Today we crossed the Equator so that means it's the King Neptune Ceremony or as we know it "Kiss the Fish". King Neptune and his Royal Court charge any and all crew members who have never before crossed the Equator into the order of the Shellbacks. These “pollywogs” have to appear before Neptune and address their onboard sins – then “kiss the fish” - proceed to be slimed with coloured meringue and then the captain and his executive staff gives either a thumbs up or thumbs down to determine their fate.

It’s Monday, October 05th or Day 13 since we left Vancouver. It’s 30 degrees Celsius in 90% humidity, so it’s just a little uncomfortable. We’ve covered a total of 4,095 nautical miles or 4,712 miles or 7,584 kilometers since we left Vancouver. Our second formal night tonight which then now refer to it as “Gala”. Given that we have four of these things on this cruise, we’ve decided to pass and head for the laundry to get our clothing cleaned up. We’ve found that the best time to get two of the four machines onboard here is 5:30 p.m. on formal nights – beyond that there is always a huge line up particularly thirteen days into a cruise. Laundry done, nobody there. Fresh clothes and ready to go.

Tomorrow we arrive in Pago Pago