We had sun most of the morning, however we are moving into an area of unsettled weather, typical for this part of the Atlantic.  Billowing, grey Cumulo Nimbus built up during the early afternoon, depositing rain showers on us and by 4 p.m they had cleared again, bringing us more sun.  I expect it to be like this through tomorrow too.  We are in the Intertropical Convergence Zone, or the “Doldrums”.  These are usually located between 5º north and south of the equator and produce some of the earth’s heaviest convectional rainfall.  The area 35º north and south of the equator are known as the horse latitudes. Tradition states that sailors gave the region of the subtropical high the name “horse latitudes” because ships relying on wind power became becalmed; fearful of running out of food and water, sailors threw their horses and cattle overboard to save on provisions.

No such worries for us; the sun stayed out long enough for all of us to enjoy our ‘Crossing the Line” ceremony.  We actually cross the equator around 11 p.m. tonight, however for obvious reasons, we prefer to do the ceremony during a civilised hour. 

King Neptune, his wife, the Prosecutor, the ‘pirates’ and the poor victims, (pollywogs in the U.S. vernacular), attended, while the Staff officers held sway over the proceedings and pronounced sentence.  Once each victim had ‘kissed the fish’, (a rather large real one), they were then led to the ‘medical’ team or surgeon, whereupon they were coated in evil slime.

They were treated lightly; my crossing the line, (on a cargo ship), made this one look like a stroll in the park.  It took me about a week to remove the smell of the putrid melange that coated me and about 4 weeks for my hair to grow again.  (Such was the awfulness of the mixture, it was easier to shave it off than try to get it out)  😕