Fri, Apr 28: At Sea

Today was another slow day around the ship.  

Mary went to a cooking demonstration.

The highlight of the day was the crossing of the equator (per the captain we would only feel a very minor bump crossing the line). The ship had an elaborate celebration for those crossing the equator for the first time (turning them from pollywogs to shellbacks).  We had already crossed on our Galapagos cruise.  

The festivities were led by Eric, in extremely high-heeled shoes and an exceptionally tall hat…putting him somewhere at about 8+’ at the top of his hat. 

Two of the ships officers were on their first voyage across the equator and they had to swear allegiance to King Neptune and his queen (both members of the entertainment staff) and were essentially slimed with some pretty yucky looking yellow stuff. 

Then any passengers crossing the equator for the first time were invited to “Kiss the Fish”.  A real and very large fish.

Great time was had by all.

The show this evening featured a woman from Scotland who sang, played the Irish flute (a black ebony wood flute with a haunting sound) and the penny whistle (also called a tin whistle).  And the fingers flew over the penny whistle.  She was said to have won international penny whistle competitions.  Who even knew they had penny whistle competitions.  It was a great and energetic show. 

We had a wonderful sunset tonight.