SAILING THE SUEZ
High on my
husband’s bucket list was the desire to cruise down the Suez Canal – or up!
It did not
seem possible as the Middle East was often a no-go zone. That was until the
Mediterranean Shipping Company advertised their Grand Voyage Cruise from Genoa
in Italy to Durban via the Suez Canal.
The MSC ‘Sinfonia’ was making its maiden voyage back
to South Africa after reconstruction and the planned trip included visiting
Greece, Crete, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Seychelles, Mauritius and Reunion before
heading back to Durban.
So as a
treat for our 65th birthdays we signed up for a voyage of a
lifetime. We worked out that if we did not sink with the
boat on its maiden voyage, if we were not taken out by a military coup in Egypt
or taken captive by pirates along the Somalia Coast we would be fine!
The
highlight of the trip was sailing the Suez the day after my husband’s birthday. We spent the day of his birthday celebrating
but by 5 p.m. that night we had arrived outside Port Said where all the ships wait
to travel in convoy through the Suez at first light. The level of expectancy was palpable. Sipping wine on the back deck watching the
sun set and the moon rise was spectacular.
‘Arabian Sunsets’ ‘Arabian nights’ all came to mind.
Unfortunately
we were not able to disembark in Port Said because of political
instability. In fact we were not able
to visit Egypt at all.
The Suez
Canal was inaugurated on the 17th November, 1869, (my birthday is on
the 17th November so all the more special to us). It was built by the French making it
possible to connect Europe with the East avoiding circumnavigating the African
Continent. It is 193 kms in length and
the Egyptians had recently widened the canal so that the two convoys moving in
opposite directions could pass each other at one point. Previously the one convoy would have to move
into the Great lakes area to wait for the other convoy to pass.
We left Port
Said at 3 a.m. and entered the Suez Canal with an entourage of 3 tug boats and
2 pilots. A fine haze prevented us from seeing the other
ships in our convoy.
What an
interesting trip ensued!
-2-
On the Port
Side was the Sinai Desert. Desolate.
Mountains of sand and more sand!
Every 500
metres we saw military barracks and individual sentries posted on top of lonely
mounds of sand. Their solitary
footprints in the sand told their own story.
White
bakkies packed with soldiers waving flags were racing up and down the road that
ran parallel with the canal.
Occasionally
we would see a palace made out of sand stone or a memorial of some sort.
On the Starboard
side was Egypt. Lush and green with
palm trees and palatial estates. A huge
wall separated the canal from the road which was very busy with trucks and
cars. A direct contrast to the Port
side!
We also
noticed military barracks every 500 meters and soldiers and sentries with guns
teemed around. Every so often they
would whistle and wave. A helicopter
flew over us crisscrossing from side to side.
We were very impressed when supersonic jets flew over us as well. Security was paramount.
The ships
passing through the Suez Canal definitely enjoyed a high level of security. We presumed that because they paid so much
to travel the route this was what they actually paid for. We had been told that it cost our ship some
$700,000 to use this route.
The bridges
that spanned the Suez were majestic in their construction and unique in their
design. We were fascinated and
intrigued.
Eventually
with aching eyes and stiff necks we returned to our cabin to find there was no TV. It was a bit annoying as we had been
enjoying CNN news and the Italian TV channel.
We seemed to be cut off from the world.
That evening
the chef outdid himself or should I say the chefs, as there are about 70 of
them on board. They treated us to an
amazing array of Middle Eastern dishes.
It was only
the following day when we had come out of the Suez and into the Red Sea and
moved into Israeli waters that communications from the outside world reached
us. We were horrified!
A Russian
plane had been blown up over the Sinai Desert the previous day and they were
considering it to be an act of terrorism.
No wonder
there was so much visible military action all around us through the Suez!
What a
target we would have made!
Despite the
threat we were very impressed with the whole experience and continued to enjoy
a wonderful cruise back home.
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