Pacific Puddle Jump Day 25 A Very Important Journal Entry

This morning felt like Christmas. At last we were going to cross the Equator. With the crossing into the southern latitudes comes an important maritime tradition. The following is an excerpt from our Pacific Puddle Jump Book written by Don Anderson that describes this ritual: "Those who have never crossed the equator are called Pollywogs. On crossing the equator for the first time, one is immediately elevated to the title of Shellback and is entitled to hold that distinguished appellation until confined to the deep. On crossing the equator at any time and in either direction, all hands must toast King Neptune by individually pouring over the side, a wee dram of the most expensive beverage in the liquor locker. A few years ago, a Pollywog told me that it was OK if the libation had recently been filtered through the kidneys. Now I am not usually superstitious, BUT, shortly thereafter that fellow became a permanent resident of Davy Jones' Locker." We have been chomping for days to hold this sacred ceremony and earn the title of Shellback. After taking our morning position we set about preparing for the crossing. We pulled special bottles out of their resting place under the navigation station seat (that King Neptune is sure a party animal drinking at nine in the morning). We got our theme song for the event cued up in the stereo and brought out all the necessary paraphernalia on deck. As we approached the equator Pam stood in the cabin and read off the GPS in real time while Scott helmed the boat. Right before crossing we hove to in hopes of drifting over the equator, unfortunately the wind pushed us in the opposite direction. So as not to drift off to Hawaii, we returned to sailing and slowly sailed across the equator into the southern hemisphere. We crossed at exactly 0910 (PDT). We immediately fired up our chosen song for the crossing "Somewhere over the Rainbow" by Isriel Kamakawiwo'ole (a Hawaiian version). We heaved to again, this time in the southern latitudes, as "Somewhere over the Rainbow" continued to play. We were stopped in place with only a slight drift and Scott pulled off his shirt and dove into the ocean for a swim across the equator. It was a quick swim, so as to avoid any hungry mouths that may be lurking, and to avoid a marathon swim back to the boat. The water was warm and crystal clear. Once back on deck we both made a toast to King Neptune and read a poem and toast that we had written in advance. We each gave Neptune a healthy slug and then shared a sip ourselves (our individual poems are posted as separate journal entries). After toasting we read a card given to us from Kathy Abrahamson that she gave to us for the crossing. Pam finished off the festivities by presenting Scott with a special gift, an alligator squirt gun. The ceremony was a little silly and at the same time deeply moving for each of us. What an accomplishment to sail to the other side of the planet! We have made the entire day a holiday with a feast planned tonight. On the menu is a canned ham, baked potatoes, French cut green beans, and a freeze-dried package of Bananas Foster (thanks for dessert Mike and Randy). We will also polish off our wine from the morning's ceremony. At noon we got one of our first incoming satellite phone calls from our friends Kenneth and Sylvia congratulating us on our equatorial crossing. It was nice to hear friendly voices from home out in the middle of this vastness. As we bask in the glow of our equatorial crossing we now have our sights eagerly set on reaching Nuku Hiva and completing this first important step of crossing the Pacific Ocean.