At the Equator

Last night all of us on the MV Explorer waved good-bye to the North Star, or at least we would have had it not been so cloudy. Additionally, a “suggestion for fun” at the bottom of our daily Dean Memo suggested that before going to bed we fill up our sinks all the way and watch which way the water drained, and then to repeat the exercise in the morning to see if there was a difference. This exercise actually led to disaster as the ship inevitably tipped a bit as the sink was full to the brim and in our rush to let it all drain and clean up the mess, we forgot to actually watch which way it drained.

So the urban myth of clockwise above, counter-clockwise below (or is it the opposite? I’m dyslexic…) goes unsolved.

My first time in the Southern hemisphere has so far been … a lot like the northern hemisphere. The water is still blue. The sky is still blue. And there are still clouds. ACTUALLY, yesterday the water temporarily turned brown as we passed the Amazon River delta. All the debris from the Amazon River turned the ocean brown even as far out as we were (far: we couldn’t see land).

SAS has a fun tradition called “Neptune Day,” which is celebrated when we pass the equator for the first time. For some reason though, Neptune Day is actually scheduled for tomorrow. Classes are cancelled and our day is instead filled with fun activities such as showering in guts, kissing a fish, and shaving our heads. On the last voyage, fifty-five girls shaved their heads. I think I should take a poll on whether or not I should join in this time around? Mom? Oh right…you don’t have internet access right now. No good angel to counteract the bad devil telling me to “DO IT!”

Stay tuned to tomorrow’s entry for a recollection of Neptune Day’s events.