Suez Canal
Ismailia Sailing/Yacht Club
SY "Kamu II" at anchor, 200 m off the club house, at 7 m depth, on soft mud/sand.
Click below for an interactive satellite view of our anchorage:
Motoring uneventfully the first leg, about 49 nm, between Port Said and Ismailia at an average cruising speed of 6 knots with the professional assistance of Suez Canal pilot no.1, a Mr. Ahrabi, who did all the Arabic talking on the VHF radio with the pilot stations, gave us valuable navigational advice, told us about his family, entertained us with his prayers behind the mizzen mast, never pressed for baksheesh or wanted to use the heads or to go down below and altogether behaved very friendly, knowledgeable and courteous - US$ 10.- baksheesh as a well-earned tip were gratefully given and gratefully received.
"Even though a pilot is nominally in charge, the master is generally considered to bear ultimate responsibility for anything that goes wrong."
Communicating with our close friends in Ashkelon, having strong memories of the 1973 CE Yom Kippur War and cracking the old joke about when the IDF crossed over the Suez Canal and the Egyptians asked their Soviet advisers what they should do, the Soviets responded: “Do what we always do; fall back as far as you can and wait for the winter...”
Watching super tankers and huge container vessels (the canal allows passage of ships up to 19 m draft or 210,000 deadweight tons and up to a maximum height of 68 m above water level) appear to glide through the desert as they made their way through the 135-years old Suez Canal - one of the world’s most famous canals.
Click below for a summary of this year's travels
Recommended books - click below for your Amazon order from Germany:
