The hunt of the "Ekvator Certificate"

At 09:20 the "bing-bong" of the PA system sounded, and "Radio Ekvatorrrrrr" were transmitting a very important message to "ALL CREW". If you were not able to produce the one and only accepted evidence of your prior baptism over the Ekvator by 19:00 today, you are doomed on the day of judgement, which in this case is very close. It is the day we cross the Ekvator. You will be pabtised after the terror-regime passed down by generations of sailors. For those of us who have done it, we are in no hurry to do it again. A slight panic in more than one corner (especially the galley according to ships rumour) emerged after the message were transmitted, some went desperatly to their cabins to see if they had it. Others called thousands of miles to get there husbands and wifes to roam around and find this important document. The picture above shows the result of both methods used to retreive it. How many actually did not have the document by 19:00 today, will be reveiled in the blog on the day of judgement. So keep following us:-) 

The weather is beautiful, there is no other word to describe it. Temperature 29 degrees celsius, a comfortable 21 at night. We have had barbeques on deck every evening, how lovely is that?!! The lounge on deck 7 is a cool oasis after being outside for a while. One of these comfortable seats can be your on a crossing in october for approx 500 NOK per day included all meals. 

Todays interview is:

Name: Rune Andreassen

Position: Captain

How long time have you been working for Hurtigruten?
25 years

How many times have you crossed equator with a Hurtigruten Ship?
6 times

What do you like best about equator crossings?
Nice summer weather, and baptism of new crew that never have crossed before
and those who have forgot their certificate. You will never forget your first crossing

Is your job different when the ship do crossings?
I have more time for paperwork and planning of the operation ahead.

Which tasks do you have during the crossing?
Preparing for the next season in Europe/Greenland/Spitsbergen. Planning for the itineraries
for 2013, follow up with the ships management all maintenace and preparations conducted on the crossing. I am also judge for the FRAM Olympic games starting today, and will be going on for more than a week after duties.