Dragons, Captains and Ice Cream

This evening we had a meeting from Captain C. Creature, gatekeeper to the Domain of the Golden Dragon. Meeting at the bow just before sunset we were initiated into the Silent Occult Mysteries of the Far East (over cake, ice cream and karaoke of course). Yes, for those who have not yet sailed on the HI'IALAKAI she is a Hawaiian ship and, therefore, must have a karaoke bar. Only smoothies served here, tough. This was the first voyage to the far east not just for most of the crew and scientists, but for the ship herself. An extra special occasion.

As the sun set Capt. Creature invited us into his domain with the reading of a proclamation to all sea serpents, crabs, mutineers, pirates of the yellow seas and other derelicts of far eastern seas stating that we had been found worthy and were entitled to all Rights and Privileges accorded such personages (we haven't found out exactly what those are quite yet.

The history of this particular ceremony, though not as noteworthy as that for crossing the equator dates back to at least the mid-eghteen hundreds when transpacific voyages were much less common then they are today. At that time, any transpacific crossing was likely from the United States to the Orient, the Domain of the Golden Dragon.

Of course, having now crossed both the date line and two different time zones we now have no idea either what time or what day it is, so bear with us.