Suez Canal, Egypt

Friday, November 20th
Route of the Ancient Traders
Day 10
M/S Nautica
At Sea - Transiting the Suez Canal
Mostly Sunny – 75 Degrees

The Suez Canal connects the Mediterranean Sea in the North with the Gulf of Suez and the Red Sea to the South. Both bodies of water, and the saltwater Bitter Lakes in between, are at the same level so no locks are required. The canal separates the major part of Egypt and the rest of Africa from the Sinai Peninsula and Asia. In places, it is only wide enough to accommodate traffic in one direction at a time.

There are two Southbound convoys and one Northbound convoy each day. The first Southbound convoy transits the Northern segment of the canal beginning at about 1:00 in the morning. The Northbound convoy enters the Southern portion of the canal at the same time. All Southbound ships clear the shipping lane and anchor in the Bitter Lakes while the Northbound convoy passes, resuming transit once the shipping lane is clear. When the Northbound convoy clears the Northern entrance to the canal in late afternoon, the second Southbound convoy begins its transit. The canal is 119 miles long and takes 11 to 14 hours to transit.

There has been a man-made waterway of some kind here for millennia, at least since the 13th Century B.C. under Ramses II, but the present canal was completed in 1869. It took a partnership among many nations, ten years, $65 million, and the labor of 1.5 million men, some of them slaves, to complete. The canal has been closed several times during war, including an 8 year period following the 1967 Six Day war with Israel. 14 cargo ships were trapped in the canal during the closure. International treaty now stipulates that the canal must remain open to all cargo in times of peace and in war. It has become vital to international shipping with 25,000 transits each year. The canal is currently undergoing additional dredging to allow ships with deeper draft to pass. Supertankers must now offload part of their cargo at one end so they are high enough in the water to pass. The cargo is transported overland and reloaded at the other end. This will no longer be necessary when dredging is complete in 2010.

Nautica left Port Said last night at about midnight to enter the Canal, the 5th of 28 ships in the first Southbound convoy. We awoke at first light to watch the transit into the Bitter Lakes. We had breakfast on the veranda as we drifted down the canal.



We emerged from the narrow canal into the vastness of the Bitter Lakes and set anchor at 8:00. While at anchor, the guest lecturer, Douglas Sturkey, presented "The Khans - Ghengis to Kubilai, Tracing the Mongolian Transition from Warrior Herdsmen to Sedentary Administrators." It was a really fascinating look at a period of history we knew very little about that set the stage for the conquest and colonialism that would define the modern Middle East. After the Northbound convoy had passed, we resumed transit at about noon and emerged from the canal into the Gulf of Suez by 3:30.


Transiting the Suez Canal was interesting, but it doesn't capture the imagination like the locks of the Panama Canal cutting a path through the jungle.

Next Stop: Sharm El Sheik, Egypt.