Officially Shellbacks

One last hello from Maple before we arrive in Galapagos tomorrow!

Today we had the momentous occasion of crossing the equator at around 1100. Okay...really it is like the anticipation of New Years Eve and then a little anti-climatic but we made the most of it by making an offering of a maple leaf shaped cookie and champagne. We think Poseidon has a bit of a sweet tooth. And yes, it is Poseidon to us instead of Neptune given where we started our journey. The Greek Gods and Goddesses win out on our boat.

We had received an official summons the night before from Poseidon himself to meet him at 1300. So the girls and I were on time, but the captain was a no-show. And what do you know Poseidon himself graced us with his presence!!! He put us through the motions to adequately demonstrate our worthiness of becoming a shellback. We had to tie a bowline, have squid ink (which smelled and tasted suspiciously of molasses) drawn on our backs in the shape of a turtle shell and brave the creatures of the deep by jumping into the ocean. The girls and I passed with flying colours of course!! Poseidon then sadly left us but with instructions for whenever the captain decided to turn up with some punishment for failing to show up on time. And what do you know the captain turned up not long after Poseidon's departure. His penance for not being on time was to crawl around the boat on his hands and knees and to have the added addition of squid ink dumped over his head. However, in the end, we think Poseidon was satisfied that the whole crew qualified for the distinguished order of shellbacks.

Tomorrow morning we should arrive in Galapagos!! Sadly there has been no wind to speak of so it has been motoring all the last day and night for us. The one positive side to that is we enjoyed our first swim on the southern side of the equator. We are looking forward to arriving and have been sorting out our defenses against the sneaky sea lions to keep them off our boat, will keep you up to date on how successful we manage.

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At 2019-04-01 21:23 (utc) our position was 00°11.80'S 088°47.13'W