Falkland Islands Deployment

Now, what I can tell you, is that since leaving Cape Verde, there has been nothing but deep blue sea, lots of flying fish, and red hot sun. The sea conditions have been near ideal, but the temperature of the engine rooms has been near 35 degC! My overalls have been going through the laundry quite frequently, soaking wet with sweat. We are currently making our journey south west to Rio De Janeiro, which everyone is massively looking forward to. I am too, but I have something big coming up first. Infact, I won't be onboard ship to update my blog for the next 8 or so days... but when I do, it will be absolutely littered with amazing pictures (hopefully). I've been picked to represent the ship, with 8 others, hiking/trekking 1200 miles through Brazil. I am excited to say the least.

So, back to the ceremony... Today Neptune had every southern-hemisphere-virgin thrown to the bears in their rather jacuzzi-like den that had mysteriously appeared on the flight deck. I tried to retaliate but it only made them more hungry it seemed... Then the ship stopped exactly on the equator, switched off and sat in the water, the officer of the watch called "Hands to Bathe" and we all jumped in to swim across the equator! Some people tried sailing, and paddling about in a little inflatable... fortunately there weren't any sharks about, but the swell in the water was huge, the ship was rolling and swaying quite a lot- you can tell by my photo of the forecastle... Anyway, I conquered my fear of heights and jumped in, the water was lovely and warm. On to 5 o'clock this evening, everyone was out of the water and we recommenced our journey, with another flight deck barbeque in the evening! I couldn't stay though as I had to go on watch at 7.15pm... (yes Jonny and Charlotte, that means I DO work!)... So over the next few days I will be preparing myself with shorts, hiking boots, and everything I need to survive in a hot country for a few days...