Hello from Latitude 0 Degrees

We crossed the Equator on Saturday, January 19th at 10:00 am (3:00 pm EST).  Prior to the crossing, in keeping with seafaring tradition, we had a deck party the day before to prepare.  The crew put on a ceremony around the pool in which the  newer crew members who have never crossed the Equator are rounded up and made to appear before King Neptune.  In the end they are all thrown in the pool and a party ensues.  It was a lot of fun for the passengers and of course plenty of food and drinks got consumed.  Any excuse for a party!

At the Equator, sunset and sunrise happen exactly 12 hours apart.  Brian and I watched a beautiful sunset on deck at 6:15 pm.  The next morning we watched a sunrise from our balcony at 6:15 am, thus confirming the theory.  Just a little fact checking on our part.

The weather has been splendid - 70s and 80s.  As we continue south, the summer season is in full swing so we expect it to get hotter and more humid.

We have met many interesting people on board the Sojourn.  Most of them are very well traveled and we enjoy talking with them around the ship.  Here are few descriptions we want to share:

Mrs. W. from Maryland - Down the hall from us is an elderly woman who is quite a legend on board ship.  She cruises every year.  She has almost 3,000 sea days with Seabourn -- that is almost 10 years!  Apparently, she finds it more affordable to cruise than live in a luxury nursing home.  She spends most of her time in her cabin.  When she leaves the cabin to go to dinner, she is always elegantly dressed with her hair neatly styled and her make up applied.  She is always escorted to the dining room by an officer of the ship.  We have seen her a couple of times.

Jan and Harvey from California - They are seasoned travelers and have been on many cruises.  They are on board for the first segment of this cruise.  Several years ago they were on board the Seabourn Spirit when it was attacked by Somalian pirates.  They told us of hearing the small arms fire hit the ship.  Also, an RPG hit the ship.  Fortunately, there were no injuries.  The RPG struck a cabin and a woman in the cabin was covered in ceiling debris, but was not harmed.  The ship out ran the pirates after deploying the high frequency sound device.  The pirates were never caught.  Even a pirate attack can't stop these two adventurers from traveling.

JoAnn and Steve from Buffalo, New York - When we first boarded the ship, we noticed that the cabin next to us was empty.  A few days later it was occupied by this couple who are doing the world cruise, but their flight out of Buffalo to Los Angeles was twice canceled due to weather.  They finally made it out of Buffalo and flew to Honolulu where they joined us at that point. 

Many of the passengers that we have spoken to are leaving the ship either in Sydney on February 8th or Hong Kong in early March.  Some of them have added on overland trips at the end.  Our neighbors are getting off the ship in Sydney, then boarding a train to travel across Australia to Perth before returning to their home in Oregon.  Our English friends are adding on a trip to Dubai to visit their children that live there.  Our core group of 82 passengers doing the entire world cruise will be together for a long time!

According to the directory of passengers, here is a breakdown of the nationalities currently on board:

U.S.           211
U.K.            84
Australia     23
Germany     22
Canada        18
Switzerland 15
Belgium        9
France           6
Others          21

Our days at sea give us many opportunities to meet people from around the world, both passengers and crew members.  However, we are very excited to reach Tahiti on Tuesday.  We plan to be on the front deck early because we have been told that sunrise over Tahiti is an experience not to be missed.

D