Lots of internet challenges since we left Ghana. A critical piece of hardware sustained some damage and apparently our ship engineers managed to repair it, but it has been very difficult (and frustrating!) to stay connected to the wireless. I am doing my best to catch up with postings now.
Neptune Day was our first full day at sea after Ghana - October 19. Like last time, King Neptune and his court made their way around the ship, clattering and banging things and waking everyone up to participate in the festivities. This was to celebrate the crossing of the equator on this day, and to turn pollywogs into shellbacks (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line-crossing_ceremony). It was a fun day with the usual head shaving, fish kissing, and King Neptune honouring activities. This crossing was made special by the fact that we reached the prime meridian at the same time, giving shellbacks the distinction of becoming emerald shellbacks. We reached 0 degrees latitude and 0 degrees longitude at 2:14pm that day. The captain sounded the ship's horn, and some looking off the starboard side saw a buoy that marks the location where the equator crosses the prime meridian. Apparently this was placed by a research group of some sort, but I have been unable to find anything about that; I will continue to look.
We have been moving quickly since leaving Ghana. I heard this evening on the CNN international news that we now have on the ship that pirates attacked a US ship, carrying oil I believe, in the Gulf of Guinea off the coast of Nigeria yesterday. The captain and one crew member were taken off the ship and no one knows where they are. We were there only a few days ago. Starting during the night after Neptune Day we had very rough seas and for two and a half days I experienced seasickness from the motion. I was very surprised since I never had this before except a very brief period of time one evening in the Indian Ocean on our last voyage. This time it was quite debilitating and I couldn't go near the dining room since the smells made the nausea much worse. Fortunately, we reached Namibia for bunkering yesterday morning and had about 24 hours off the ocean while we refuelled. Since we left Walvis Bay this morning, the water has been very smooth and we've seen lots of seals playing near the ship. It was unfortunate we couldn't leave the ship during the refuelling - John and I really enjoyed Namibia on our last trip.
We learned today that we have a special treat in store in Cape Town, as Archbishop Desmond Tutu (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desmond_Tutu) will be coming on board on our last day in that port, October 30. There will be a reception where we will all have an opportunity to meet him, then he will speak with the students. He has been a friend of Semester at Sea for many years, often sailing for partial or complete voyages. We are very much looking forward to visiting Cape Town again, and also to meeting this special guest!
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