By 7 pm. last night we were back in the North Atlantic Ocean. We first sailed straight north to get away from the Amazon Bar and then by midnight we left the last traces of the Amazon behind as the blue Ocean waters surrounded us again. Out next port of call is Bridgetown in Barbados and that is about 1100 miles away and thus we will spend 2 days at sea. It will give the guests time to relax after our Amazon expedition and enjoy the cooler sea air. Everybody can now take a deep breath before we visit the beautiful Caribbean ports of Bridgetown Barbados and Oranjestad Aruba. From there it will be homeward bound to Fort Lauderdale were we will end the cruise on 22 December 2010. Then we will start a 14 day Christmas cruise to the South East Caribbean. At the moment Florida is suffering from a period of cold weather and if that lasts until the 22nd it will be a cold home coming after the tropical temperatures of the rain forest. However that is still a week away and with the instable weather everywhere, things might change quickly.

spectators Perfect setup to see the pollywogs suffering.

However today was a nice and pleasant sea day and with the normal sea day routine in full swing. This with one exception, that we had a visit from King Neptune. Officially he boards when a ship crosses the equator but when we went southbound towards the Amazon, he had to go to another cruise ship that was not coming back, so we had to reschedule. As this was a cruise focused on the Amazon and not an Amazon visit incorporated in a Grand Voyage we had a larger number of guests who have not been over the equator. Also we just had a large crew change in Fort Lauderdale and that also yielded an extensive number of pollywogs. Volunteers were asked from among the guests and volunteers were appointed from among the crew and the total number was certainly going to appease any wrath that King Neptune might harbor against us.

judges The one time that I can be nasty. Dump or survive.

We use the Lido pool for this induction into the realm of King Neptune as guests can sit around the pool, but also stand on the deck above, all the way around the pool area. His fishy Majesty arrived at 2 pm. and for the next 45 minutes, all pollywogs were properly run through the ritual:
1. bow for king Neptune
2. listen to the charges read out by the prosecutor
3. kiss the fish
4. get shampoo-ed
5. get judged (my favorite part of the proceedings)
6. get dumped into the pool, or suffer on the side in the heat and get itchy.

king Some beg and plead but King Neptune will not be denied.

All went well and a great time was had by all, especially by those who escaped from the induction due to their being too many first timers onboard.

Tomorrow will be our 2nd day at sea, and the nice weather with a fresh easterly breeze will hold. The ship is gentling moving on the waves, as a long swell is running in from the North Atlantic. Things have been very nasty there in the last few days.