31st of May never happened
Picture: Misty team photo with local dancers in French Polynesia
We were casually sailing from Niue to Tonga between 29th of May and 1st of June. Between these dates there are three days, but the trip was only two days.
How is it possible?
The International Date Line (IDL) is roughly based on the meridian of 180° longitude, roughly down the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and halfway around the world from the Greenwich Prime Meridian running through the Royal Greenwich Observatory in London.
IDL is an internationally accepted demarcation of the surface of Earth, running between the South and North Poles and serving as the boundary between one calendar day and the next. Crossing the date line eastbound decreases, the date by one day, while crossing the date line westbound increases the date. (Source: Wikipedia)
It means I have travelled halfway around the world. Quite fascinating.
In many places, the IDL follows the 180° meridian exactly. In other places, however, the IDL deviates east or west away from that meridian due to countries in these areas.
Because of the date line, we lost a day and suddenly after 30th of May it was 1st of June.
We missed my nephew birthday! He turned 4 years old, and I never had a chance to say happy birthday to him on the actual day as it never happened for me. Sad but also fascinating.
Picture: my nephew(Levente) and me in 2022
What a price we need to pay for sailing around the world from east to west. Although, if we would be doing the difficult way (which is against the trade winds) we would have gained a day in our lives. Live the same day twice!
What would you do if you could have a 48 hour long day?
Spend more time with your family? Practice more of your hobbies? Work more? Get a day off and hide from the world? Have a day trip somewhere you always wanted to go? Watch Netflix and TikTok (without feeling bad about it, like me)?
I feel that we are much more conscious about the lack of time than the surplus of time.
If I could, I would donate the extra 24h to my future self as a deposit to be able to travel and visit family or a friend in the future.
Kingdom of Tonga is quite different from the previous islands. Much more populated, and you see less and less of the native culture and more of New Zealand and Australia influence.
To illustrate how busy Tonga is compared to the previous places I am using population density as an indicator:
French Polynesia: 199 people per mi2
Niue: 16 people per mi2
Tonga: 380 people per mi2
UK: 727 people per mi2
Tonga is famous of their great rugby team, so we went to see a match. For our luck, the national (high school) finals took place upon on our arrival. Laura and I enjoyed the game with popcorn and meat on a stick.
Picture: rugby game in Tonga
I am trying to think about the next couple of weeks as a great opportunity to learn and experience even more about life on a boat sailing around the world, but my thoughts and emotions are all over the place. To be honest, I must be a difficult person to be around nowadays, and it makes me even more anxious.
I will need to make some real commitments soon about my decision to leave Misty and the World ARC fleet. (Read my previous blog HERE to get further insight into this new direction.)
Buy flight tickets, book accommodation, apply for visas if necessary, talk with my employer about the possibility to go back to work earlier, let my family know that they will potentially see me again sooner than expected.
But I am still hesitating. Hesitating of leaving all this behind. Leaving friends and experiences behind. Interestingly, more people are trying to persuade me to keep going than giving me support in my decision of stopping. It is interesting because nobody really knows the reason of my decision so those who vote for keep going surely think that there is no good enough reason to stop.
I will miss boat life with its ups and downs. The excitement of sailing Misty, the boat I know inside out. The sunsets and sunrises. The rain and the night sky.
Picture: sunset from Misty somewhere in the South Pacific
I am a shadow of myself, who I was back in London but maybe it’s not a bad thing. It is just difficult to feel content and grounded when so many things are uncertain inside me and around me but at the same time I am grateful for the opportunity to have sailed on Misty halfway around the world, and to have met so many amazing people from all over the world.
Whatever will happen, I know that this experience will stay with me. I just need to carry on and embrace where life takes me and celebrate little things. Like a coffee with an umbrella or climbing trees with Laura.
Picture: coffee with a touch of happiness
Picture: Laura and me on the tree in Tonga
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