Woke up several times thru the night. Then noticed some light behind our darkened shades. Peeked out and noticed that we were moving. This was earlier than expected as it was only 4 am. Pretty light outside as the sun was already rising. Took several pictures off our balcony. Then got dressed and went out on deck. Got to see both sides of the Suez Canal. I expected some locks, but there were none to be seen. We were leading a parade of large ships thru the canal. One of the channels on our tv had a view of the front of our ship with one of the crew narrating our transit, pointing out key areas and buildings along the way. We then headed back to sleep for a couple of hours. Took more pictures of the canal. Then headed to Deck 14, Lido, for breakfast. Then headed back to our cabin as Mark was not really feeling well all day. He had a headache and his sinuses were bothering him. More sleep was helpful to both of us. I was trying to not catch his cold. We walked around Deck 7 for exercise and different views of the canal. So many of our fellow passengers did the same. It was interesting to see. For lunch, we went back to Deck 14, Lido, and picked out some things from the buffet for lunch and brought our food back to our cabin to eat out on our balcony. As soon as we started eating, the flies appeared. I was not wanting to share my meal with flies, so I went inside, as did Mark. It was hot outside. We were looking at Egypt on both sides of the ship. We motored thru the new section of the canal. There were many freighters on the other side, the old part of the canal. They had to wait in one section for the ships on this side to get thru, before they could go further in the opposite direction. We both skipped water volleyball today. I was not feeling up to it after our big hike in Petra. Our bodies were sore. Plus. Mark didn't want to get into the water with his cold. We relaxed in the cabin. I posted a lot of pictures on Facebook and replied to emails. Our ship completed the transit by 2 pm. We saw lots of sand hills and buildings, mostly on our side of the canal. There were several areas with ferry boats that went back and forth. There were several floating swing bridges that were used when the ships stop transiting. This way they move tractor trailers from one side of the canal to the other. There were several mosques along the way, many of them blaring from their loud speakers, prayers and music. Or call to prayers in Arabic. There were areas with small cities. Lots of sand hills in-between. The water was polluted with oil slicks in places. We could see see white jelly fish from our 11 deck above the water. At one point I went out to the front of the ship to take a pictures of the Peace Bridge. It reminded me of our Jacksonville Dames Point Bridge that is close to our house. There were lots of passengers out on our deck and the one below. I looked up and saw Captain Tony on the bridge looking out our way. I waved to the Captain! He did a great job in getting us safely thru the pirates and the canal. Then we headed up to Deck 14, aft, for today's Ryder Cup challenge. I did not do very well. We had to hit the ball off a wall, around a pylon, back to the wall and into the hole. Once we finished our turn, we headed back to our cabin. I stopped along the way to work on a new 1000 piece puzzle in the library. I barely got started, working on the edging, when the library staff told me that it was closing for a private event. It was time for me to head back to our cabin to shower and change for dinner. Mark decided he would skip the dining room and just picked out some food on Deck 14 and again, ate in our cabin. I joined Greg, Maxine and Ian at our usual table in the dining room. Beverly was under the weather today as well. Our dinner finished faster. Tonight's Movie Under the Stars was Rouge One Star Wars. I had prearranged to meet Mark there. He was there when I arrived and managed to secure the nicely padded loungers. Watched the movie, with bags of popcorn.
Then headed up to get a hot coffee as we were both cold from the chilly breeze outside. Met up with some NZ friends and they were heading to the late show. Mark headed back to the cabin and I joined them for the Llia & Oksana strength and agility performance in the Princess Theater on Deck 7. It was an incredible show. Ilia ended up doing one of his moves with our cruise director, Jody. Very impressive. Headed back to the cabin. Mark was watching the end of a movie, while I started tonight's blog. Thanks for the many emails and messages. Tomorrow, will be another restful sea day! Our ship's time is 6 hours ahead of East Coast time.