Port Said and first glimpse of Mediterranean

At the northern most part of the Suez Canal there is now a new container terminal known as Port Said.  The actual city of Port Said is slightly to the west and is a major Egyptian city.  The port, port built around the turn of the century is rapidly growing and attempting to be one of the largest ports in the Mediterranean.  Al counted 20 container cranes with many more under construction.   This is on the Sinai side of the canal and looking beyond to the east is nothing but desert!   We were very surprised when we passed to note that a large section of cranes had collapsed.  A little internet research revealed that in the beginning of May a COSCO (not COSTCO!) container ship upon departure crashed into the cranes causing explosion, fire and amazing damage.   This is yet another blow to the struggling Egyptian economy.

I grabbed this photo off the internet.  The catastrophe occurred May 3,2016

Just beyond the port we got our first glimpse of the Mediterranean.   From the map you can see that it is a very short distance to our next port, overnite to Ashdod, Israel.