Crossed the equator...I'm a real sailor now!
Trip Start
Oct 21, 2006
1
13
26
Trip End
Aug 14, 2007
Salinas, Ecuador
Saturday, March 3, 2007
After 2 days at sea, we came up to the equator. For any sailor, its a special moment the first time you cross the equator. There's supposed to be a big ceremony with Neptune appearing and all the 'equator virgins' telling their sins, closely followed by baked beans on the head & a hearty handshake. Well, we did things a little differently...
Once we got close, we all got ready to take a swim over the equator. Armed with lifejackets, masks & nervous smiles we stood ready on the bow waiting for Jason, the captain, to give the signal. About 1 mile before, we noticed a group of marine life that looked suspiciously like sharks lazing about following us. "Don't worry, I'm sure they're actually dolphins" was the common consensus. Just before we crossed, we looked ahead and saw two huge pods of dolphins (no mistaking these ones) coming towards us on either side of the boat. We relaxed a bit cos everyone knows dolphins are friendly & don't hang out with sharks.
Just as we crossed, we jumped in and paddled across the equator. I was hoping the dolphins would come up to us & investigate, but they were too intereted in hunting fish. We climbed out & i noticed more dolphins swimming close to the boat. I was just about to jump in, when we noticed these looked like our first group of sharks again...that kinda convinced me to stay put. We all agree they weren't dolphins, but as to what type they were, it depends who you ask. After flapping through our pacific fish guidebook, the favourites were : swordfish, blue sharks & hammerhead sharks. I'm sticking to hammerhead sharks, cos that makes the story better...
We got to Salinas in Ecuador, which has been billed (a bit optimistically) as the 'Miami of Ecuador'....um, ok, not sure about that. Granted, there are some big hotels and a beach, but you have to negotiate the open manholes, sandy sidewalks & juice stalls to get there.
