Southern Hemisphere and Neptune Festivites!

Hello there and welcome to the Southern Hemisphere!!!


Yesterday (1/30) was a day filled with tradition, celebration, and relaxation. After being abruptly woken by a raging crew band, everyone filled the top deck around the pool, deck 7 to take part in the days festivities. After a brief announcement from the ship’s Captain, it was on with the traditional festivities! The basis of the tradition, supposedly, lies within the fact that all the pollywogs (students and other passengers) were to be christened into the values and ways of the sea to become Shellbacks. There was a series of events that made this transition from pollywog to shellback possible. First, lines formed in order for the pollywogs to be doused with “fish-guts,” (not real fish guts, it was a culinary concoction) in shades of mint green, electric orange, and milky white. From there they were bathed in the water of the sacred swimming pool. The water rapidly turned from a glowing clear Caribbean blue to a cloudy Coastal New England Atlantic Brown. After the cleansing, a ladder was climbed and the pollywogs reached the platform where King Neptune and his entourage settled. Once out of the water, the pollywogs were asked if they would respect the sea and all that it has to offer; after an acceptable answer, the pollywogs had to kiss: a fish, the ring of Neptune, and the Triton of the Queen. After doing all of those tedious tasks, the pollywogs were officially transformed and titled Shellbacks.

There was something that bothered me about this whole thing. From the time I woke up in the morning, I was absolutely thrilled to be celebrating Neptune day; a sea-holiday dating back hundreds of years. I was wishing everyone a Happy Neptune Day, and there seemed to be a confused look that came back at me. Trying to motivate and mobilize the crowds was like beating a dead horse. Thankfully, once the events began, people were infused with a wave of energy that came about the ship.

After the christening, people began lining up to have their heads shaved. It was a free-for-all. Gentlemen of all sorts and ladies with all lengths of locks lined up to fall victim of the razor. There were girls who cut of 12+” of hair. Tears streamed down their face but there was a smile under it all. A once in a lifetime opportunity that most had been looking forward to since boarding. Friend after friend of mine came running up to me showing off their new look…I was dreading what might end up happening to me. The director of my show cringed when I told her I was on the fence about shaving my head…but she said that I could do as I wish. The night before I had made several promises to people that if they shaved their head, then I would shave mine. As of lunchtime, no one that I had made that promise with had done so. After filling my stomach, it was abruptly turned uneasy when my friend Margot came running up to me with no hair!!! She was one of the ones that I made the promise with. I seriously almost threw up on the spot. I was dragged to Mark’s cabin where our friend Chad had his razor and was doing the honor to others who lined up. I really didn’t want to go under the razor, we started hacking away with scissors…I screamed and whimpered like a moaning beast in dire pain. After seeing what my head looked like after the butchering of the blade, I was coerced into going under the electric razor. I begged that they use an attached and not go right to the skin…thankfully, they allowed me to do so.

As I’m sure you can assume now, my head was shaved. It was a painful experience. Hysterical really. Luckily, they finished my head just in time to take part in the group picture of all the head shavers of the day. It really did feel good to be apart of that group. You would be stunned at the number of people that shaved their heads. Guys with hair down to their shoulders and ladies with locks down to their buttocks! The crazy thing is, there was a lot of people I knew and had met before they got rid of their hair, and now, frankly, I’ve looked like an ass asking their name again when I’ve known it since boarding the ship!! Let’s just say, hair does a lot.

After the shaving of the head, it was time for some fun in the equators hot sun. We all joked about having the Monday blues and how it was probably the worst case ever; no one on the ship had to work. We didn’t have school, all of the staff had the day off, it was just of course the ship’s crew that kept with their normal duties. Again, you’ll be pleased to know that I didn’t burn, even in the close rays of the sun.

I’ll be posting pictures of the past few weeks as soon as I get to Brazil…takes far to much time to do on the ship and it wastes valuable minutes. We get to Brazil tomorrow morning…YEAH! I have the first day in Salvador to myself, then, on Thursday morning I leave for Praia Del Forte, a fishing village a few hundred miles north of Salvador. On the way there we will stop at a turtle sancutuary, and also do some kayaking in a river around the area (not the Amazon). Well, I’ve got to get to class.

I’m sure they’ll be another post later on today with location updates! Ciao!