Eight Days at Sea (This was a Long Stretch!)

The past eight days have been our longest stretch at sea thus far and honestly, it went by fairly quickly. Eight days seem to have messed into one giant day, but overall there have been some interesting things to report back. As usual, the scenery is fairly similar – lots of really calm water, no land, clouds, billions of stars, a few really great moon nights – but the biggest difference is that it has actually gotten colder outside as we traveled from Brazil to South Africa. Makes sense being that we are traveling further away from the equator – but I guess I just always assumed that South Africa would be really hot and not 70 degrees!

On Saturday, Feb. 24th, the ship held the celebration of Neptune Day. Neptune Day is a day to honor King Neptune for allowing the ship to safely pass over the equator; however, the catch is that all passengers crossing the equator for the 1st time must go through a ritual. For us, this ritual consisted of having sour milk, garbage, and fish guts poured over your head (I almost threw up all over myself when this happened), then you jump into the pool (I went at the end and so the pool was like jumping into a giant vat of fish guts & sour milk), kissing 2 fish (these fish had the biggest teeth I have ever seen – and it was not a pleasant experience to have them rubbed all over your body), then you must kiss the ring of King Neptune and be knighted as a “shellback” (aka: someone who has crossed the equator & done the ritual) rather than a “pollywhog” (aka: someone who has not been through the ritual yet). This was quite possibly the most disgusting experience I have had to date – I smelled the fish and sour milk for about 2 days (and that was after showing 2x’s that day and washing my hair at least 5 times – I also scrubbed my skin raw!). Some people also shaved their heads as part of the Neptune Day ritual, but alas I did not – although I did think about it – and then thought that perhaps Tom and I would look extra weird in photos if both of us had shaved heads. J

At the end of Neptune Day, the crew had a bbq for us on the back deck with veggie burgers, chips (I haven’t had a chip in 5 weeks!), fruit, and ice cream (also a rare purchase on the ship). I stuffed myself to the gills (no pun intended) and it really was a fun day. Most of the ship participated and people got some really great shots of Tom & I covered in fish guts & milk to prove to everyone that knows me – that I really did do this!

A few nights later, Tom and I got invited to the Captain’s Dinner, which was absolutely amazing. Despite the fact that I had to wear a dress, I had a wonderful time. It started with drinks in the Faculty/Staff Lounge (great red & white wine) and appetizers, then we proceeded to a roped off section in the dining hall for a 5 course meal! I have never seen so much silverware in my life. It sort of shined from both ends of the table, everyone sat up really straight, and proper – my Catholic School training came in really handy at this dinner – I just followed what everyone else did, kept my elbows off the table, and dare I say, “Acted like a lady…” For dinner (Squat you would have loved this), we had pretty much a never ending supply of wines (the glass just kept getting filled over and over again, until I figured out that all you had to do was put your hand on top of the glass and they would stop!), and then the food went as follows:

1 - peppers & onions in balsamic vinegar
2 – broccoli soup (to die for!) with rolls & butter
3 – Greek Salad (amazing feta cheese – and I don’t really even like feta)
4 – Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Veggies, and this veggie quiche (Awesome!) – Tom got a steak
5 – Fresh Pear in caramelized white wine with a yogurt type substance next to it, with coffee to top it off

As you can tell, I have a very sophisticated way of describing this amazing food J but just trust me, that after eating nothing but potatoes and pasta all day long – you would be speechless/wordless about it too!

The rest of the time was divided between work, hanging out, reading, and sleeping a lot! We changed time zones throughout the crossing from Brazil to South Africa and lost a total of 5 hours in the 8 days that it took to get to South Africa. I am now officially 7 hours ahead of everyone on the east coast – which does make for a strange email system, as I wonder why I am not getting a bunch of emails at 11am on the ship, until I realize that its 4 in the morning back at home. There is a strange bug that is going around the ship – and yesterday I woke up with a sore throat, so I have been drinking tea like crazy, taking Vitamin C, sleeping as much as I can and just nursing it so that I don’t miss any of my time in South Africa.

This week the ship has been rocking so much more than in the past – and when I sleep at night my head rocks up the bed and then down the bed – not nearly as soothing as the previous cradle like rocking, but still no sea sickness – YEAH! It’s not uncommon to see random people just walk into a wall or slam right into you, and then the crew laughs at us cause we just haven’t been able to get our sea legs.

I think about my Grandfather a lot, especially since he spent so many years living on a Navy Ship – I find myself wondering if I am seeing anything that he used to see – and how funny time is, in that he probably had no notion that 60-70 years after he saw this spot or was crossing the ocean or rocking around in his ship – that his granddaughter would be doing the same thing and thinking about him, his life, and all the things that I wish I could ask him right now, so many years later. I can see why he liked being out on the sea so much – it really is such a peaceful feeling – and at the same time, you realize how incredibly small you are in the world. Here I am on this (to me massive ship) but when I look out into the ocean and I can’t see any land, or birds, a few fish if I am really lucky – it just makes you see the world as being incredibly large – and that you really are this tiny speck. I guess I am just so grateful for this opportunity and I am trying to take in as much as I can – but at a certain point, you start to lose that individualistic notion of self and see that Emily (as an individual) is just one small part of a larger entity and that larger entity or community/world/whatever you want to call it – is what matters most. It’s not about me traveling around the world anymore – its about the world allowing me to travel within it…and I hope that this never ends…