Crossing the Equator
Everyone expected to enjoy a nice relaxing tropical day at sea as we quietly crossed from the Southern Hemisphere to the Northern Hemisphere. At least, it started out that way…calm seas and cool, overcast skies. We had perfect conditions to catch up on our reading, listen to a couple lectures, watch a movie, download photographs, and enjoy some more great cuisine. However, in the middle afternoon, a boisterous pod of common dolphins approached our vessel and forced Captain Kruess to slow down and steam around in a circle as people took photographs of their antics. We thought they simply wanted to play with us, but soon realized that they had purposely done this so that King Neptune, Queen Tethys, and their royal entourage could board us. The ship was immediately overrun with Scallywags, Pirates, and Mermaids (and one character that defied categorization), and all the guests and crew were ordered to the Sun Deck to meet with the visitors. Strangely, none of the staff members was called to attend this formality.
It soon became apparent we had to go through yet another immigration and customs check. What a bother! However, this was no typical drawn-out, paper-stamping exercise of African officialdom. Purser Sandra Mosquera had to quickly check through all the passports and documents to determine who among us had never crossed the Equator by sea. These people are known as Griffins. Compensations, amends, expiations, penances, apologies, reparations, recompenses, and atonements had to be made by those who were found guilty. In addition, appropriate cleansing procedures had to be carried out by King Neptune’s personal physician before our ship could be released from quarantine. Unfortunately, a few “guts” were accidently spilled from patients on the operating table onto the deck, because the doctor’s knife was apparently very dull.
All this was necessary for our ship to receive permission to continue on her way northward across the Equator. It was, in fact, rather bizarre and perhaps a bit traumatic for a few guests and crew, but at least now that the Griffins have officially been inducted as Pollywogs, they won’t have to go through it again if they recross the equator sometime in the future. Fortunately, the process went very smoothly and King Neptune graciously allowed us to get back on track and sail for Gabon…tomorrow’s destination.
