We crossed the equator mid morning on Monday, February 20. I took a screen shot of the TV monitor in our suite close to the actual crossing time. We almost crossed at "zero, zero". That is zero degrees latitude and zero degrees longitude, the place where Google Earth goes when it doesn't know where you are. All I could see at the prime meridian and the equator was a lot of water. The weather did get appropriately hot and humid.
The cruise director scheduled an equator crossing ceremony at 11 a.m, shortly after the actual event. These ceremonies date back to the time of Columbus and, I'm told, have changed little over the centuries. King Neptune, the ruler of the seas, must be placated before he will allow the ship safe passage. This usually involves various indignities performed on passengers and crew who have never crossed the equator before. In this case a ship's entertainer and two brave guest volunteers suffered having gooey stuff dumped on them or simple embarrassment. The entertainers and Colin, our Scottish accented cruise director, played King Neptune and his minions. One of the traditional highlights is the kissing of a fish. A great time was had by all. The pictures tell the story.
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Barbara Borsuk
barbara@mborsuk.com
Boulder, Colorado, USA
303 408-3639
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