Today, we entered the Gulf of Suez. As I had a pedicure, I watched the dry, craggy outline of Egypt change to a flatter, even more arid looking land. Now that we are close to the Suez Canal, there is a great deal of activity on the seas, with ships going both north and south. We will enter the Suez canal tomorrow morning at about 4.00am and travel in convoy, until we reach Port Said, at the north of the Suez Canal. We were told today that it will cost our ship $176,000 to transit the Suez Canal, and the same amount again when we transit the Panama Canal. The Suez Canal was opened in 1869 to allow water transportation from Europe to Asia, by passing through the Red Sea. Before this time, vessels had to go around the whole of Africa, passing around the Cape of Good Hope. The Suez canal has no locks because the water levels in the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea are very similar. The canal is about 104 nautical miles long, 24 m deep and 205 m wide. The Canal is owned and administered by the Suez Canal Authority. We are looking forward to spending theday tomorrow going through this canal. We did a revision dancing class today, which was helpful, and tonight we went to dancing practice, which was even more helpful. For entertainment tonight we listened to Brad Black and the Dawn Princess All Stars play Dixieland Jazz. This band has the most fantastic piano player, trumpeter, trombonist, clarinet player and drummer. A wonderful night’s entertainment! It would cost at least $100 a ticket if they played in Australia. The trumpeter comes from New Orleans and the drummer is from Indiana. I don’t know where the others are from. Some useful Arabic words for use in Egypt that I have now found on my previously lost sheet of paper are:
Good Afternoon………..Masaa El Kheir
Good evening ………….Mesa El Kheir
Yes……………………..aywa
No………………………Ia – Aa
Please…………………...I Aw Samaht
Thank You……………….Shukran (Barbara)
One of the choir’s songs for the next concert is the Pink Panther Theme. This involves the men going “boom, boom, boom, boom, boom” many times and this has become the de facto greeting when we meet around the ship. The tunes are more ambitious than the first concert and will test the musical abilities of the group but the organizers are lavish in their praises and make us all feel good. (Bill)
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