Today we awoke to the sound of cymbals, whistles, drums and pounding on our door. It is NEPTUNE DAY! To celebrate our crossing of the equator and prime meridian there was a big ceremony out on the 7th deck around the pool. Everyone who has crossed the equator before is called a Shellback and everyone that hasn't is called a Pollywog. After we were awake we had some breakfast and went up to the pool deck where the ceremony began with a procession of the Shellbacks...

Yesterday we visited two castles: the Elmina Castle and the Cape Coast Castle. This was much different than our carefree time at the resort and the Kakum Rainforest. The castles here were where they kept African slaves before sending them to various countries. Elmina Castle was built by the Portuguese in 1482 as St. Georges Castle. First, it was established for trade, but it eventually became part of the Atlantic Slave Trade route. Eventually, it was taken over ...