Greetings Pollywogs from a newly appointed Shellback!

Neptune day is the greatest day EVER! It was so much fun! I think we were all expecting it to be corny and lame but it actually turned out to be awesome. So we were woken up at a reasonable hour by our stewards coming through our cabins banging pots and pans and screaming and yelling at us; not the most pleasant part of the day. We were all summoned to the top deck at 9 for the beginning of the festivities. Once all of us pollywogs (people who have never crossed the equator) were gathered, Captain Jeremy and his wife came out dressed as King Neptune and the Queen and followed by staff and shellbacks (people who have crossed the equator) all dressed up in crazy getups and with fishes and instruments and everything, it was super funny. Then all who wanted to cross the king’s ocean had to pay their respects by getting “fish guts”dumped over their heads, kissing a fish, kissing the king’s ring and bowing to the queen, then jumping in the pool, getting out to kiss another fish and then getting knighted by Joe the safety officer. It was really funny to watch everyone doing it and it was so cold too! Ben and I did it together and got some pretty funny pics. Then, if you wanted, you could go to the royal barber’s corner to have your head shaved. Tons of people did it (lots of girls too), but I opted to keep my hair. They had music playing and the sun was shining and the rest of the day was spent lying on the deck, jumping in the pool to cool off (after they had cleaned the fish out), and playing volleyball. Then at night they set up a huge buffet dinner outside on the top deck and decorated it all pretty and served us the best meal we’ve had on the ship. It was like 4th of July times a thousand. They had hot dogs, hamburgers, bbq pork ribs, corn on the cob, potato salad, macaroni salad, and tons more! And then they made us all these bomb desserts on the decorated fruit table that was spilling over with all kinds of fresh fruit. And then they had an ice cream table too! It was heaven. We were all so happy! It was definitely the best day ever. So all you pollywogs, I am now a shellback and will hold that over you until you become a shellback too (and no, on a plane does not count; you must be on a ship because its an old sailors tradition. This is the background we got from the Dean’s memo for today: “Crossing the Line, or Neptune Day, is an initiation rite celebrated in many navies. It commemorates a sailor's first crossing of the equator. The rite was intended originally as a test of new shipmates by seasoned sailors. The tradition dates back to the 16th century, and in the old days, the ship heaved to (that is, it set its sails so as to remain stationary) and the pollywogs were hoisted on the mainyard and dunked into the ocean 40 feet below; afterwards, shaving and other forms of blood letting took place.”Glad we’re not back in the old days!) And we’re not actually crossing the equator until tomorrow afternoon haha.
Here’s our position for today in case you’re curious! Back to classes tomorrow and Namibia in 4 days!
At noon today the Explorer’s position was…

Latitude: 08° 20 mins. N

Longitude: 016° 22 mins W

Distance made good: 414 nautical miles

Distance to go to next port: 2606 nautical miles

Average speed: 24.94 kts

Air temp: 26C (79° F)

Sea temp: 26C (79° F)

Wind: NW/5 kts

Sunset today: 1908

Sunrise tomorrow: 0657
Love covered in fish guts!
Alex