Crossing the line.
Rhiann Marie - Round the World
Stewart Graham
Sat 27 Mar 2010 16:09
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Saturday March 28 0944 Local Time (Galapagos UTC
-6) UTC 1544
00:14.96S 089:26.11W
Today at 0738 I dived off the bow of Rhiann Marie
into the Pacific Ocean and swam across the equator! Having checked the way was
clear the rest of the crew and the ship were across right behind me at 0739. The
water was a very pleasant 26 degrees Centigrade at the surface but at the bottom
about 1 kilometer below me I'm pleased to say I have no idea what the
temperature was. Having already swum in the Atlantic at nearer 6000 meteres deep
this really felt like "the shallow end".
All these are ships
times, as in actual fact local time is now 1 hour earlier than this. As it is
only one additional hour to change we will change the clocks on arrival in
Galapagos.
Prior to crossing the equator Angus was in the
research laboratory (the galley) to check that the GPS and the plotter were
reading correctly. This was done of course by filling the sink and letting it
drain to watch the direction of flow rotation down the drain. We witnessed all
three directions! Anti-clockwise, straight down and clockwise! Having confirmed
the GPS was reading correctly at this point permission was then given by the
resident scientist to make the log entry.
This was followed by the less scientific cracking
of a bottle of Champagne to celebrate our crossing. The science was less
scientific in this experiment but we all think it flowed straight down the
hatch!
We have also been running a Scrabble league aboard
and very diplomatically the others are letting the skipper head up the table. I
did expect a come back from the others but at one game per day our passage has
been too quick for them to catch up now.
Happy days. We are and have been very fortunate to
be doing what we are doing and doing so safely with a great sense of fun and
adventure. In recognition of our very good fortune we sincerely hope that
all family, friends and colleagues wherever they may be in the world are in good
health also.
My silent and reflective toast today on cracking
the bubbly was to all of you.
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