At Sea, with Rumors 2/16

Not surprisingly, this place feeds on rumors: We are skipping the next port due to civil unrest; the choppy seas and the pitch and sway of the ship indicates that we ought to be scrambling for our lifejackets; there is a submarine following us for our protection. I am not making this up. But these rumors are, alas, just rumors. It would make a great story if there really was a submarine following us.

The staff had a South African wine tasting last night. We sampled four wines from various regions. Naturally, I do not recall much about any of them, except that they were pretty good. But I’ve had much better wine from South Africa and hope we can tour a winery, or at least have some good wine with dinner. Probably we’ll have wine on safari, possibly right before I get eaten by a lion. Now THAT would be quite a rumor to start.

At Sea, with Neptune 2/14

The day dawned on choppy seas. Apparently Neptune was not pleased with us pollywogs (those who have not crossed the Equator). King Neptune, Queen Minerva, and their extensive royal court paraded through the decks beating on pots and pans to awaken us all, and eventually led us out onto the pool deck. The King told us we were not worthy of becoming shellbacks; so proceeded to instruct his court to first dump disgusting-looking green liquidy stuff over the heads of the initiates, then they were to jump in the pool, then kiss the fish, then kiss the ring of the King. And then, off with their hair! The brave ones shaved their heads, something like 40 of them (which I believe broke the SAS record!). Plenty of young ladies participated, as did a few of the male staff. I did not, you will not be surprised to hear. See photos on flickr!