All good things…

We conquered the Indian Ocean. Snuck through the gulf of Aden like shadows in the night, braved the heat of Kuwait, and made it through Bab-el-Mandeb without losing any scientists.

Still, little of these courageous acts could prepare us for Suez, a real contender with Fujairah for the title of the weirdest place on Earth. But like our shipmates before us, we rise to the challenge and crossed through the canal into the great bitter lake. I don’t know why they call it that, it tasted fine to me.

While avoiding the invasion of last time, we were still set upon by the nobel merchants of Egypt, who peddle the greatest tat from the East to the greatest chumps in the West. No girls were traded for camels in the writing of this blog.

There’s no tat like Egyptian tat.

It was also in Suez we bid our fondest farewells to some of our companions, as James and the security team left us. Presumably to the mercy of some Pirates. It was an emotional time as hugs were given, tears were shed, hands were high-fived, and the most epic Bromance of the trip was torn apart.

The Suez canal

Returning to the Mediterranean somehow felt familar. Temperatures dropped dramatically to the point were there are times where we actually start to feel cold. A sensation admittedly, we had forgotten. Now if only we had some rain…

And of course there was always time for another barbeque. Now planned and executed like a millitary operation with the traditional curtain-raiser of Sex Bomb, this BBQ had a unique twist to mix things up a little: Manila Tea. This ‘tea’ was the fuel we needed for a hard night of… science.

Manila tea, fuel for the Barbeque giving scenes like this one

So what next for the intrepid crew? Home is just the horizon away but there is always more time for more science, for we head full steam ahead towards the straits of Messina and the volcano which awaits us there.

Teenage ninja mutant turbans assemble

Time to find out if this ship floats on lava. I, for one, am confident that it does.