Day 128: At Sea … Gulf of Suez

Sunday, 14 May 2017
At Sea — En Route to the Suez Canal

Stats @ Ship’s Time 9:15p (IDT) … UTC 6:15p (14 May)
Temp: 85.8F (29.9C)
Position: 29.49.53N / 32.33.77E

Why do you go away?  So that you can come back.
So that you can see the place you came from with new eyes and extra colors.
And the people there see you differently too.
Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.
~ Terry Pratchett ~

We were supposed to have called on Sharm el Sheikh today.  But that changed just a few months after we booked the RTW in 2015.  The updated invoice we received at the time of final payment last June had a note that the change was due to the Suez Canal transit schedule.  That may well be the case, but forgive me if I am a little skeptical of the reason given.  Why?  Because the change was made mere weeks after a Russian airliner was brought down by terrorists following its take-off from Sharm el Sheikh on 31 October 2015 … our cruise agent notified me of the change on 12 November 2015.  A coincidence?  Hmmmm!

In any event, the bottom-line is that today was a day at sea … a much appreciated one following three very hot days of sightseeing.

We lost an hour overnight to put us in Israel Daylight Time … which is the same as Arabian Standard Time.  This time change was necessary because Egypt stayed on standard time when much of the world sprung forward in March.  I really do wish that the whole world would just agree to have a single standard and forget about the twice-yearly springing forward and falling back rigmarole.  Off my soapbox now ;-)

I was up shortly after 6:00a … the veranda was lovely … cool temp, shade, no humidity to speak of.  And no fumes.  I sat out for a while until it was time to go up to the Terrace Café for breakfast.  Then I was off to the library to download and review photos from our Luxor overland.  Before I knew it, CD Ray was announcing the 14-day muster drill for this segment.  The wind was blowing hard at that point, so we were excused from going out to the boat stations this time.

After the drill, I hoped to sit out on the Deck 5 promenade, but the lounge chairs were all bundled together.  The library was too cold for comfort.  So, I ended up just sitting on the bed in the cabin to continue working on photos until shade moved onto the veranda.  By then, I was not in the mood to write, so I enjoyed some al fresco light reading instead.

I skipped the Mother’s Day Brunch in an effort to keep lunch light since we had a dinner invitation from Tricia & Steve — the RTW hosts.  Turns out we ended up canceling when we received a note from them asking to delay dinner so that they could attend a vow renewal ceremony.  Maybe another time plans will coordinate better.  Instead, we attended the O Club Party with the Gelmans and then the four of us joined John & Karen and Jan for dinner in the dining room.  We had a very nice meal with plenty of the jocularity that comes from having shared interests.

It’s now 9:15p and I am on the veranda once more.  Insignia is at a standstill, although occasionally I hear the propellers churning up the wake.  If we have not arrived at the ‘parking lot’ for the northbound ships that will be transiting the Suez Canal with us tomorrow, we are near the spot.  From the lights I can see around us, most of the vessels look like cargo ships … with perhaps one other cruise ship off in the distance.  We are expected to begin the transit around 4:30a tomorrow — should take about nine hours according to CD Ray.

Screenshot from the NavChannel showing where we are anchored for the night.

There is a heavy, unidentifiable smell in the air tonight.  Not the usual fumes we get.  It’s more like the smell of wet dirt mixed with diesel fumes from all the ships at anchor with their engines working to keep them in position.  In fact, as we walked down the corridor on our way back to the cabin from the dining room, there was a thick smell in the air … almost like we were bunkering … except that we weren’t.  Luckily, the fumes are outside the cabin.  So, I guess I’ll put a period here and go to bed early instead of sitting on the veranda as I had hoped I would do tonight.

Tomorrow we add a new milestone to our world travels.

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