Crossing the equator

Full day sailing today as we head north from Angola to São Tomé & Príncipe, crossing the equator on the way.

When crossing the equator by sea, nautical tradition dating back to the 1500's involves conducting a ceremony to pay homage to Neptune, God of the Sea, which transforms a sailor who has never crossed the equator, known as a Pollywog, into a Shellback.

The ceremony is lighthearted and was originally done to break the monotony of long sea voyages and boost crew morale, so today involves paying respect to King Neptune, kissing a fish and getting a miniature ice bath.

After an exhausting day eating, reading and enjoying ice cream on the pool deck, we also did a galley tour this afternoon with the head chef. It's quite an exercise in logistics to feed over 1,000 people every day (guests and crew). The fun fact I took from it is that they loaded 58,000 eggs at the start of our cruise, and will be topping up with another 15,000 in Ghana!Read more