Green Turtle Bay Marina

  

Captain and Crew must stand on the fore deck

Offering Champagne to Neptune

Here’s a ceremony you don’t attend every day….. we were invited to a special event for changing the name of a boat.   Most larger boats are registered by the coast guard, and your name is your official identifier so there is a lot of paperwork and a hefty charge to change your name.   In addition to the bureaucracy, the boat owners must appease the gods of the sea – Poseidon and Neptune – so that bad luck doesn’t befall the boat that changes names without their blessing.  There is an actual ceremony for this occasion – just look it up on the internet of course!!

Every day on the boat is a "Perfect Day"

The very formal ceremony involves an offering of champagne to each of the gods of the four winds as well as Poseidon and Neptune.  The boat owner can use up most of a bottle of cheap champagne on these offerings.  It is supposed that the various gods don’t care about the quality of the champagne that is poured overboard.  The many guests invited from neighboring boats did get the better quality champagne, and of course, in honor of the occasion several people dressed up in hats and their best flip-flops.    Gifts were given and a fancy Wal-Mart Chocolate cake marked the event.

The boat that was previously called Entrée, is now known as Perfect Day.

Everyone Gathers for the Ceremony