Four days at sea

Friday, April 12, 2019
Saturday, April 13, 2019
Sunday, April 14, 2019
Monday, April 15, 2019

Not just four simple days at sea, but a trip through the Suez Canal!

Where am I?

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SO, WHAT’S BEEN HAPPENING

During these days I enjoyed sailing through two stunning areas: The Suez Canal and the Strait of Messina.

To get to the Suez Canal we had to sail around the Sinai Peninsula. All along that peninsula I saw sights like this.

Yes, there’s oil everywhere around here. It’s so precious to us and our economies, even though the ways in which we use it is slowly killing us all. But, it’s not my turn to be a Debbie Downer.

OK, let’s proceed to the Suez Canal. The Suez is not like the Panama Canal inasmuch as it has no locks. The relatively flat terrain and the relatively small difference in sea level at each end allows for a lock-less transit.

The Suez Canal is much like the Panama Canal inasmuch as you must wait your turn to pass through and you must pass through slowly. Our ship arrived just south of the entrance to the canal on Friday, April 12. We anchored and spent the night at that spot while we waited for our turn to enter.

Ships enter either end in convoys, usually led by cruise ships if there are any in the convoy. At about 5:30am our convoy was formed up by the canal authorities and the Amsterdam was placed in the lead. Behind us were two more cruise ships and some number of other commercial carriers.

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You know immediately when you’ve entered the canal as things start to get rather tight. The canal is not very wide.

I mentioned that ships must pass slowly through the canal. Just how slow does a ship move when it’s transiting the canal? Well, it looks like this:

For much of the transit, we didn’t see any traffic moving in the other direction (north to south.) However, about halfway through the trip we started to see the other convoy approaching from the north. At this point there are two canals. We are in the south-to-north canal (east side) and the oncoming convoy was in the north-to-south canal (west side) which, at times, is very close to the canal we’re in and you can see the southbound ships “sailing” through the desert.

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I mentioned that, at times, the canals are not separated by much land. In fact, sometimes the two canals are this close:

I was told that, eventually, there is a plan to develop the central land that lies between the two canals and turn it into a commercial and touristic area. We’ll see how long it takes to accomplish that.

I was surprised to see small fishing boats in the canal. However, if one looks around, both banks of both canals are open to the world. They are not fenced in (though I did see a few guard stations along the way.) So, perhaps I should not have been surprised to see these guys out there trying to earn a living.

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Most of the time (it took about 8 hours to complete the transit) I just cruised along slowly, with a beer in my hand, watching the world go slowly by and thinking about being on a ship, sailing through the desert.

Once we reached the Mediterranean side of the canal, the weather changed immediately and drastically. Very quickly, the wind came up and the air temperature dropped at least ten degrees. Furthermore, from this point all the way to Naples (our next stop) we had cold, cloudy, and windy weather. I’m very glad that I packed some long-sleeve shirts, sweatshirts, and a wool coat. I really needed them!

We sailed along, mostly uneventfully, until we reached the Strait of Messina. The Strait of Messina is a narrow waterway that separates the “toe” of the “boot” of Italy from the island of Sicily. The passage is so narrow and fraught with dangers that there are ancient greek myths about the perils of making this transit.

The scenery through this strait, though, is breathtaking. Allow me to share what I could see from my balcony.

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Not long after I took those photos, the sun set and the day was over. This was our last at sea day. Tomorrow we’ll be on dry land again.

Anything else?

Of course! There’s always a little something else. Do you remember my post about the King Neptune Celebration? Remember when we crossed the equator and all first-timers (known as pollywogs) had to endure the wrath of King Neptune? You may remember that I posted a video showing some of the activities performed on the Amsterdam, including the kissing of the fish.

Well, I just came across this little bit of footage that shows that event from the perspective of the pollywogs and it’s just to hilarious not to share it with you. So, want a better idea of what it is like to be a pollywog? Here you go!

What’s coming up?

Tomorrow, I’m in Napoli, Italy. I plan to visit Pompeii.