Crossing the Equator

Meanwhile, back on the ship...

Ahoy maties!  As great as it is to be in the countries we are visiting, the time on the ship is never dull. This leg of our voyage was no exception. 

We finally signed up to have a tour of the bridge.

They even let us sit in the pilot chairs for the captain and first mate. 

 To begin the tour we were able to cross the threshold of some mysterious doors marked "crew only" to reveal where the ship's officers spend most of their time. 

During the tour we paid really close attention so that we could provide a detailed account of what we learned. 

The view from the bridge is rather sunny because we are sailing west.  This is because Kenya is west of Africa. Please subscribe for more interesting facts. 

This is the steering thingy. This is probably where gamers excel. 

This dial takes the ship to ludicrous speed Here one of the pilots of the ship shows us one of the sonar instruments.  It shows we are in water, not land.  If we were on land, this circle would be green, but it's blue!  That means were on water. Neat! They have a second, newer instrument that agrees we are on water, not land. This is the sonar readout which alerts the ship's pilot if there is land where there shouldn't be, or if there is any junk floating in the ocean that could damage the ship.  Apparently once in a while a cargo container might fall off a cargo ship and all of the Amazon packages it was carrying pose a threat to innocent ships coming through the area.  This screen shows how much water reserve is on the ship. The ship collects and desalinates sea water that we then use for drinking and showering and such. Looks like we're carrying plenty of fresh water!

Even though they are a lot of expensive instruments, there always has to be one person staring out the window looking for stuff in the water that might be a threat. 

Some of the kids on the tour helped. 

The captain was not on the bridge, but there was evidence of him.

Our captain is an interesting guy. He is a German named Captain Jan (pronounced "yawn"). He semi-regularly addresses the ship from the bridge via speakers that are located throughout. This is only unwelcome when we reach port early in the morning and he starts his announcements, however, usually he announces updates necessary to the ship's function.  He will inform us when we are in international waters, he will sometimes inform us when something interesting is visible from the ship such as whales, dolphins, or flying fish. He has a tagline when he is signing off, which is "this is Captain Jan, frrrrrrrrrrrom the bridge!"  It's all very exciting. 

Apparently maritime etiquette is to fly the flag of the country you are visiting, so the ship keeps a stock of every flag possible so they can fly it when arriving at a port. 

No white flag or Jolly Rodger in sight. 

This, presumably is where everyone sits when they aren't pretending to work while people are taking bridge tours. Just kidding. It's for naps. 

It's getting hot in here

If we haven't said it enough, this trip has been hot. It's hot in port, it's hot on the ship. There are a few areas of the ship that are extra air conditioned and at times you will find us lurking in the doorway of those rooms catching the a/c draft flowing through the swinging doors. 

One reason for this is because we have been increasingly nearing the equator. The other reason is that we use ocean water to cool the ship, but because we are travelling through the hottest parts of the ocean, the water is to warm so the air conditioning doesn't work as efficiently. 

Why is this the hottest part of the ocean? Because of the way ocean gyri move, the waters of the Indian ocean do not have any northern outlet  the way the Atlantic and Pacific oceans do, therefore warmer water gets trapped and recirculated. Something like that. 

All of that being said, by the time we reached the equator is was HOT. 

0° - The Equator

Crossing the equator on Semester at Sea is a big deal with a lot of maritime traditions in place. We were given hushed insinuations that something was coming, but they never really announced just what was to happen on "Neptune Day" when we crossed the equator. Kim knew because she researched spoilers, but Ender and Jacob were in the dark. 

We were predicted to have bad weather the day we crossed the equator so some of the ceremonial aspects of the crossing were postponed, which turned out to be a shame because the weather was perfect. 

Even without the ceremony, the captain made it as exciting as possible in two ways:  At the moment of the crossing the ship speakers began playing "Chariots of Fire" as we crossed. Then, he steered the ship,  crisscrossing the equator several times to spell out "SAS" in the ocean waves. No small feat for a ship this size!

Ender at exactly 0°

Despite the delay in ceremonial activities, many of the voyagers refused to delay the most important of maritime tradition when sailing across the equator for the first time: shaving one's head. Kim and Jacob opted out, but Ender went for it, and everyone got to help out. Even his Dungeons and Dragons players got in on the action. 

The shaving went on for hours as men, children and women, took their turn in the chair, shaving their heads as tribute to Neptune, the god of the ocean. 

Neptune Day

When the ceremonies of Neptune day did take place, they were worth the wait! The evening before there was an enigmatic announcement from an unfamiliar voice (it was Vernon, our dean of students), announcing that we were entering the kingdom of Neptune, and must be ready (with swimwear and sun screen) at 7am the following morning. The next morning we were awoken by the crew of the ship, loudly banging pots, pans and drums throughout the corridors of the ship, knocking on cabin doors as they passed. When we got out on the 9th deck we found an elaborate display of costumes and ceremony.  

Apparently, those who have not sailed across the equator are "pollywogs" while those who have sailed across the equator are "shellbacks." The members of the voyage team who had already done this ceremony in the past were in costumes and helping with the ceremony. 

The ceremony went thusly: To transform from a pollywog to a shellback one must take part of the ocean into them (sprinkled salt into our mouths), pledge loyalty to King Neptune, and agree to care for his oceans, be splashed with fish guts (Kool-Aid?), and plunge into the pool, swim across, kiss a fish, and kiss the ring. This was all a very sanitary process. 

The line of voyagers went on for hours, as nearly everyone lined up to take their turn. As the day wore on it became something of a dance party. 

Just a couple of shellbacks marked with the equatorial crossing symbol .

That night Staculty had our own dance party in the Chappy. Our DJ was none other than Phakamisa Blessing Majola, South African rapper "Black Moss" who is on our voyage.

Look at that chrome dome

We're excited to reach Kenya!