Neptune Day

Even though we officially crossed the equator on Thursday night, we celebrated on Friday, which was referred to as Neptune Day. Leading up to Friday the staff and crew would not provide any details about the events; the only info the students had was that there were no classes and there would be some sort of celebration. In the morning the crew went from cabin to cabin playing drums and banging on our doors to wake us up. After breakfast, we all went up to Deck 7, and the festivities began.

 The crew had several buckets of what was supposedly fish guts (I think they might have mixed fish oil and Gatorade), and they scooped it out with a pitcher and poured it on the students. After you got the mystery liquid poured on you (it was all voluntary), then you jumped into the pool. After the pool, we got out and kissed a ceremonial fish. Another tradition is to shave your head when you cross the equator, so they had several chairs and clippers set up. A few dozen people got their heads shaved (including a couple girls), but I decided my hair was already short enough. We had the rest of the day to do what we wanted, and then today we resumed classes, but not for long, because tomorrow we will be in Salvador!

Everyone was out on deck for the Neptune Day festivities.
One of the brave girls who shaved her head!

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