Happy Valentine's Day & Happy Neptune Day!

Today our shipboard community celebrated Neptune Day, which is historically a ceremony for mariners who are crossing the Equator for the first time. The crew dressed up in ridiculous costumes came banging drums through the decks to wake everyone up at about 7:30am and we all gathered up on the Pool Deck, Deck 7 to start the ceremony. I got to be a part of King Neptune's court with some of the other RD's as Fish Handlers. Basically, everyone who wanted to participate was in line and got a gross blue liquid of fish gut that smelled terrible poured over their head, jumped in the pool, came out of the pool to kiss a fish, had to bow to King Neptune, kiss his ring and then he would confirm your worthiness to dwell among those whole live in the sea. As Fish Handlers, we had to hold the big dead fish for people to kiss as they were getting out of the pool. Alot of students and a few staff also shaved their heads. No worries...I still have all of my hair, although about 40 girls did. I did go through the line though! I know our little ceremony for fun is nothing like the 'real Shellback' ceremonies that the Navy and Merchant Marine would do but it was all in good fun and really brought everyone together on board. On any normal college campus, this would totally be considered hazing but out here its just a good time! I wish I had more pictures of the whole thing but I left my camera inside so it would stay dry. I'm sure other people have pics of it so I will see if I can find some to post.

The Neptue Day ceremonies ended around 11:00am and the rest of the day was designated for some rest and relaxation as a break in classes during this long stretch of time at sea. I definately took advantage of that and took a nap, watched pieces of the movies on the ship TV channels and started a new book, By the River Piedra I Sat Down And Wept, by Paulo Coelho.

Today was also our first time hitting anything more than smooth seas. Sure we've felt some gentle rocking before, but today things were all over the place. This still isn't bad relative to what is possible but you definately had to hold to the railings walking around and all of the outside decks are closed off. Plates were sliding all over the tables in dining halls, you can hear things crashing around, and everything in my cabin that wasn't in a drawer ended up on the floor.

M/V Explorer Noon Position Report: 14 February 2008 -- Latitude: 26 degrees, 42 minutes South, Longitude: 011 degrees, 48 minutes West, Distance Made Good: 1721.6 Nautical miles, (Since Salvador), Distance Made Good: 343.2 Nautical miles(Since noon), Distance to go to the next Port: 1623 Nautical miles, (Cape Town, South Africa), Average Speed: 12.6 Knots, Distance to the nearest land: 630 NM from Tristan da Cunha island (UK) Sea Depth: 4330 Meters, Sea Water Temperature: 25º Celsius (77º F), Air Temperature: 22º Celsius (71.6º F), Wind: Southeast, 29 Knots, Sunset Today: 18:27, Sunrise Tomorrow: 06:14, Tonight ship's clock will be advanced 1 hour