Oct 3. We crossed the Equator during the night and didn’t even feel the bump. The swells have disappeared and we had 2 nights of smooth sailing. We have had a small stowaway on board since Guam, a tree sparrow named “Jack.” He left the ship as we approached land. As we approached our first Papua New Guinea (PNG) stop there was a King Neptune Crossing the Equator ceremony where offending Pollywogs were punished and made into Shellbacks, all under a blazing hot sun. A Pollywog is one who is crossing the Equator by sea for the first time and a Shellback has successfully made the passage before. King Neptune boards the ship with his queen, baby, judge and others to purge the ship of Pollywogs and grant permission for the ship to pass. We have seen many versions of this ceremony on previous crossings and this was one of the most entertaining. The cast did a fantastic job considering the small size of the back deck. The expedition staff were the cast and 3 guests 2 crew were the Pollywogs.