Thursday, March 9, 2017

First of five sea days in a row. On Saturday, we will cross the equator. I got back into my rhythm of swimming laps and water aerobics though there isn’t a fun group to exercise with. One of the pools ranges from 5’ to 7’depth – perfect for me, but not quite the 25 meters the pool at Palm Aire is. So I’m still doing my 40 laps, but those and the ½ hour of water exercise/stretching counts double maybe because it’s like swimming in the surf! The pool wate sloshes with the movement of the ship (which is surprisingly noticiable even though the seas don’t look more than 3-5 feet. Wind is basically on our nose now at around 15 knots).

Mah Jongg in the afternoon. So far, I am ahead around $3! Tomorrow, I shall learn to play Chinese Mah Jongg from the Memphis Mafia – a delightful group of friends from my home town. Well, technically Collierville and Piperton – just East of Memphis.

Friday, March 10, 2017

Day 2 of 5 in a row at sea

The usual, Swam laps, water exercise/stretching, enjoying the surf-like motion of the pool. And Chinese Mah Jongg! Fun to play and a different challenge than American Mah Jongg. Think I’ll see if I can find a group in Sarasota to play, maybe teach a table or two!

Saturday, March 11, 2017

Day 3 of 5 in a row at sea

Chuck woke me at 3:15am to witness the crossing of the Equator (he had been awake since about 11:30pm reading and watching the Lat/Longs slowly change. We watched the TV since it was too dark to see the Equator line in the water and got a photo at 03:35 at 00*00.01’S/041*49.28’W. Back to sleep for both of us for a few more hours!

Can you see the dotted line of the Equator?

Surf was up in the pools so no swimming for me today. Besides, we had the Crossing of the Equator Celebration to attend at 11 a.m. I got there an hour early and still had to look to find a chair. When I did, I parked it front and center beside a support pole under cover of the upper deck. Before long, several others had planted their chairs along side mine forming an official looking row for viewing. A Mah Jongg friend sat beside me – it was very important for her to have a good viewing spot as her husband had been chosen, along with a couple they knew, to be part of the ceremony. Crowds forced us to move our chairs up to the rope line, a bit more exposed to the elements which were beginning to sprinkle on us, but not enough to make us move. Chuck came along shortly and brought us a couple of towels, my visor (purple so I’ll show up in the videos) and my cane which turned out to be very helpful standing for the entrance of King Neptune and Queen Aphrodite.

The King and Queen were followed by their “men in black” and the special “pollywogs”, consisting of five passengers dressed like prisoners and all of the new crew members who had not crossed the Equator before dressed in togas tied with green ribbons (seaweed?). The “Captain” welcomed the royalty aboard his ship and the ceremony began: The first two “prisoners” were accused of lustful behavior and were sent to the barber to have their heads shaved(?)(which didn’t happen, thankfully for the couple) but they did have to suffer the indignity of being “slimed” with buckets of water of many different colors. The next “prisoner” was my friend’s husband, Bob. He was accused of “trickery” and sentenced to kiss the naval of a Nubian maiden (?) while blindfolded. After his eyes were covered, the young lady was replaced with a big bucket of whipped cream. The last “prisoner” was accused of “gluttony” and placed on the “surgical table” to be cured by removing organs and other body parts (surgery was concealed from view by “nurses” holding drapes around the surgical suite. The “doctor” then started throwing what he was “removing” (a string of link sausage, joint bones, yellow jello, and spaghetti noodles, etc) All this good fun was followed by the participants having to kiss a real tuna and the crew was then thrown into the pool! At the conclusion of the ceremony, King Neptune gave the “Captain” permission to continue our voyage by crossing the Equator (ceremoniously, of course). After the ceremony, all who wished were invited to line up and kiss the fish in order to become a “leatherback”.

After lunch, I returned to learning Chinese Mah Jongg. A really enjoyable afternoon; it’s nice to have a new challenge to learn! I did really well though I was the only one keeping score. Tomorrow, we have decided to all keep score which will make it more interesting.

Another formal night tonight. We shall have Chateaubriand and souffle’ in our suite.