Today is Neptune Day! I was still a pollywog since my first SAS voyage didn't cross the equator. My trip flying to Chile wasn't enough to initiate me and make me a shellback. Not only do you have to cross over the equator on a ship, you have to actually go through the entire initiation process to earn the high honor of the shellback title.

The Neptune Day activities are kept a big secret from us pollywogs. Around 8:30, some of the crew dressed in white tunics, tin foil battle hats, and face paint went all around the ship beating drums, shaking bells, blowing whistles, and banging on doors waking all the students up. I'm glad I woke up on my own and was able to take pictures instead of being rudely awakened by the commotion.

Around 8:45 I got the tip that there was a beautiful rainbow at the aft of the ship and sure enough, I went out with my camera and got some gorgeous shots of a complete rainbow from ocean to ocean.

King Neptune arrived at the pool deck at 9:15 to start initiating those pollywogs with strong enough character to make it through the initiation ceremony. Someone tipped me off that it's better to go through the ceremony early, I wasn't quite sure why, but I got right up there and was number 4 in line when we were told to put away our cameras and line up. It became obvious very very quickly why it was better to be at the beginning of the line. Several trash barrels of sludge had been made, I think it consisted of old, melted, sour ice cream, oatmeal, fish guts, and enough water to make it really gooey. We each got an entire pitcher of this sludge poured over our head and then we had to jump in the pool. I never thought I had a very week stomach, but I was dry heaving and just about lost it the stuff smelled so badly. It really smelled like throw up (looked like it too). I immediately got under the water and began trying to wash out my hair as I waited in line to get out of the pool. The pool was getting grosser and grosser by the second. Each person who jumped in added more sludge to the pool, so just imagine if you were number 200+ to go in, you're pretty much just jumping into sludge. As we got out of the pool we had to kiss a dead fish and then kiss King Neptune's ring. King Neptune looked suspiciously like Captain Jeremy. When they asked if I had the strength to kiss the fish and become a shellback, I hesitated, but the sludge was really the worst part, so I went through with it, after all, you only have to be initiated once, then you're forever a shellback.

Yas, Rico, Karen, Briana, I, and Jason were all among the first to be initiated, so we got a few pictures and headed down to shower and try to get the stench out. I washed my hair 3 times, and it took quite a bit of combing to get all that oatmeal out. I'm not sure my clothes will ever be the same again. After my shower I headed back up to the pool deck where they were still sending people through. I got dirty again because there were many people who hadn't showered and they were flinging their sludge all over the place. The pool was absolutely disgusting by this point, I'm so glad I wasn't one of the shellbacks who had to be there next to the pool for 2 hours holding a dead fish and smelling the rancid pool.

It was now time to start the head shaving. I of course was not going to shave my head, but I my friend Jason let me shave his. It was harder than I thought and after giving Jason a rough mowhawk, I handed the clippers off to Woody, our master barber for the day. Many brave girls also joined in on the head shaving. There are some girls that look beautiful with shaved heads, others probably shouldn't have been so quick to get rid of their hair, but I'm proud of everyone who actually did it. I couldn't believe it, many people like Molly slept through this morning's ceremony and missed out on all the fun. Molly's still a pollywog! It was gross, but I can't believe anyone would miss out on this ceremony, it's such a part of ship life, and not something you get an opportunity to do very often in life. This is my second time sailing around the world and only my first King Neptune ceremony. I'm glad I can finally join the rest of my family as shellbacks.

The day's festivities were over by noon, so we had the rest of the day for some much needed catch up. The people who shaved their heads today were all enjoying extra attention and lots of head rubs. Rico was like a little puppy dog in heaven. He even purrs when you rub his head.

I washed my hair 4 times today and I can still smell the sickness. Throughout the day I learned more about what was in the sludge: rancid milk, ice cream, oatmeal, fish guts, potato flakes, vinegar, and other really tasty stuff.