I don’t have too much to write about for Neptune Day. I had no idea how commonly this tradition was practiced whenever a boat or ship crossed the equator. In the past, some sailors were actually
harassed when they crossed the equator. Like something that you may see in a college initiation situation where the newcomers are tormented. For us, this wasn’t the case by any means. However, we did have to go through an initiation process. For those who cross the equator on land, they become Shellbacks. And for those who cross the equator and Prime Meridian at the same time, they become members of an elite group known as Emerald-Shellbacks. We happened to cross the geographical center of the earth the day after leaving from Ghana when we were approximately 382 miles South of Ghana.
There is a buoy at 0 degrees latitude and 0 degrees longitude. From what I gathered though, it isn’ necessarily accurate. After all, the ocean was almost 15,000 feet deep at the time we passed the buoy. This buoy had no writing on it to signal that it was point 0,0 like I thought there may have been. Our captain made a loop around the buoy. It took about 30 minutes to make our doughnut around the center of the earth. It is extremely tough getting acclimated to the humidity around the equator. Although it was only about 80 degrees F in Ghana, 90 percent humidity makes it feel quite hot.
Our initiation to become true Emerald-Shellbacks was entirely too much fun. We had a ‘study day’ that day and we were told that something special was going to happen. Nobody knew anything. Crew members came pounding drums and cymbals through our hallways at 8am to wake everyone up. they were all dressed up in togas, wigs, and face painting. We all went to breakfast and at 10 am the activities begun. Starting with King Neptune aka our Student Dean, Tom, making an announcement over the loud speaker on how we are unworthy pollywogs and to become worthy we need to go up to the pool deck immediately.
People were lined up at the poolside to begin initiation. First, green slimed was poured over the top of our heads, we then proceeded to jump into the pool, swim to the other side, get out and kiss a fish. It didn’t taste good. After kissing a fish, we walked over to King Neptune and bowed before him, kissing the big green ring he had on his finger. People could choose as well to shave their heads as a part of the process. I have a few friends, even girls, that shaved their entire head! This took a strong act of bravery but they said that they just wanted to get out of their comfort zone which I admired them for. I shaved my head also but for me, it was just a normal haircut!! Here are 5 fotos from Neptune day.
From left to right: Amy, Sam, Nicki, Carolyn, Carley, Melanie, and Megan. |
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