25 Jan 2009 – Sailing south along the coast of Ecuador. The reality of such a long trip is that you need to do laundry once in awhile. For us it was today. We then caught a quick lunch so we could be on time for the Equator crossing ceremony. This follows an old seafaring tradition in which those who have never crossed the equator (called pollywogs) are judged by King Neptune for various past actions. When (always) found guilty the pollywogs are accorded punishment by the King’s court. (See photo) It was a riotous affair with lots of great music and laughter. Clyde chose a site where he could see the action without getting involved in the mess. King Neptune, his “queen” and the court really go into it. Various passengers and crew members were judged, found guilty and “punished”. I think we will cross the equator several more times before the cruise is over.
Tomorrow we land in Manta Ecuador and take a shore excursion for several days to Cuzco, Machu Pichu and Lima where we will rejoin the ship. Our tour leaves at 0615 in the morning (ugh).
We took most of the day yesterday to transit the canal. It is really quite an impressive sight. There are a series of locks at each end of the canal and in between there is a large lake (Lake Gatun) and a series of “cuts” make through the isthmus that form the canal. They run the canal from East to West for 12 hours and then run it from West to East for 12 hours. Lots of small islands in the Lake, some inhabited by indigenous people. Other just by monkeys and crocodiles. It appeared that the Panamanians were taking pretty good care of the place and we could see areas where they were dredging to widen and straighten it.
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You are doing a fantastic job with keeping us up to date; feels as though we are with you!
ReplyDeleteThank you.