Cultural Landmarks of Egypt and India Days 13 to 17

6:00am Port Said: Bolette has built up steam and the tug is ready to help manoeuvre us for our journey down the Suez Canal

Having said Port Said was about going to the pyramids we were really pleased to find that 170 of the crew also went to see the pyramids. They had to leave after the passengers and return before them, but they saw and entered a pyramid and saw camels which seemed to please most people. I think it's great that there was the facility to allow such a large number of crew off the ship. Those that couldn't go on on this trip were able to visit Luxor from Safaga a few days later.

The final mooring rope is removed and we're away. Next stop Sharm-El-Sheik in the Red Sea

Day 13 was cruising the Suez canal. Brian woke bright and early before the  sun, so went to see us set off and enter the Canal. It was a really weird feeling being so close to land on both sides. Both sides were very different from each other though with the western, African side being really quite green, unlike the eastern, Asian bank.

Sunrise over Asia. The Suez Canal sits on the border between two continents, Asia and Africa

That evening we had our first themed night. Egypt, perhaps not surprisingly. What was surprising was that those of us only doing the first sector knew nothing about theme nights, unlike those doing the full cruise. They had costumes and wigs and all sorts, I had eyeliner and a necklace, but it really didn't matter. Sorry Bev, the liquid liner came out with a vengeance! The whole evening was based around the pool with an Egyptian themed barbeque and buffet which was very good as was the live music. What can I do for the next  one though? Nautical theme! Hmm, that's going to be harder to cobble something together for.

The first part of our journey is on our own, but we're going to be in a 19 ship convoy and they are all sailing along a parallel branch that joins us further down. In the very distance is the lead container ship that has entered ahead of us. That will be the leader, we're number two

Day 14

Sharm el Sheikh. We had booked a snorkeling trip but as I'd caringly shared my cold with Brian we'd changed it to a glass bottomed boat trip. Even that though B wasn't sure about going on as he really didn't feel brilliant. He's glad he did though. We saw much more than we saw in Jordan last year, not that the photos are brilliant! We were then dropped off in Naama Bay for an hour of wandering and shopping, very touristy, but low season, except for a number of very irritating Russians! It was a low key but pleasant way to spend an afternoon.

Joining our convoy. We came from the left fork and we mingled together here. That tug stayed behind us all the way to make sure we maintained distance and the 9 knots maximum speed allowed. Egyptian pilots are on board and have taken control of our ship from our captain

Day 15 

Safaga. We had low expectations for Safaga, and it lived down to them. We stayed in a resort a few miles south of Safaga last year between the Egypt and Jordan trips. The hotel was fine, but there was nothing outside but a dusty road and the strangest of coffee shops.

There were a few small boats in places so I took a photo of this one. It wasn't until I zoomed in that I realised he was taking a photo of us

At least we are in Safaga this time. They told us the port is 750m to the town. The berth was next to a huge factory of some some sort, very dusty and noisy. The walk to town through all the lorries queuing, with their engines running to get into the port. Town then appeared to be a roundabout, we took the sharp right road which 2km later finally got us to a dirty, grimy beach. Cut across to access the 'main road'. I know it was Sunday but I'm not sure that more shops would miraculously appear on any other day!

First attraction to view, the Al Salam road bridge linking African Egypt with Asian Egypt on the Sinai Peninsular. It was built with Japanese money and has a clearance height of 70m, meaning ships up to 68m can pass underneath. Our convoy leader has already passed through

It's funny though, as we were going out we met people wishing us luck, and hoping that we found something. We had to go anyway. On our way back we wished similar to all and sundry, but they too had to go and see nothing for themselves! As I've said before though, we are simple souls, so a walk out, and boost of the step count, chats with many people and some laughs and we are happy. We appreciate that we are at this port for people to go to Luxor, the Valley of the Kings and Karnak, so we can enjoy our time on a quiet ship, a pilates class and the manicure that I won on day 1. My biggest disappointment? I didn't get my cat fix! See our short Relive video of our walk through the town:  click here

Getting closer...

Day 16

Another sea day, BUT it's been full on. Most of the entertainers have changed, as have the lecturers, so today has been port talks for the first stops in India.  Introductions to the new lecturers, two lectures this afternoon, but excitingly for me the arrival of 4 members of OWE Ocean Wildlife Experience who will pretty much be on a deck somewhere between dawn and dusk wildlife spotting.

Right underneath

Tonight is our third formal night, so the new nails will take pride of place as we dress up again.

From where we were on the Forecastle it looked quite close, but it was well clear

This afternoon's talk was swiftly followed by a briefing from the Captain about the 'trouble' in the area we are about to travel. Ignorance for me was bliss, but apparently some people had been asking questions. Before January this year we would have barbed wire wrapped round the railings, water canon and snipers, but that would have been for Somali pirates. They are now not considered a threat, and would have provided no protection against a drone so we are continuing as we were!

Further down is the El Ferdan swing railway bridge again linking the two parts of Egypt, but after the canal expansion into two lanes in 2015 they had to build a second bridge. Its quite a feat of engineering, each half being swing on central pivots and, of course, they have to accurately link up to allow trains to pass

The 'trouble' is linked to the Israel issue, but is due to the civil war in Yemen, part of which is backed by Iran. I don't really know what it's all about, but there is a very narrow stretch of water on the south western tip of Yemen where there was some drone activity on Sunday with the Americans firing missiles. Anyway there is still a lot of shipping in this area so we are continuing on , along with support from various Navy's, but will be going very fast. Normal speed is about 15knots but from 6pm tonight we will be speeding up to 23 knots which should get us through the narrow bit by 05.30. The captain has just announced that outside decks will be closed from 6pm to midday, just to 'keep us safe!'

Just south of Timsah Lake and the city of Ismailia in a dual section of the canal

Day 17 Jeddah

We thought we may not make this port as our Saudi Visa took ages to arrive. The cheaper maritime visa appeared to be the way to go £40 something, as opposed to £120 for the standard, which would have been a lot for a day ashore. We couldn't find this visa online to apply for, so went through the agency recommended by Fred Olsen. We spent a long time not hearing anything, then they seemed to imply that Saudi may not be issuing these visas at the moment, then the visas came through. There did seem to be a number of people onboard who never did get their visas though.

We're still being followed by our tug and convoy

Anyway early breakfast before our early start which involved meeting an hour before shore time, not the usual 15 minutes, only for quite a long delay waiting for clearance from the authorities. With that we were off, a shuttle bus to the terminal which I swear got lost, then a big immigration hall and checking of passports and visas and onto the tour bus, only to wait for a very long time for our last two people to appear! Then, finally, we were off, to Al Balad, an area of historically interesting, and in many cases falling down buildings. The area however is undergoing huge amounts of renovation as it is turned into a big tourist attraction. We were told the story of some of the buildings before being taken into a furnished one where we were given dates and coffee. Free time for wandering around where we met a lovely spice seller. We stood at his window inhaling the wonderful smells when he came over giving us smells and tastes of all sorts of things. Very interesting and very generous. How different from Egypt and the hassle and hard sell you get in every shop and from every shopkeeper.

In the above photo you can just see a bulk carrier in our convoy and this photo is zoomed in on it. I count 10 containers high - its big!

Tourism is relatively new here, this area only having been developed in the last few years, but with lovely air-conditioned toilets and nice little shops. Although one of the tour guides was female I don't remember seeing any female shopkeepers, or even any local ladies either covered or uncovered. So on the whole, an interesting stop, but I'm not sure I'd be inspired to come for a holiday!

Talking of big container ships, remember the Evergiven that got stuck in 2021, blocking the canal for 6 days? Here's where it happened and this is a memorial recently erected. Its a ships anchor with a couple of plaques

The highlight for me was all the cat feeding stations with huge supplies of biscuits and running water. This meant that the cats were fed and watered, and judging by the nicks in many of their ears neutered, so all they wanted was fuss, which obviously I was happy to provide!

One of two plaques paid for from the $600,000,000 compensation paid to the Egyptian authorities by the ships owners. Two Egyptian pilots were on board at the time, but it seems it was still the captains fault!

The lowlight was being unable to have a drink while in Saudi waters, so no pre dinner G&T, fortunately we cleared Saudi waters just as we sat down to dinner. There's nothing like being told you can't have something for making you want it!

The end of the canal at Suez, the point the canal blends into the Red Sea. It was about 4:00pm at this point, after starting from Port Said at about 6:30am. A fabulous journey! 

We are paying for WiFi again to post as although our tour guide allowed us to hotspot his phone to check emails, that was no good for the blog. We paid for onboard WiFi to post the last blog too and are glad we did, £12 gives 24 hours of access. We spoke to a guy wearing birthday badges as we were back onboard from Sharm el Sheikh who said they'd paid almost £15 for two small beers, and the promise of WiFi , but that's all it was, the promise, so he hadn't had any birthday wishes! It will be interesting to see how well my Lebara SIM works in India which is included in my roaming package.

At Sharm-El-Sheik the following day boarding our glass bottomed boat 

We will post a small note tomorrow before our 24 hours is up, just to say we have slowed down and are back in 'safe' waters.

Usual stuff on a glass bottomed boat, but it was very clear water and he knew exactly where to go to find the best coral. I was particularly amused at the way he turned the steering wheel with his foot, tweaking the engine to life occasionally to keep us directly over the bit he wanted us to see whilst giving us a running commentary on what we could see

Second part was a sightseeing drift round the bay on the sundeck in 30 C heat

Getting back to our ship just after sunset

Time for another posh evening do

Another posh night at our table in the restaurant with our very nice fellow dinner guests Jim and Sue

Next day we sailed across the Red Sea to Safaga, a grubby port town. We went here to allow day visits to Luxor and the Valley of the Kings as its only about 250km from here. For us we had just a grim walk round town. Here we are parked up next to a factory with lots of white powder

Seeing a beach marked on the map we did a 3.5km walk there to find a rubbish strewn grubby place

A walk along the main street wasn't much better

However back on the ship all was right with the world!

Next day Jeddah, Jackie was happy there were cats everywhere and she found this one just as we got off the bus

Thats our friendly guide in white with his arms in the air. He let us connect to his mobile hotspot to get internet, what a star, I managed to do a Spanish Duolingo lesson and download the newspapers! 

Lovely old buildings, but some of then looked decidedly unsafe!

Coffee and date break in one of the traditional buildings

And outside Jackie found another cat

On our free time walk round the old town we met this very nice shop owner who spent time with us introducing the many spices he had and allowing us to taste them. Such a marked change from Egypt where everyone there hassles you for a sale. He knew we didn't want to buy but still wanted to talk to us

More lovely old buildings, but this one in need of lots of work

And Jackie found another cat!

We quite liked Jeddah, it felt very safe and clean but probably quite expensive. Just don't try and drink any alcohol!

Back on board for an early evening drink

Some of the Christmas decorations that are appearing on board

Some of the entertainment team singing some James Bond themes very well

Outside our restaurant with Jim and Sue and more Christmas decorations. We've had dinner, now for the evening show... 

Here's a screenshot of our journey tonight. The arrow shows where we were at about 10:00am this morning...

Here's the pinch point that we'll pass by at 5:30am in the morning according to our captain. It's a 26km wide strait with Djibouti on one side and Yemen on the other. The Iranian backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have been throwing their weight around recently launching unmanned drones at passing shipping that the US navy (why have 9 warships in the area apparently) have been shooting down. Hopefully we'll be OK but we've been told all outside areas will be closed from 6:30pm tonight until midday tomorrow just to lessen any risk. We'll be going at maximum 23 knot speed to get through as quickly as possible. Hopefully we'll sleep well!