Approaching Ecuador 150208 00:24S 80:54W
Southern Princess
John & Irene Hunt
Sat 16 Feb 2008 14:13
Today's blog will be easy to write!
The last time I crossed the equator on a boat was
in 1960 somewhere south of Ceylon as it was known in those days. I was 20 years
old, dressed as Neptune, with false beard & trident and some kind of a loin
cloth attended by a bevy of scantily clad beauties (think itzy bitzy
teenie weenie yellow polka dot bikinis) all crammed into a rather scruffy aft
deck of the Castel Felice a ship which used to bring the ten pound Poms to
Australia from the UK. We were travelling 'steerage' and there was also FIRST
& SECOND - all too posh for us. We weren't allowed into those classes but
those classes were allowed to slum so most of the itzy bitzy bikini birds were
from FIRST.
While the ship's crew counted down to the equator
using a sextant, they were probably about as close as a 1/2 mile while today the
course computer counted it down in metres. I have a picture showing latitude as
00:00.000N and then moments later 00:00.003S. Southern Princess is now in her
home waters.
The equator off the coast of Ecuador is not as I
imagined it. It is bucketing down, Bruce our weatherman says thunder storms are
sweeping down on us from the east and we have 25 knots right on the nose.
Motoring again! (Delise - honest we do go sailing often!)
Crossing the equator 15th February
2008 after a rough night. Two hours on
and two off with just two of us on
board is hard work. The champagne tasted great!
That's Storyteller's stern in
the background.
Travelling just the two of us, while
hard work, is rather gratifying. Irene not only does her 2 hour watch, she makes
fantastic meals which are always interesting and varied. I do the odd breakfast
but she is the food stalwart. Also her long distance vision is lots better than
mine and as a look out she has few peers. Some of you will remember her nickname
(Radar) during the South Pacific cruise in 2001 on 'Bushranger'.
Radar hasn't lost her touch!
We should arrive in La Libertas tomorrow
morning so will continue with the blog site later in the week. Got an
interesting picture of a big breasted model for those of you with
that 'bent'.
Cheers
JH