It’s one week since we left Costa Rica and been out at sea. The time has flown by and to my surprise I’ve not felt bored once. Its been mainly very relaxing. The routine of the day is maintained by our shifts. We always have lunch and dinner together and this is the time we tend to chat. The rest of the time we sleep, read, work on the computer, do any chores and maintenance that comes up or just stare out at the sea.
Today is special. Today we crossed the equator. Most sailors who cross the equator for the first time do something special. Many dress up and give homage to Neptune by throwing some sort of gift into the sea. Our gift was to throw in some Zombie Coffee produced by Pizza John in, El Castillo, Arenal, Costa Rica. We promised Pizza John when he gave us three packs of his coffee that we would do this. However our special act for crossing was to swim over the equatorial line. We steered Dignity onto the imaginary line so that the port side of the boat was in the south and the starboard in the north. We made sure we stayed on the north side during the maneuver and from the north back step we jumped into the ocean and swam to the south back step. The water was ten degrees cooler than we had in Central America – a refreshing 85 degree Fahrenheit. After we were all out of the water, we continue moving along the equatorial line while we drank our champagne. Feeling slightly light headed we put up our sails again and headed southwest straight for the Galapagos. We had wind!
As the sky darken this evening we noticed how clear the sky was and how bright the stars looked. We quickly identified Venus, the brightest object in the sky. Below it was mercury. Looking further we also detected Saturn low behind us. Finally we found Mars directly above us. Its not often you get to see four planets at the same time. A special day. A special night.
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