Location: Underway to Palau
Current position: 0 11.4699′ N, 147 41.8552′ E
The observant among you may notice a difference in our coordinates today. Yes, that’s right, we are now proudly positioned at a Northern Latitude, more specifically, just over 0.
Today, 18 of us awoke as humble “smelly pollywogs,” but soon, we will retreat to slumber as a full crew of shellbacks. If you’re unfamiliar with these terms, a pollywog is a person who has never sailed over the equator, and as you might guess, a shellback is someone who has sailed over the equator.
The morning began abuzz with anticipation of the upcoming equator crossing, counting down the minutes of latitude as we neared 0.0 00.000′. Watch team one (the undisputed best watch team) persevered the most equatorial 8 am to noon watch of our passage. The 8 to 12 is a dreaded watch of sweating underneath the scorching sun for four hours before we start retreating below to the saloon for classes for the rest of the day watches.
Today, however, the monotony of watch, eat, class, sleep was finally broken up. After lunch and a short oceanography quiz, we enjoyed some free time as we all anxiously awaited the equator crossing. People planned their equator-crossing outfits, and they certainly did not disappoint. Some highlights included Eleanor, Tyler, and Chloe dressing up as staff members, Pierce and Ian switching places, and Kylie and I decorating blank shirts with a written history of the past 63 days. Then, when the much anticipated “10 minutes!” call was made, we all rushed upstairs to countdown the coordinates as they approached the impossible dividend.
Catherine helmed us over the equator while Cole stood at midships with a bucket, ready to collect some precious equator water for all of us to drink. The festivities commenced with refrigerated drinks, including lemonade, cold brew, and one personal item from each crew member. This was the first time we’ve been allowed to refrigerate personal items, so the experience of quenching our equator thirst with cold beverages was quite celebrated. As the ceremony began, we were very surprised to find the staff members absent. Instead, a council of Poseidon, the Kraken, and their associates gathered to pronounce judgment on us pollywogs. Each crew member was tried for a crime aboard Argo and forced to repent through all manner of ridiculous punishments and offerings. The gnarliest sentences were Annie searching for olives in a pile of yogurt with her mouth and Chloe dancing to “gypsy woman” while wearing deck boots filled with beans. I encourage you to ask your loved ones what manner of the ill-conceived test they had to endure before being dubbed a shellback by Poseidon’s staff. Once the staff all awoke from naps and returned from other mysterious places, we began the tradition of shaving hair at the equator. We ran out of time for many today, but Will, Catherine, Pierce, Tyler, and Megan are certainly enjoying more breeze on their skin now.
Tomorrow bodes more excitement as we all prepare to take the Navmaster exam. Many people are cramming in some last-minute practice on the charts, and it’s time for me to go finish up our 6-8 pm watch.
Signing off in the Northern Hemisphere,
Max
Pictured:
Our first full group photo on Argo! (as we pass into the North Pacific)
Staff and their lookalikes
Poseidon’s council and some soon to be shellbacks
P.S. Hello again to everyone at home. It’s good to be in the same hemisphere again. See you soon.