A highlight for me of taking a ship from Singapore to Europe was getting to go through the Suez Canal, one of the manmade wonders of the world. The canal opened in 1869 and has been expanded several times over the years, most recently by a 22-mile expansion opened in 2015. Our journey through the Suez Canal turned out to be a fascinating, nearly 11-hour transit (just over twice the length of the Panama Canal).
We arrived at the south entrance to the canal in the wee hours of the morning and joined a group of ships waiting to enter the canal. Because stretches of the canal are too narrow for ships to pass, vessels must join a convoy and go through with others headed their way. We ended up joining a convoy of thirty ships headed north. One of the largest container ships in the world was just ahead of us.
