Wednesday 24 April 2019

Suez Canal transit

Early in S/Y Calliope's life, when she went by another name, we took her
from Inverness to Fort William through the Caledonian Canal, which involved
snow, many small locks, close encounters with weirs and possibly the Loch
Ness Monster -- and scarcely another boat to be seen. Burgesses and
Skerritts were our happy companions on that transit.
Shipping approaching the Gulf of Suez

In 2014, with Pippa and friends aboard, we waited our turn and went through
the one-way Corinth Canal, west to east through the steep, narrow cut,
following a small cruise ship with only feet to spare each side and pursued
by a pirate-flagged two-master. In April 2017, together with the Oyster
World Rally fleet, we negotiated the magnificent locks and flooded Gatun
Lake of the Panama Canal and emerged into the Pacific Ocean.

So the Suez Canal was Calliope's fourth canal.
In Gwylan we had also been through the Chesapeake and Delaware canal and the Cape Cod canal, so that makes six!

We had got off to a bad start in Egypt, having been refused entry at Port Ghalib because not all
crew members had been vaccinated against yellow fever and we had stopped in
Sudan. A new regulation, issued only a week earlier, not mentioned on any
website and unknown even to our agent Mohamed, stated that anyone having
been in Sudan must either produce the certificate or spend six days in an
Egyptian hospital. We were too tired to argue, as we should have, that a)
the regulation hadn't been publicised and b) we had been in the northern
part of Sudan, which is not regarded by the WHO as a yellow fever area.
Twenty officials took two hours to decide that we couldn't stay and sent us
back out at 9pm into 25 knot wind and weather, some waves breaking over the
spray hood and into the cockpit , to tack out away from the Egyptian coast
towards Saudi Arabia - not a destination which welcomes tourists on yachts -
and back again. Bone weary, then, and just after nightfall the following
evening, we took shelter in Sagawa bay and slept, and waited for two days
for the wind to die down. Two more days of fluky wind - sometimes enough to
show our beautiful asymmetric sail with its Egyptian goddess Isis to
The pontoon of the Suez Canal Yacht Club
Egyptian locals - and sometimes motoring straight into a northern breeze
through oil fields and rigs, brought us to Port Suez, where we tied up fore
and aft to two buoys outside the Suez Canal Rowing and Yacht Club. Alas,
its days of grandeur were long gone.

There was a pontoon to which we were ferried by ever-helpful Karkar, five or
six officials watching American sitcoms in a hut, who inspected our
passports and bags each time we passed them and a sea-view veranda with
tables and chairs, but no refreshments (and most definitely no alcohol) available.

Some of the houses in the area were quite grand and showed signs
of French style, with eaves and shutters, but the roads were potholed and
dusty, the pavements irregular, dusty and litter-covered and even the
ubiquitous feral cats were mangy and dusty. The town of Suez is
traffic-choked ...and dusty. They do make the most delicious
freshly-squeezed orange juice and sell wonderful, soft pinky-creamy garlic
from motorbike-drawn carts in the narrow lanes. The locals were friendly
and pleased to see us.

Mr Heebi, our agent, explained the processes of clearing in to us, but we
could have done with a guide to the Suez Canal. When was this "ditch in the
desert" built and by whom? Nicky's father went through it a couple of times
on military service and they raised their guns occasionally to look fierce.
Perhaps they taught the Egyptians to do the same - there were military
Floating bridge
everywhere and our pilot on the first day, Mr. Khalid (whose volume control
button we ached to turn down) told us we weren't allowed to take any
photographs "for security reasons". We noticed new channels and extensions
to the Canal had been dug, but there was no explanation. At intervals we
saw swing bridges which could make crossing from one side to the other
possible, as well as bridges in sections. Each 100 metres there was a sign
showing how far we had to go.

The most impressive thing about the Canal was the ships transiting it,
including the newest 20,000 container ships. The Suez Canal is wide, has
several channels in places, and the Great Bitter Lake in the middle which is
a giant ship park. There is a northbound procession and then a southbound
procession. It's about 100NM in total so longer than the Panama, but it's
all at sea level. Completed by the French together with the Pasha, Disraeli
then managed to buy a controlling stake for £4m which was obviously pretty
smart. Napoleon had earlier wanted to build a canal, but was dissuaded by
his chief engineer who avowed that the Mediterranean end was 10m higher than
the Red Sea end!

At the end of our first day, we arrived in Ismailia and tied up alongside
the Yacht Club there. We didn't leave the boats, which were much
photographed by locals. We had dinner aboard Calliope. It was the last
night the three yachts were going to be together, so the crews of Calliope,
Miss Tiggy and Lisanne devoured the contents of the drinks cupboard and a
bottle each of whisky and rum went down after beers and wine, so sleep was
short and we were awoken far too early at 5.30am by our new pilots arriving.
Ahmed was much better company than Mr. Khalid, though his English and our
Arabic were limiting factors on conversation. After seven hours, he was
taken off the boat and we motored out of the Canal, through a dredged
channel. As soon as we could, we got the sails up and 28 hours later after
a bumpy but fast ride (not helped by the lack of sleep the night before and
on passage and our hangovers), we berthed in Limassol Marina in Cyprus.

Kolossi Castle
What a beautifully appointed, modern place, with super-helpful staff and
everything a tired yachtie could ask for. That first night, we staggered as
far as the first restaurant, Wagamama's, and decreed 'no further'. It was
fantastic to be reunited with Tiggy, who'd been in Tasmania for her father's
90th birthday and had fully expected to come back on board in Port Ghalib.
We have washed and washed Calliope and all the ropes removing salt and red
sea dust. We have polished the stainless, and she is beginning to look like
Nicky and Tiggy in Omodhos
her true self. We have been to a supermarket, Lidl, and been amazed at the
variety of goods on offer, and over-bought supplies as a result. Four days
later, having hired a car to explore parts of Cyprus and loved the spring
flowers and ancient monuments (Kolossi Castle, of the Knights Templar, was particularly impressive),
as well as taking a bit of R&R at the spa, we are just about to leave
Limassol for the Turkish coast. We are much refreshed and ready for the
home straight! We are about 200NM from Kas where we will cross our furthest
east path, and another 50NM to Marmaris where we have a berth for a year.
We are both ready for some time at home, to see Pippa after her operation on
her spine, Richard, Kit and Guy after their loss of Ishbel, and Nicky's
parents in Geneva. Homesick - yes and no as Calliope is so much home.











1 comment:

  1. HOW I GOT MY LOAN FROM THIS GREAT COMPANY

    Hello my dear people, I am Linda McDonald, currently living in Austin Texas, USA. I am a widow at the moment with three kids and i was stuck in a financial situation in April 2019 and i needed to refinance and pay my bills. I tried seeking loans from various loan firms both private and corporate but never with success, and most banks declined my credit ,do not full prey to those hoodlums at there that call them self-money lender they are all scam , all they want is your money and you well not hear from them again they have done it to me twice before I met Mr. David Wilson the most interesting part of it is that my loan was transfer to me within 74hours so I will advise you to contact Mr. David if you are interested in getting loan and you are sure you can pay him back on time you can contact him via email……… (davidwilsonloancompany4@gmail.com) No credit check, no cosigner with just 2% interest rate and better repayment plans and schedule if you must contact any firm with reference to securing a loan without collateral then contact Mr. David Wilson today for your loan

    They offer all kind of categories of loan they

    Short term loan (5_10years)
    Long term loan (20_40)
    Media term loan (10_20)
    They offer loan like
    Home loan............., Business loan........ Debt loan.......
    Student loan.........., Business startup loan
    Business loan......., Company loan.............. etc
    Email..........( davidwilsonloancompany4@gmail.com)
    When it comes to financial crisis and loan then David Wilson loan financial is the place to go please just tell him I Mrs. Linda McDonald direct you Good Luck.......................

    ReplyDelete