Day 117: Sea Day, Null Island

It seems like so long ago, on Saturday, January 20, 2024 Donna and I joined the “Order of Shellbacks”. Which means we crossed the Equator. Pretty cool.

Then on Monday, January 29, 2023 we crossed the International Date Line. Also cool.

But, today Wednesday, April 17, 2024 Donna and I joined the “Order of the Emerald Shellback” or “Royal Diamond Shellback” This is a rarity for many a sailor. Even our own Captain Richard had not been a member of this order until today. So, what does this mean?

Captain Richard went off the direct route towards Dakar to navigate the Neptune to 0 degrees North, and 0 degrees East - Which means off the West coast of Africa we crossed the Equator and the Prime Meridian at the same time. You can find it on a map. This is WAAAAAYYY cool.

Null Island was a 12 foot weather buoy that once was anchored at zero - zero. You can Google it. You can see a very poor photo of the buoy that was taken by a passenger who is on this cruise and also was on the 2019 cruise and saw “Null Island.”

Gail Lee led a group of feltters on making a special Null Island pin to wear on this day.

I got to kiss my lovely wife at 0 degrees North and 0 degrees East - Not bad!Read more