The Suez Canal

Today we sailed through the Suez Canal. It took a whole day, but not because it's such a long water way. We started into the canal at about 7am. The sides of the canal were flat and uninteresting. Here and there we saw a few buildings, but for the most part, it was a very poor looking area with undecorated buildings.

Then, just after breakfast, the ship stopped. We hear at first that the cargo ship in front of us had got stuck in the sand, so we were all excited at this unexpected 'adventure'. But no, the actual reason for the stop was that the canal is only 1 ship width wide (since it was built before today's massive cargo ships were built). This means that there is only 1 lane of traffic able to pass through the canal at a time. The ships coming from the South got to go first. We sat in the canal, looking out over the desert until 5pm this evening. Finally we were given the thumbs up, and as the sun set over the sand dunes (very lovely!) we sat in the hot tub on the top deck and watched the world slide by again.

Tomorrow, swimming in the Red Sea!