At least, that's how the situation appears to be at the moment. No tugs, no mystery ship beacons, even the Chinese heavy lifter has departed to the south. I have to assume the new dredge boat is in the lake, but it isn't pinging, and I don't believe it's a major factor in this story, anyway.
TL;DR: There's a crap ton of unanswered questions about the whole EG story, both from the day of the grounding to suspicious activity in the Lake that continues to this day.
It's the mystery ship that comes and goes that is nagging at me. I realize that it most likely is switching off its transponder, rather than some kind of Philadelphia Experiment redux (look that one up if you aren't savvy....wild story). This mystery ship beacon, for a couple of days in a row, appears as a cargo ship. Yesterday was the first time I saw it close enough to the EG to actually be lashed to her, for quite a few hours, then a couple of hours floating very close nearby (.1 nm) then poof - vanished. No sign of any vessel exiting the lake to north or south, and that transit takes HOURS. I continue to watch for its return.
I find the whole appearance/disappearance of this mystery ship to be very suspicious, as it has been so close to the EG. Is she a cargo ship with cranes, and is she offloading containers or other bulk goods? Or is she a ship of a different kind, offloading other "cargo" that doesn't need a crane (but maybe a gangplank??) If all of this was just routine offloading, why the need to disappear all of a sudden, with no declared course? If this is some kind of military op, which would absolutely explain the secrecy, I have to believe the Canal Authority is aware of what's going on, and is taking steps to keep other vessels away from the lake at opportune hours in the night. For all we know, such an operation could be happening right now.
Speaking of the Suez Canal Authority, there are a few unanswered questions. We are told that the SCA wants $1B from the ship's owners before they'll let Big EG free. The Japanese owners of the EG seem to be agreeable to this, and do not want to litigate a lesser sum in court. Just write a big fat check to make it go away. If it was an accident, why not litigate for a lesser sum? My guess is, they want to avoid discovery. This lends credence to the theory that this EG grounding was NOT an accident, and there are VIPs who are willing to pay any price to keep this quiet. The MSM might try to help accomplish this, but I don't know that they'll be successful.
And the crew. 25 aboard, all from India. We're told they're being well taken care of, and the investigation into the grounding incident might wrap up by this weekend (Sauce: https://www.egypttoday.com/Article/1/100812/Probe-into-accident-of-Ever-Given-vessel-in-Suez-Canal ) But up to this point, there's been no mention of what actually happened on March 23. You'd think there'd be a quote somewhere by someone aboard attesting to a runaway ship (the EG was going almost double the speed limit for the canal) and there's been ZERO explanation for the d&b picture the EG "drew" before beginning her canal transit. The whole situation has an air of "move along, nothing to see here" about it, and that's highly suspicious in light of the amount of international trade that was disrupted for such a long time.
I'll continue to keep tabs on the canal for all my frens here, and will get back to a more traditional boatfag report if I learn anything useful. Thanks for reading!
Frens, here's your Sunday evening (evening in Egypt, anyway) Ever Given update: It's 7:30 pm, local time, and the convoys are leaving the Great Bitter Lake. Who's left? Big EG, the Chinese heavy load carrier, XIANG RUI KOU - it's reported that this vessel is carrying a dredger and plans to offload it somewhere to dredge something (will keep tabs, but my guess is the section of the canal at the extreme southern edge of the lake where two other vessels briefly ran aground last week).
Aaannnnd.....as of 4 hours ago, the mystery cargo ship satellite ping is back! Right alongside EG, where it was spotted yesterday. What is it, what is it doing there? I don't know - but it's definitely something to watch!
The UHL FAME, with its big cranes, anchored for a while in the lake about 2.5 nm away from EG. It got our attention, but never got very close to EG for any length of time, and is now transiting north in the canal, so no lifting maneuvers out of that one.
At the moment, there are no tugs in the lake, but there are two of them (SALAM 9 and SALAM 6) headed that way from the south.
Frens, it's 11 pm, Egypt local time, and there is some interesting activity in the Great Bitter Lake. Big EG is still anchored there, but there's a new satellite beacon for a cargo ship right alongside EG, but no ship outline or further identifier of what ship it is. Also in the lake are three tugs, two "Mossad" brothers (Mosaed 2 & 3) and Mosaheb 2. Aaannnnd.....one other cargo ship lurking very close by, XIANG RUI KOU. It's a Chinese Heavy Load Carrier, appears to be mostly laden (Draught 8.3m/9.7 m max). Most interestingly, its point of origin is Rotterdam, Netherlands ....the EG's final destination. No other ships appear to be in the Lake right now.
Could that mystery cargo ship beacon be a crane ship? Is there offloading going on? I've read that canal authorities are holding EG in place until financial liabilities get sorted out, but does the same hold true for the cargo? Maybe this is all coincidence, but it definitely is outside the pattern of activity I've observed in the past couple of weeks.
I've been keeping eyes on the Ever Given situation periodically throughout the day. It's just after 3:30 am, Egypt local time, and the Great Bitter Lake is once again empty, just Big Green herself.....and HALKI, a bulk container ship which has been stationed just off the EG's stern (about .2 nm away) for the past two hours. At least, that's how she appears to be stationed. Her status is "under way", but her future track seems to be locked down. Any experienced boatfags out there able to shed any light on this weirdness?
So, before the election, I used to read a lot, for relaxation and as a mental escape. Mostly historical fiction, but a sprinkling of other genres, too. Since November 3rd, I have found that I'm not able to focus for any real length of time on a novel, because I don't want to miss a thing with the events of real life. A side-effect of being 'awake,' I suppose. And, here on GAW, I'm not at all lacking for things to read and think about.
All of what I've been reading and learning has got me thinking about what comes next. I'm working off the assumption (and I do fully believe) that the Q plan is going to come to fruition, and we're going to get our country back, and our rightful president, too. And when that happens, all of the normies who have just joined the party are going to need a lot explained to them about "what just happened?" (Because to them, I believe, the reveal will be sudden and jarring.) We'll all do what we can to explain things to them, as gently as possible, but we're probably going to reach a point when we will want to tell them to "just read the book."
And that brings me to my point. Someone, or a few someone's, will write all of this down for mass consumption, and IMO, are going to make a mint. I, for one, am looking forward to reading it, especially flipping to the end at will. (I'm sure more than a few of us wish we could do that IRL right now!) I'm very curious to know which living author (or authors) you think could do this story justice. I'll go first: I think Erik Larson (Devil in the White City, Dead Wake, Thunderstruck and others) does a fantastic job weaving together seemingly unrelated plot lines into a coherent narrative, and his footnotes are often as detailed and interesting as the main story itself. I think he'd be able to craft the story of the stolen election and all the pedo stuff into a riveting read for even a normie population to grasp. I don't know Larson's politics, I'm just going off the merits of his work. And I don't necessarily believe that all topics, or even more than one topic would need to be combined in one book. There's a ginormous amount of material to cover.
I'm not in the publishing world myself, but if any publishing frens are reading this, you can thank us later for the research assistance!