Atlantic Crossing

After 9 long days of crossing the Atlantic Ocean the ship has reached Africa although we can't quite see any land yet. The crossing has made it more real that we are circumnavigating the globe. Today we've been passing Ivory Coast but it's really hazy out so its hard to see anything, apparently wind from the Sahara helps create the haze. The 9 days have been long including 8 days of classes in 9 days, which is our longest stretch of classes on the voyage. So that was definitely a unique experience. The one day off was Neptune Day. It is a sailing tradition that you pay tribute to Neptune when you cross the equator. So one morning they woke us up early and the ritual includes getting dumped on with fish guts, kissing a fish, and getting your head shaved (I did not get my head shaved, it was optional). It was a pretty fun morning to have a break from a long stretch of classes. For these 9 days, we have had a port lecturer (Someone from the country we're going to that helps us learn about the country) Sheriff Ghale, who is a Ghanaian musician. It has been awesome listening to Sheriff's music and learning about Ghana. One night Sheriff had a Bob Marley tribute night that was great especially when we were desperate for entertainment. Sheriff has me really looking forward to exploring Ghana. You can check out Sheriff's music here: www.itunes.com/sheriffghale 

The ship will be docked in Tema, Ghana at 2 a.m. EST (7 a.m. in Ghana) Monday Feb. 13. Tema is 17 miles east of Accra, Ghana's large capital city. We will be there for 5 days and I have the first 3 days to myself to explore, I'm looking forward to going with the flow and seeing where my travels take me over the next week. I'll be updating you all what happened in Western Africa as we head south on Friday evening.