Time

It’s Saturday today.

Saturday May 4th. We are sailing in the Bering Sea, north of Ostrova Mednyy 55° 57.16’N 169° 57.10’E to be precise. The weather is moderate, the temperature is 4.4°C, there’s 8.2 ft of waves and we’re doing 13.7 knots. All is well.

The thing is, tomorrow it will be Saturday too. Saturday May 4th.

We are about to cross the International Date Line and though I thought I was fairly good on the logic of such things, when it comes to working it out for real, I’m not quite so sure!

Crossing the line doesn’t seem to be disruptive in any way. There are two May 4th dates on our calendars and since none of us seem to know what day it is without checking first, that doesn’t really seem to be a problem!

To avoid confusion, any plans or invitations have some form of clarification regarding which May 4th it refers to. A or B. First or Second. Before or After.

What’s more disruptive is the little note at the foot of each day’s Passages newsletter, informing us of the daily time change. The ship’s time is currently approaching noon, and yet in Unalaska, our next port of call, it’s approaching 2pm. Between Japan and Alaska, there’s 7 hours time difference and as a result, every night has involved a one hour adjustment.

That’s five down, two to go. (Plus, of course, the extra day to compensate)

Are you still with me?

The most annoying thing was, my Georg Jensen watch (which I generally don’t adjust) was showing the correct time for a mere 24 hours before being one hour out again.

Definitely a first world problem.