involved, and suffice to say there were many cooks stirring the pot -- the French, British, Turks and Israelis.

The Frenchman, Ferdinand de Lesseps, proposed the canal, and in 1859 work was started. He is the same guy who started the Panama Canal project. Egypt now runs and maintains the canal and charges a lot of money for transit; our ship cost $450,000 for a one way trip. There are two lakes within the canal and ships hold up waiting their turn to go as traffic can only go one direction at a time. THERE ARE NO LOCKS. The land is flat as a pancake. The canal claims the world’s longest trundle bridge and the world’s highest suspension bridge. There are guard towers running the length of the canal on both sides.

I don’t have too much to say about the canal itself or of the transit (which was at slow speed and took most of the day). I will, however, mention the Egyptian guide who gave us a slanted and fabricated history in politics in regard to Israel. What she said was so far fetched, but with incredible audacity began to antagonize the audience with outright lies and wishful scenarios about how Egypt defeated Israel in the 1967 and 1973 wars. Many people got up and left, others were angry. It made the whole experience less enjoyable because we were there to experience the canal, not listen to political BS. Her anti-Israel bias was so evident; Moshe was such a gentleman about the whole thing and after she left, people came over to him and asked about the real story behind the Egypt/Israel relationship.

Otherwise, an unremarkable day at sea. I did have to play bridge with Michael, and oops, forgot a few basics. Bad me.

Today is Isabelle’s fourth birthday party and I am terribly sad about missing it. I hope she still remembers who we are.