Suez Canal and At Sea on the Red Sea

Quick note: I am sending my journal using an old AOL account that I keep active for just such emergencies.  The ship's new Internet provider will not give me the ISPs smtp (Standard Mail Transfer Protocol) so I can't send my reports with my Charter account using Outlook.  The previous provider always did and while I was coming over on the QM2 they still, but not here.  They claim it's a security risk but that just isn't true so I don't know why the change in policy, but there it is.

 

The only reason I mention it is that some of you are sending me messages by using the Reply button on the email you receive.  This AOL account is so old, and I give it out to all the businesses that want an email address but have no real need for one, that it gets a large volume of junk mail.  I don't have the time or energy to sort through it looking for the very few I might like to read.

 

PLEASE SEND ANY COMMENTS TO ME USING MY CHARTER EMAIL ADDRESS.  THAT'S THE ONLY WAY I WILL BE SURE TO GET THEM.   Back to travel.

 

Jan 20 – At Sea on the Med.  Welcome to the wonderful world of the vagaries of travel.  (Like the one mentioned above.) Yesterday we cut our visit to Piraeus an hour short because the Suez Canal Authority (Now under the complete control of Egypt) said we had to be in the holding area by 7:30pm today to get into tomorrow's south bound convoy.  So the captain sails at almost full speed, wasting untold tons of diesel fuel to get here at that time.  It is now 9pm and the captain just announced that we will form up for the convoy at 5:30PM tomorrow.  So after leaving Athens early and wasting fuel hurrying here we will wait almost 22 hours to get into the canal.  You would think they would be more organized.  This sort of thing never happens at the Panama Canal, a much more complex system.  After all the Suez Canal does not even have locks.  It's just a straight sail.  Obviously planning more than a few hours ahead is not a priority.

 

Today was a regular day at sea.  The only difference was one of the ship's staff, Location Specialist Caroline, performed Tsifteteli Greek Belly dancing at the Lido Pool over lunch.  She is actually very skilled, not to mention she had the zaftig figure required to make the dance authentic.  It was clear that she was enjoying herself as much as we were enjoying watching.

 

Dan Jones gave a presentation on Viscount Admiral Lord Nelson, one of my heroes.  Like George Patton, Douglas MacArthur and other brilliant military leaders, he was a difficult man outside of combat but marvelously innovative and daring when fighting.  Dan captured him in exactly the way I have come to know him.  It was as excellent presentation.

 

We were entertained by Paul Fredericks this evening.  He performed music from shows but also some '60s favorites.  You've probably heard his voice.  Do you remember 'Winchester Cathedral' by the New Vaudeville Band?  That was Paul doing the megaphone style singing.  He sang 'Young Girl' and then asked us who sang it and what year was it released.  Almost everyone said Gary Puckett and The Union Gap and 1968.  The year was correct but when the song came out it was just The Union Gap.  Gary didn't get separate billing until their first album was issued in 1969.  I actually saw them perform live at El Camino College in 1969.  I almost hate to admit it but I was a huge fan and really liked their sound.  In fact, I still do.  He closed the show with a Roy Orbison medley.  Started out with 'Anything You Want' and ran through six more including 'Only the Lonely', before bowing and leaving the stage.  He got a good round of applause and came back to sing the song everyone expected to be in the medley, 'Pretty Woman'.  That got another good round of applause.  We'd seem him before and knew we liked him.

 

Jan 21 – Sitting in the Harbor Waiting to Covoy South.  It seems odd to be anchored this close to land and not going ashore.  There are lots of ships waiting with us; some were here when we got here.  Before the sun was up too long to create the photochemical smog that plagues this area, I could see at least 29 ships.  Now that the sun has been up for 2 hours I can only see 7.

 

Well we have some new information this morning.  Our convoy's start time has not changed but our late start will probably make it impossible to get to our next port, Safaga, Egypt, on time tomorrow.  HAL is in the process of trying to change our stop on the 22^nd to the 23^rd.  This is complicated as we don't have reserved port space then and the buses and guides have not been scheduled for the 23^rd either.  Switching all that is a large task and will take some time.  We will be given updates on the new schedule as the information becomes available.  It's the domino effect, when one falls it starts a chain reaction.  The only saving grace is that between Safaga and our next port we have 6 days at sea to make up for the delay.  Hopefully, this won't affect the rest of the cruise.

 

There was a regular sea day schedule of presentations today.  Seems a bit odd as we're standing still.  One of the staff, Caroline, the belly dancer, has lived in Cairo for 15 years.  She gave up a fairly normal life to move to Cairo to study belly dancing, got a job there and just stayed.  She gave a presentation on the daily life and some of the customs of Egyptians.  It's the only presentation I attended.

 

Near 4pm I heard a change in the diesel engines.  They have some running all the time to keep the ship powered but when we are getting ready to get underway they start a few more.  I think they have five, four larger and one smaller they refer to as the emergency generator.  Basically all the diesels are generators; the props are driven by electric motors.

 

During dinner the captain announced the final arrangements for the next two days.  We will be 'at sea' tomorrow and arrive at the time originally scheduled in Safaga except one day later.  All the tours will remain the same so we don't have to change tickets.  I'm pretty sure someone (or several people) worked very hard to get everything arranged, dock space, busses and guides, lunch (the tours are long and include at least one meal) and all the other details involved in operating excursions off the ship.

 

A short while later we were underway.  The sun was setting fast and we're a little way from the canal entrance so I didn't think we'd make it by dark.  We were just at the breakwater heading into the canal when the sun was gone and darkness set in.  The exterior lighting on the ship bleeds overboard so you could still see the sandbank that lines the canal long into the night.  After dinner I went up to the topmost deck where there's little light and took a peak at the star.  Many were clearly visible but it was not dark enough to see the expanse of the Milky Way.  Orion was directly overhead.  We're not quite far enough south to see the Southern Cross.

 

Graffiti Classics were (was) back tonight.  (I love the way Americans and the English handle collectives differently.)  As someone once said, "We are two nations divided by a common language."  Their second show was also great.  The skill I admire most is how they manage to play difficult instruments while hopping, dancing and generally dashing around the stage.