Day 15

When you see the Southern Cross for the first time…

Three more pollywogs joined the ranks of King Neptune’s shellbacks this morning.

At approximately 7:45 in the morning (at least according to the time stamp on my iphone), Leona crossed the equator and we hove to. Georgie, David and I donned pink pirate bandanas* and leapt overboard while smashing eggs onto our heads. Yes, things took a turn for the weird here again.

Sailing tidbit:
”Heaving to” puts the foresail and mainsail in contradicting positions to the wind, resulting in a relative lack of forward momentum.

For those of you less familiar with maritime lore, the Crossing the Line ceremony goes back centuries. To placate King Neptune, all crew members who have not yet crossed the equator must endure a trial, usually involving an ocean dip. While supposedly also designed to boost morale, some of the descriptions lead one to wonder how on earth force-feeding filth, beating with wet firehoses, or prodding with electrified metal would boost an initiate’s morale. However, after watching Master and Commander last night, those descriptions sound like an everyday occurrence.

 Needless to say, the ceremony on Leona did not involve firehoses or electricity, just a lot of laughter and scrambling. Any demerits Jeff earned by filming everything BUT the actual jump were quickly offset as he helped haul me out of the water. Heaving to meant Leona was moving slower, but definitely still moving. The speed of the current was startling, and I am grateful for the lines we had thrown over for safety precautions and climbing aids. Meanwhile, the coffee cup that decided to join our leap into the water quickly disappeared, and we let it go it as an offering to Neptune. Perhaps we should have included some of our precious Zaca coffee?

proud shellbacks

That Zaca goodness made an appearance in our ritual. Inspired by the idea of covering oneself in filth, Georgie and I whipped up a coffee ground-oatmeal-olive oil exfoliating scrub and an avocado mask (unfortunately, we neglected the cabbage leaf eye patches which would have been so soothing). The afterdeck transformed into the Leona Spa, and we indulged in some good old-fashioned Me Time, a moment worthy of the 1st Year Acting Class Smear Project at PCPA (if you know, you know). Leona reaped the benefits of our facial treatments, as her deck ended up liberally coated with our concoctions and her teak now looks exquisitely youthful and moisturized.

Not sure what Jeff made of all this.

The Leona Spa and Wellness Center

*The pink pirate bandanas first made an appearance in the Galapagos Islands 19 years ago. My parents, never ones to shy away from a chance to get creative, gave each family member on our trip a bandana to commemorate the Pirate Night Treasure Hunt.  Naturally the bandanas wound up in the Rancho Relaxo Costume Closet, waiting for a moment like this to grace the stage once more. I may be shedding a lot right now, but I will try always to hold onto the sense of humor and creativity they gave us.

The shellbacks are moving once more, on a port tack with a beam reach 12-knot east wind, mainsail and genoa fully out. It is less than 600 miles to Nuku Hiva and we are due to arrive on Sunday night.

…you understand now why you came this way.