15th, 16th March Suez Canal, 17th

Thursday, 15th March. Today we awoke to a cooler breeze than we have had since leaving Fort Lauderdale, it was almost too cool to sit out, but we managed an hour. The sea was rougher than usual but not enough to effect the ship. Alan went to a lecture with Cunard Historian, John Langley, (who had been at the captain’s table with us,) the talk was on Charles Dickens’ notes about his transatlantic voyage to America in 1842, which Alan found very interesting. I strolled around the ship and found interest in the corner of a bar where a group of passengers from Tahiti had began playing their traditional music and singing. I gather the Commodore sat and listened to them yesterday so it must be a daily occurrence! After that I joined the quiz team and sat with a couple from the UK, we scored 12 out of 15 and the three we got wrong were ‘his’ answers! I’ll play on my own if there’s a next time! Throughout the morning we continued on our north north-westerly journey through the Red Sea paralleling the coast of Saudi Arabia to the east and Sudan to the west. Then shortly before noon we sailed 70 miles from the border between Sudan and Egypt as we continued to steam toward the Gulf of Suez. I met up with Alan for lunch and we decided on a lazy afternoon, so I put on a DVD, which lasted three hours forty minutes, so that was the rest of the day gone! Our evening was relaxed too because after dinner we went to the theatre to see Brenda Cochrane sing. During the evening there were two ‘Strangelings’ wandering around the ship, (actually buskers from Covent Garden – again!) The clocks went back a further hour so we are now only 2 hours behind the UK. At 2.15am we arrived at the Suez Canal and took our place in the waiting convoy until our 6.00am start.
Friday, 16th March. At 3.00am Alan woke me up shouting “Quick Marion, come and look at the whales”, I leapt out of bed and fumbled around in the dark until I heard Alan say, “Sorry love, I was talking in my sleep!” Thank you Alan!! He was up early enough to see the ship commence its journey through the Suez Canal at 6.15am. (I looked out and saw miles of sand so turned over for an extra hour.) There were 30 ships including ours in the convoy, and passenger ships take precedence, so we lead the way. It was however, a very interesting day and we spent all morning on the balcony enjoying the sights, but it was a bitterly cold wind with temperatures around 16 degrees all day and no sunshine. Here’s the entrance about 6.30am. The canal was started in 1858 and completed in 1869. There are no locks because the sea level is the same at both ends. On a typical day three convoys transit the canal, two southbound and one north bound and there are passing areas where convoys await their turn. One is Bitter Lake and the others are Lake Timsah and Ismailia. The scenery changed as we progressed, but on the starboard side, the east bank, where there were still many signs of earlier wars, it remained very much a desert, the Sinai. The military presence was very much in evidence with tented outposts spaced at regular intervals. The lookout, which was manned by a lone armed soldier, resembled a tea chest supporting a flag that had been perched on a higher sand bank. The port side, the west bank, developed into a very green and highly populated area, which is due to water being piped a hundred miles from the Nile, mainly for irrigation purposes. There were several ferries across the Suez Canal linking Egypt’s east and west bank. First we saw the Gebel Mary Am World War 1 Memorial on port side. Then around mid-day we were able to see the Camp David Memorial on starboard side, this was erected to commemorate the signing of the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt, which was brokered by America at Camp David. The memorial is bayonet shaped and there is a parade ground to one side. To Alan’s great delight we approached the El Ferdan railway bridge, which is the longest swing span bridge in the world. It was completed in 2001 with a span of 340 metres . The previous bridge was destroyed in 1967 during the Arab Israeli conflict. Around 1.30pm we approached the Suez Canal Bridge, also called the Egyptian-Japanese Friendship Bridge. This is a high level fixed road bridge at El Quantara. It has a 68 metres clearance over the canal and was started in 1999, it was completed in 2003. The QM2 had only a 5 metres clearance. We went for lunch at 1.30pm and after more sightseeing we were leaving the canal at 4.00pm and entering familiar territory, the Mediterranean Sea, which was when our pilots disembarked the ship. At this I escaped to the gym to get warm! We had an enjoyable evening dining with our friends, Kay and Peter, and their daughter and her friend who joined the ship at Dubai. We went to the Lotus Asian restaurant again.
Saturday 17th March. We were awakened by the Commodore at 7.00am when he announced that due to strong north westerly gales no shipping was able to enter the harbour at Alexandria. We circled around 35 waiting tankers until 10.00am when the Commodore announced that it was not practical for us to wait any longer as the tours booked for Cairo, the pyramids and Nile cruise would not now be able to complete their journeys. Everyone was most disappointed as it was to have been their big day for many who had not visited Egypt before. I presume the Egyptian salesmen who travelled with us through the canal must have departed with the pilots. We set sail for Greece in a north westerly direction with new plans to arrive in the port of Piraeus around noon tomorrow (18th) and stay overnight before beginning our original planned full day visit to Athens etc (19th). Hence today we are at sea! The temperature is 20 degrees with a breeze but the sea is calm.

13th, 14th March

Tuesday 13th March. (Belated birthday greetings, John Mc, sorry we missed it.) Last evening’s dinner at the Captain’s Table was wonderful. We were seated where our name cards were placed and to my surprise I found myself sitting next to Commodore Bernard Warner. He was a charming man and chatted to us all in a well practised manner. I found some reasonable questions to ask and then enquired about our next port of call, Alexandria. He said he would get back to me with more accurate information, and he did. The next day an envelope arrived with a personal letter from him telling me all I needed to know, which I thought was very gracious as his time is precious. Our meal was excellent and wine flowed freely, as it does! The dessert was specially prepared for his table and was very impressive in presentation as well as the manner in which it was served. Conversation at the table, which seated 7 guests, a lecturer and his wife, the Commodore and his secretary, was lively and most interesting. Unfortunately, the name on my place card read Maria Filby, so I laughed and told Commodore Warner to call me Marion, he apologised for the mistake and said he would get another written out for me, not that I was bothered. However, the next day an envelope arrived addressed to me with a place card for Mary Filby! It was a nice thought but someone got it wrong again!

After our most enjoyable Monday evening Alan had spent all day Tuesday resting on the balcony and taking in the sunshine and fresh air. I joined him and did some odd jobs before going to the gym. We continued west south-westerly during the morning through the eastern extremities of the Arabian Sea. By late afternoon we approached the Gulf of Aden, a stretch of water dividing Yemen from the north coast of Somalia in the African continent. Unfortunately, due to our position we did not have access to satellites and so I was unable to get onto the Internet. We decided not to join in with yet another formal evening and dined in our suite whilst watching a DVD, The Aviator, which was much better than I had expected. Our clocks went back an hour and we are now 3 hours ahead of the UK.
Wednesday 14th March Another leisurely day at sea. This morning we entered the straits of Bab el Mandeb. The straits marked our entry into the Red Sea dividing Yemen from Djibouti and Eritrea. By lunch time we were 40 miles west of Yemen and 80 miles east of Eritrea and had sailed close to a group of small islands. At this point the Red Sea was only 500 metres deep. There are 200 types of coral here and it is the most northerly tropical sea - with more salt due to a higher level of evaporation. Through out the day we sailed parallel to the coast of Saudi Arabia to the east and the Sudan to the west. By nightfall the cities of Jeddah and Mecca will be at a distance of 40 miles off the starboard side. Alan attended a lecture on digital camera use and I went to the last Spanish class. This evening we are invited to a cocktail party for World Club guests and we have just been presented with our platinum badges for reaching the top level of Cunard cruises. (This affords us extra advantages when sailing.)

March 10th,11th Dubai, 12th.

Saturday, 10th March and we were sailing deeper into the Arabian Sea. Humidity was increasing although we were still able to sit out on the balcony with temperatures around 30 degrees, and we were enjoying a calm sea, which was 29 degrees with slight breeze. Alan went off to his lecture on Dubai by Professor John Reich, and I went to finish my beaded necklace and earrings, which turned out quite nice. Then it was Spanish class and I am struggling amongst very advanced students! They want more and I want less! By lunch time we were heading into the Gulf of Oman and because there are 1200 passengers leaving the ship at Dubai, it was quite hectic around the shopping areas. I won’t be sorry to see some of them go; they did seem to be of a miserable disposition! We had more interesting things to do and planned for our day in Dubai seeking out where to go, how to get there and how much cash we would need. At sunset we entered the Gulf of Oman and continued on a north westerly course towards the Straits of Hormuz and the entrance to the Persian Gulf. We passed six miles to the south of Ra’s al Ku in Iran shortly before 10.00pm. Our evening was relaxed with an enjoyable dinner before a visit to the casino where I had a successful hour playing craps before retiring. Alan still had a very bad headache and went to bed earlier. Clocks went back one hour so now we are 4 hours behind the UK. Time is passing far too quickly for us!!
Sunday, 11th March. Unfortunately, Alan was not well enough to go ashore today, so I decided to go alone. At 9.15am our waiter, Hansel, arrived and asked me if I would like him to escort me to the gold souk because he was meeting his friend there at 9.45am. Of course I accepted and off we went; the gray haired English lady and the handsome young Indian! Hmm! We took a taxi into Deira, an old area of Dubai where there are more traditional shops in the souks. I was amazed when we arrived to find that a ‘souk’ was just an area of shops, and not a type of market. There were so many shops and so much gold and magnificent jewellery that I was in my element, and although this was what I had expected it was still a huge surprise. I left Hansel buying an engagement ring for his fiancé and wandered in and out of more jewellery shops. It wasn’t long before I found a nice ring for Alan, so I worked it out in dirham, converted it to dollars, then pounds to see if it was a bargain and by then the jeweller had reduced it even further thinking that I was haggling!! None of the money exchange places were open so I paid in dollars and asked for change in dirhams, but as it happened I didn’t need them. It was a good morning and I was delighted with my purchases, I now have a burkha and a super pashmina to wear, plus something else for the children! Temperatures were about 29 degrees but because the shopping areas were so shaded it was quite pleasant. At lunch time I found a taxi and went on a 45 minute ride along the new coast road to see the new Bur Al Arab hotel. I was a bit disappointed to find that unless you have a reservation you are not allowed into the road leading to the hotel, but I asked the cabby to wait and took a few long distance photos! Back to Port Rashid and enjoying the sights along the way, beautiful expensive new houses and roads. The whole area is still being developed and I took photos of the huge sky scrapers that are quite unique in design. After 2 hours the taxi driver was delighted with his high tip in dirhams because the price of the taxi was so cheap! Everyone was back on board by 5.00pm and we sailed at 6.00pm passing one of the Palm Islands where new housing/hotels/golf course/shops etc is being extensively developed from land reclaimed from the sea. Alan was much better but chose to dine in our suite whilst I dined in the grill and enjoyed sitting with a lady I had made friends with.
Monday, March 12th. Alan went off to hear the lecture on Roman Architecture by Judith Dupré, followed by “The Magic of Concorde” with Captain Dick Routledge, whilst I caught up on all the bits of admin we had outstanding - I can’t believe the number of forms we have to complete for every port of call, but they are a necessity. We had left the Persian Gulf and sailed back through the Straits of Hormuz again during the night and by noon we were 17 miles off the coast of Oman with temperatures around 25 degrees. It was hazy again due to dust particles from the Arabian Desert, which is 900,000 square miles in size and off our starboard side. We have been invited by Commodore Bernard Warner to dine with him at the Captain’s Table this evening, so that will be rather nice as it is a ‘black and white ball’ evening. We have dined with other Officers many times before, but never with the Commodore, so this is a first for us! We are sailing in a south westerly direction toward the Gulf of Aden with a further 2340 n. miles through the Red Sea before the Suez Canal. We expect to arrive at the Suez Canal about 2.15am on Friday (16th) so hopefully we will be able to enjoy the experience when dawn breaks. We have five days at sea until Alexandria on March 17th and there is still plenty to do. We have clocked up 34, 682 nautical miles to date, which is 39,884 miles.