February 10th

We were delayed in our departure from Luxor by high winds today, (Tuesday February 10th). Only by an hour or so. Apparently the police here limit river traffic in high wind conditions which I would say were a steady 20 mph going across the river with a lot of dust in the air. When the word go came; 50 or more boats left all at once. All of them are similar in size (probably 40 feet wide and 200 feet long) and you can imagine the mayhem. It is probably a common occurrence but for us a treat to watch. It was like watching a race get started. First one to the locks (we have to go through a set of locks today) is the first one through them or at least in good position in the line. We had to go under the only bridge in Luxor after about 5 miles and everyone was jockeying for positions. It became essentially a game of chicken. We had another huge boat like our own at times not more than 20 feet off of either side as we approached the bridge with only room for two in our passage. I can proudly say that our captain (insane or has no peripheral vision) won, and one of the boats had to slow VERY hard to miss the bridge pylon. It was a zoo as no other I have ever seen in a maritime sense, and I am surprised that there is still a bridge here. I of course couldn’t understand them, but the captains and crew were screaming very angrily at one another. Easy to hear the anger when they are only 20 feet away. Pretty funny. I can only surmise that our captain is deaf as well. I guess you had to be there…..
Of note, I am typing this from the ship. If you are reading this, it means that our captain has delivered us safely. I must stop now as I have to brace myself for a potential collision!
I have decided to type these ahead of time because the internet connections have been very slow and spotty in availability. Another thing that we take for granted. Each picture has taken about 10 minutes to post for our blogs which has been frustrating at best.
Anyway, we are having a great time thus far. Tah Tah. JK