Friday, March 2nd--At Sea

     It was a little rocky last night and earlier this morning but not that bad.  I did not have to put on a patch to prevent seasickness.  This afternoon it has smoothed out but still some small swells.  Well, just before noon today we crossed the Equator again, of course, heading north this time.  A ceremony started back in 1500's on sail ships to initiate sailors who were crossing the Equator for the first time.  They were called Pollywogs if they had not crossed the Equator and after crossing it you were then a Shellback.  I explained this a couple of years ago when were were on our world cruise.  We crossed it 4 times then and again this January heading south, so we are definitely Shellbacks.  Regent holds its own celebration for this time honored seafaring event.  So King Neptune and his court presided today pool side.  Three passengers were bought before the court accused of made up offenses and sentenced by King Neptune.  All passengers who were crossing the Equator for the first time then were suppose to line up to "kiss the fish" (a real one) and then jump into the pool.  We did this in 2010.  It was lots of laughs and good photo op.

     You can tell we are near Equator and Amazon basin now.  We had mostly sunny skies until about 2pm today and now it is clouded over and probably will be raining later.  We both did our workouts this morning and met two couples for lunch.  This afternoon, besides working on the blog and other internet stuff, I am listening to Terry Breen's lecture about the Amazon River Basin on tv, taped from this morning's live presentation in the theater.  I wish you could hear her lectures during our SA cruise.  She is a walking encyclopedia on SA.  I am stealing some of her facts and info for my blog posts.  This evening we are meeting a couple that just got on the ship in Rio.  He was a Marine helicopter pilot who flew during the evacuation of Siagon in mid 70's.  You may remember the sight of Vietmanese clinging from the helicopters trying to escape.

The entertainer for tonight's after dinner show is a juggler!  NOT our idea of entertainment.

     It is now 4pm here and Captain we should be seeing our beautiful blue ocean water turning into the merky brown waters of the Amazon River that pushes out 200 miles from its mouth.  Over 7 million cubic feet per second of water flows from river into the ocean.  In contrast, the Mississippi River discharges 600,000 cubic feet per second.  The Amazon River is the largest river in the world by volume of water.  The Nile is the longest just beating out the Amazon by 75 miles.  I'll save more about the Amazon for later days as we will be on the river for the next 6 days.  Have a safe and wonderful weekend!