Scenes from the Suez Canal

This is a Suez Canal line boat. Every ship must hoist to the rail one of these boats prior to entering the canal. Should a ship lose power or steering, this boat will take a ship's lines to shore, where the ship can moor up. If a ship chooses not to take aboard a line boat, the other option is a tug escort--the pricier option.



This is one of the Suez Canal pilots. I took this picture from last voyage. That's Captain Diederiks staring out the window in he background. Unfortunately, I neglected to get this pilot's name. He was one of our northbound pilots. I printed out this picture for him, and he was very pleased.

This picture also came from last voyage. This is Captain El Rafey. I mentioned him in a previous post. He was our southbound pilot and the one who filled me in on Egyptian's national football/soccer team.

This is a typical fishing boat found in Bitter Lake, the anchorage for the southbound ships transiting the Suez Canal. As you can see, the fishermen both sail and row these boats. The sail is interesting, as it is a traditional lateen(?) rig for these parts. Sadly, I've also seen boats that had to stoop to a blue tarp for a sail. Yes, those very same blue tarps that you can buy in any store at home. I would have posted a picture of one of these boats, but it was too sad for even myself.

This mosque is located at Port Suez, the southern end of the Canal. I really love the lines of this structure. I probably should have loaded up the full-sized picture, so people could really take in the details.