Neptune Day on Semester at Sea

Neptune Day on Semester at Sea…

If you know anything about Semester at Sea, you know there are some pretty fun traditions on the voyage.

During a typical Semester at Sea voyage, the ship will cross the equator at least once. When this happens, all voyagers get the chance to participate in Neptune Day.

Right from the SAS website, Neptune day is “a longstanding maritime tradition going back hundreds of years for all who have ventured across the equator”.

Below, I have outlined what Neptune Day consists of so you know what to expect (of course I had to leave out a few things so you can be surprised)!!

Neptune Day Traditions

Neptune Day starts bright and early with the ship’s crew, faculty, and staff, marching through the halls banging drums and blasting music. If you are not a morning person be prepared, this normally takes places between 0600 – 0700.

Once the ship is awake, all voyagers will make their way to the pool deck where the official ceremony begins. This is where King Neptune will make his grand entrance to explain the transition from “pollywog” to “shellback”.

Traditionally, a pollywog is a seaman who hasn’t crossed the equator while a shellback is a person who has crossed the equator through the traditional ceremony.

Here are a couple videos of the opening ceremony!

The Ceremony

To start the process of becoming a Shellback, all voyagers will line up to have green “fish guts” poured over their heads. Once covered in “guts”, voyagers will then swim across the pool where you will kiss a fish and walk down the line to bow for King Neptune and Minerva.

Once completing all of these initiation steps, you have officially become a Shellback! Voyagers can also decided to shave their heads as part of the Neptune Day festivities but it is obviously not forced.

Once all voyagers have completed the initiation steps, King Neptune returns to Atlantis and the pool deck turns into a party.

Overall, Neptune Day is such a fun SAS tradition that I hope all of you get the chance to experience one day. I know this post was pretty short, but if you want to see any other SAS related posts, please let me know!

If you have any other questions about Neptune Day, please leave a comment down below or over on my Instagram @allisonnabroad!

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