At Sea on the Equator
Today began quietly, as do most of these days at sea. We are now used to the pace of these sea days and they fly by as we sail north up the middle of the Atlantic. In mid-afternoon, however, the peace was interrupted by a message from the Captain explaining that we were hove to because we had been boarded by representatives of Neptune’s Realm who demanded to examine our papers before we could continue into the Northern Hemisphere. As it turned out, this rather unsavory band of brigands demanded much more than paperwork. They required that we present for their inspection any of our number who had not previously sailed across “The Line.” We did our best to appease them but they were completely unreasonable. The leader, King Neptune himself, standing next to his glamorous and voluptuous paramour, Queen Tethys, and surrounded by several nasty looking cutthroats, seemed to know exactly whom he wanted for his human sacrifices and we reluctantly handed them over to their fate. Davey Jones appeared and conducted these unfortunates into his watery realm. Finally after much negotiation and only after the ship and all aboard had been inspected and cleansed of those maladies and disorders that infect the Southern Hemisphere, we were granted permission to pass.
To celebrate our escape, we decided to take a dip in the world’s largest swimming pool. In water 3500 meters deep, we swam and cavorted for an hour, happy to be once again liberated and declared officially unblemished if not quite virginal. It is not often in life that we have the opportunity to swim freely in water this deep and this far from any land. Out here it’s just ourselves and our ship, and a happy combination that is indeed.
Today began quietly, as do most of these days at sea. We are now used to the pace of these sea days and they fly by as we sail north up the middle of the Atlantic. In mid-afternoon, however, the peace was interrupted by a message from the Captain explaining that we were hove to because we had been boarded by representatives of Neptune’s Realm who demanded to examine our papers before we could continue into the Northern Hemisphere. As it turned out, this rather unsavory band of brigands demanded much more than paperwork. They required that we present for their inspection any of our number who had not previously sailed across “The Line.” We did our best to appease them but they were completely unreasonable. The leader, King Neptune himself, standing next to his glamorous and voluptuous paramour, Queen Tethys, and surrounded by several nasty looking cutthroats, seemed to know exactly whom he wanted for his human sacrifices and we reluctantly handed them over to their fate. Davey Jones appeared and conducted these unfortunates into his watery realm. Finally after much negotiation and only after the ship and all aboard had been inspected and cleansed of those maladies and disorders that infect the Southern Hemisphere, we were granted permission to pass.
To celebrate our escape, we decided to take a dip in the world’s largest swimming pool. In water 3500 meters deep, we swam and cavorted for an hour, happy to be once again liberated and declared officially unblemished if not quite virginal. It is not often in life that we have the opportunity to swim freely in water this deep and this far from any land. Out here it’s just ourselves and our ship, and a happy combination that is indeed.
