Suez Canal in the dark again.

5949 This is the picture I took using Canon's 'Night Shot' function.  It must manipulate the pixels because I couldn't see the boat that clearly with my eyes.  The only light was being reflected from the deck lights.

5952 This is the port on the Egyptian side at the southern entrance to the Suez Canal as you approach it.

5955 The sand you see in the foreground is the Egyptian side of the canal.  The other side is the Sinai Desert, also Egypt, and has a lot more sand and no buildings.

5959 This is Messina, Italy as we are approaching the Messina Strait.  Cloudy and rainy.

5978 This it the tower that holds the electric lines going to Sicily from the mainland.  There's a twin tower on the mainland side.  So, you say, what's the big deal?  I've seen plenty of those.  Well, in design, yes but in height, probably not.  At the left base of the tower you can see a short cylinder with black and white stripes.  That's a pretty tall lighthouse.  Gives you some scale for the tower.  Those houses by the trees in the foreground are three stories tall and they are much closer to me than the lighthouse and tower.

6003 & 6008 are both a rainbow over Naples.  You can see all the color stripes from red to violet.  I couldn't decide which showed it best so I sent both.

 

March 24 – At Sea-Red Sea.  Today we are headed for the Suez Canal.  Coming south we had to transit the canal at night so those who had never been through were disappointed.  This time we're hoping for a daylight transit.  D and I have been through in the daylight and after a while it's pretty boring.  One grain of sand looks pretty much like another.  I stayed out all day and did see some military equipment and occasionally something of interest but most people went inside after an hour or so.  It was pretty hot when we came through on that trip.

 

We just got the word that we will be joining a convoy north through the Suez tonight.  We will start out in darkness but will exit the other end while it's light.  I went outside while we were entering the canal.  Actually, although you don't see much detail, the lights of the facilities and factories is much prettier in the darkness.  I used a feature of my camera that I hadn't used before, Night Shot.  It's pretty amazing.  You take the photo and the screen goes blank while the processor takes guesses at what each pixel should look like and then renders the photo.  I took a picture of the canal's pilot boat in the total darkness.  The only light was from the Rotterdam's deck lights.  In the photo I can see the ship better than I could with my eyes.  I'll have to find more applications for this setting.

 

Our entertainment was Journey South, a pair of Englishmen from the North of England.  For some reason they call people from that area Jordies (sp?).  They do have a distinctive accent and way of talking.  It does not sound as sophisticated as the typical English accent and I'm given to understand that Londoner's and the people of the south look on them are hicks.  I have to admit that their use of verbs and plurals is not standard English either British or American.

 

They were excellent.  Good mix of music and very good voices.

 

March 25 – Through the Suez Canal and At Sea on the Mediterranean Sea.  We did come out of the canal while it was light.  Everyone was pleased with that.  Early breakfast in the Lido was very crowded as all the canal watchers came straight to breakfast after we cleared Port Saied. 

 

The Med is a bit stirred up at the moment.  The gale force winds are creating some rollers, breaking waves and the accompanying white caps.  We're taking the swell and wind from the stern so you hardly notice that it's rough. 

 

After two months of very hot weather it's 51˚F outside and everyone but me is freezing.  I get some strange looks when I'm outside taking pictures in shorts and shirt.  This is my kind of weather.

 

Our next port will be Naples.  And HAL has approved getting into port early, around 5PM on the 27^th and making it an overnight stay.  That increases their port fees quite a bit because instead of being at the pier for 8 hours they will be docked for 25 hours.  It's partly to make up for the nighttime passage through the Suez but they had no choice in that.  The Canal Authority controls when you go through.  It's a nice idea though.  Naples has great food and going out for a late supper sounds like a good deal. 

 

We had lunch with Debbie and Kees today.  Dinner was such a success that we had to have an encore.  D and I hadn't eaten lunch in the dining room in years.  It was nice but I prefer to see the food I'm selecting.  Helps me avoid the excess carbs because if they make it onto my plate, I'll eat them.

 

Our entertainment was La Musica, a husband and wife duo who sing popular music, Selene Dion, Michael Bouble (sp?), Whitney Houston, etc.  He also plays piano on some of the songs.  They are very talented and the show was great.

 

March 26 –At Sea on the Mediterranean Sea.  Pretty routine day today.  I finished writing about Petra but was unable to send it.  Although AOL does connect it is not reliable.  So the email will sit in the outbox until I can connect.

 

They've been having a dancing with the stars type competition on board.  Passengers pair up with the dancers in the cast.  They've been holding it in the afternoons and I've been ignoring it pretty much.  For showtime tonight they're having the finals and I don't think I'm going to go.

 

March 27 –At Sea on the Mediterranean Sea & Naples, Italy.  Pretty routine day today as well.  I went to the cooking demonstration because the SEH officer Kees Kant is the guest chef.  He's going to make a sauerkraut casserole and I want to see him cook.  As I've said before he's a funny guy and it should be fun.

 

We went through the Strait of Messina and past Stromboli volcano but the clouds were so low that the volcano was totally obscured.  You could see the village on the coast where those totally fearless Italians continue to live.  Another Pompeii waiting to happen.

 

We arrived in Naples at about 6PM and were cleared to go ashore at 6:10.  It's raining and pretty cool so we decided to stay on the ship and have dinner and go to the show.

 

Journey South performed again to a very sparse but appreciative audience.  600 of our almost 1,000 passengers are ashore.  This time they performed an acoustic show with just their guitar and voices.  It was excellent again.