International Date Line

 Borealis Friday 7th April 2023

First Day

As we are crossing the International Date Line this afternoon, the above date willnow be valid for 48 hours. I had supposed earlier that we would be travelling a day earlier than London time by the time we reach London. Now I have learned that we will in fact spend that extra day here and travel to London a day late. I am not quite sure how my telephone will react to this. As for my laptop which has been sticking to London time all along, like Passepartout, it will probably have a seizure.

After breakfast I took down a bowl of Sugar Frosties for Albina, and then collected our passports from Guest Services. We were both disappointed that the only new visa shown on them since India was that of Vietnam. No visa stamps on our passports for Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan. It was like we had never been there.

One unpleasant surprise came up as I rceived a reminder to pay a half year of our hot water and heating bill from Evinox. It was a heavy one. I managed to pay it on the Barclays ap on my phone. That still leaves my Barclaycard payment outstanding. It had been taken out of the current accout on April 4th but has still not appeared as a payment on my Barclaycard platinum account. That £800 is up there somewhere in the stratosphere like a drifting space ship waiting to land on the right planet. I keep chasing that with Barclays, but so far without a result. 

We had a fascinating lecture from Captain Rommel and his navigation officers about the International Date Line. In introducing the meeting Sammie said she had never seen the theatre so full. She added that she had received a personal explanation of the dateline and not understood one word of it. The captain explained that the International Dateline lies along the whole of the 180 logitude, excluding only some Russian islands and the island country of Kiribati, which has added two extra time zones to keep its archipelago within the same working day as China and Australia. That is why whenever we ceelbrate New Year watching television, Kiribati each time is the forerunner of the series of celebrations world-wide as we wait for the midnight hour to reach London. 

We have been shedding one hour every few days by moving our clocks forward in order to keep up with the time zones of the countries we have visited. If this had continued for the entirety of the cruise, we would be arriving in Britain with twenty four hours in hand and totally out of synchronisation with the world around us. That is why it is necessary to forestall that by adding the full 24 hours back at the midway point. Now we will be behind UK time instead of ahead of it. It is a very sensible solution but still utterly confusing. In answer to one of the questions from the  audience concerning the fact that we will have lived through 366 days this year and not 365, the navigation officer explained that at least 24 of those days would not have lasted the full 24 hours, but be one hour short. So ultimately we would still have lived for 8760 hours, one way or the other. Simples.

The navigation officer also explained that over such a large distance as the Pacific Ocean we could not simply sail straight from Yokohama to Honolulu, as shown on our atlas. We have to follow the curve of the earth's surface because we can take advantage of the more northerly latitudes because the distances between logitudes up north are shorter than in those nearer the equator. That is why planes from USA to the UK fly over the Arctic rather than straight across the Atlantic, and why in our case it was necessary to sail up towards the 34th parallel before sweeping back south towards Hawaii. We shall follow a similar great northerly curve on our route from Hawaii to San Francisco. This northerly route appears longer on a one dimensional map, but is actually shorter and quicker further north. The negative side of that option is that we travel through a colder climate and rougher seas. I will try and explain all that on Facebook later tonight. 

The Captain also explained other details about our vessel based on pictures taken during the vessel's visit to a dry dock last year.

I had particpated without any glory in an indoor shuffleboard competition. After that I went to lunch and ended up at the same table as Dolphin Dave, who has been whale watching for the past three days and spotted many cetaceans (whales, dolphines or porpoises), has suggested that durung the next day the wind will be calmer, the seas les turbulent and the weather warmer, and he is prepared to carry on a whale watch from the Desk 6 Observatory and invited me to join him. He also told me, with insider's knowledge, that by taking the more northerly route after Japan, Borealis had avoided a much worse storm that would have left many more people ill.

We received new papers and instructions to fill out landing applications for Honolulu to be presented at U.S. immigration face to face. I filled ours immediately and got the papers ready. Becuae of that I was late to hear the comedy sketches of Lloyd Davies and just picked up the last minutes. I liked his joke about the husband caught muttering a lady's name in his speech. He assured his wife it was the name of a horse he would be betting on next day. Later, next evening, after he returned from work, his wife served him divorce papers. He protested that it was only the name of a winning horse, upon which his wife said, "Well, your horse rang this afternoon and asked for you." 

The general knowledge quiz was quite different as we were given questions suggested by various teams. As the product of a number of sources, the questions had a wide range of levels and it was difficult particulalry for those whose knowledge depened on remembering repat questions from earlier quizes. We had 7 out of 15. But the inners answered only 10 questions. We were still the also rans. 

I heard that the The Observatory on the 9th floor was hosting one of tho se silly events that would normally be concocted by an organizer of children's parties. I suppose as older travellers we are all regressing to our childhood, so this would fit the pattern. Anyway the crew had organized a Silent Disco where different partners or individuals wearing headsets with different melodies, some with Motown soul, others with rock and roll, or the twist or just pop. I could not resist having a peek at the fun. Some were twisting, some doing complicated jive moves, and some just standard grandad dancing that could have been in response to any kind of music, It was comical indeed in the surrounding silence, but I preferred to return to the cabin and finish my writing.  

  

April 7th Second Day

At around 4am this morning, while we were all asleep, we passed Midway Island, a series of reefs and atolls which were the site for the destruction of four Japanese aircraft carriers in 1942. It is the only piece of land between Japan and Hawaii.

I was up at 7am to see if I could locate Dolphin Dave on his whale watching mission. I came to the Deck 7 Observation Deck and found only two other passengers. They told me Dave was at Breakfast but they were on self-appointed duty as were only minutes away from crossing the International Date Line. Sure enough ten minutes later there was an annoucent that we were about to cross the line, and another two minutes later a long signal from the bridge  confirming that we had indeed crossed the demarcation line. In the meantime I watched some albatross (plural of albatross?) with their white bodies and black wings swooping and lifting up in front of the ship, the first bit of marine life I had seen since leaving Yokohama.

I returned to the cabin and sent a Facebook announcment about crossing the International Date Line. Albina had got up  this morning so we went up to the buffet restaurant for some breakfast. Together for the first time for quite a few days. We the proceeded to a lecture at the theatre on the coming tours in San Francisco, San Diego and Acapulco. We have booked city tours for the first two cities, but our plans at Acapulco are wide open as we wait for final confirmation that our friends Jack and Lyn can meet us there. In any case our ship will be at the Acapulco Cruise terminal on April 23rd between 8am and 6pm.

They had line on a fire drill for all of the crew so we had put off trying to obtain any money or local maps. We returned to the cabin and stared over the the sea from our balcony. It was calmer now but occasional sea spray still made it less comfortable to sit there for long. We are equidistant between London past and London future now, we reflected. To our left is the London we left behind, and to our right the new London as our eventual destination.

I attended a lunchtime lecture by Jon Malits on the history of Hawaii. It was very informative both on the earlier history when the islands were peopled by Polynesians, and later we learned of the impact on Hawaii of British explorers James Cook and George Vancouver. The first was originally treated as a god, equal to the mythical figures in Hawaiian folklore. However after he was seen to suferred heavy damage to his ship following a storm, the Hawaiians felt cheated and  turned against him. In a dispute over some stolen equipment from the ship Cook was set upon by a mob and killed. That reminds of the Kipling story about the Man who would be King, who was killed after it transpired that he was not the god they originally thought he was. The lesson of that is do not let the initial good opinion of you go to your head, be aware that your weaknesses and shortcomings will be exposed and adulation will be followed by contempt. A lesson for all celebrities. The media that glorified you will eventually vilify you. Keep out of the world media's attention. On the other hand Captain Vancouver had a very productive impact as he helped one of their most capable chieftans Kamehameha the Great of becoming the first King of all Hawaii. His position was helped by acquiring some British cannons. He was succeeded by at least four other Kamehameda kings from the same dynasty.  

Later the traditional hedonistic culture of the island was modified and even condemned by American missionaries and mass immigration from a number of countries, both European and Asian. The interests of greedy American businesses later oerthrew the constitutial monarchy and U.S. began direst rule. although statehood only came after the tribulations of the Second World War, the islands were placed under strict martial law until 1944.The U.S. government finally allowed Hawaii to become a full blown state under President Eisenhower and received an apology for its past treatment by President Clinton. However it finally became reconciled after the first Hawaiian born U.S. citizen became president, namely Barak Obama. It was good to be reminded of these fact before visiting the islands in three days' time,

He also described some colourful local legends. For instance the goddess of fire and volcanoes wold throw a curse on all those who helped themselves to love samples of lava, or flowers, or seashells. This legend of the curse is obviously encouraged by local environmental rangers. Some who then face various unexpected calamities after visiting Hawaii and departing with such illegal souvenirs, have een known to atone for their behaviour by mailing the lava or seashells back to the island nother legend tells of the story of the young fisherman who drew a net over a lazy sun goddess that often did not appear on time, and after tying the net to a tree released the sun following a promise of endless daytime sunshine in which Hawaii now basks. An even more touching legend concerned a lovely flower, the Naupaka Kahakai, with half its petals apparently missing and which grows both in the mountainous area and in the more salty atmosphere at sea level. It evolves around the story of two young lovers (who else?), namely a princess of the mountains and a poor young fisherman, who meet on the beach but are denied permission by the elders and the gods to love each other and marry. They part in sorrow after she gives him half of a flower she wore in her hair and asks that they both remember their love by keeping the flower and allowing it to grow in their respective homelands. You could just hear all the audience in the theatre sign an audible "Aagh" on hearing this sentimental tale. I love a good story.  

I have more frustrations over my Barclaycard payment. The Barclays app has failed to transfer my payment to my Barclaycard account and instead has returned the amount to my premium acout. I am at my wits end as to how to pay this amount. Any payment on line is restricted byt he fact that I cannot takes messages and so cannot confirm any SMS code. I only have one week left to pay this amount without incurring penalties.

That afternon the ship held a ceremony of celebration of crossing the Internatioal Date Line, which also involved the initiation of senior members of the crew and passengers who had crossed the line for the first time. This included the ship's captain who was made to kneel before a dressed up King Neptune and his bearded mermaids in glossy green tails pleading not guilty of being too friendly to passengers, inviting them to dinner and giving too much information over the ship's tannoy. The prosecutor, dressed in a flowing black gown, was Tom, the deputy entertainment manager, giving an erudite, even pompous, version of inflected injustice, whereby the captain, and later other offucers, being too efficient and passenger friendly in performing their jobs. The captain pleaded not guilty, but King Neptune gave a thumbs down. He was made to kiss a fish, had ice cubes thrust down the back of his shirt, and ultimately thrown into the pool. He was very game as well as the senior officers that followed him. After the key staff members were desparched, including Sammie, passengers who volunteered had ice cubes thrust down the back of the neck and invited to jump into the pool. Eventually even Tom was induced to take off his gown and jump into the pool. In the end there was a general orgy of people splasjing and swimming in the pool. The official cruise photographers and passengers generally were taking picture after picture. It was a display of pretend barbarism with so many people game to make fools of themselves in support of a tradition. and a tradition associated more with crossing the equator. 

It was very much like those Polish Easter Monday mornings where first ladies and then gentlemen were subjected to being swamped by bucketfuls of water. The same sense of dedication to a ritualistic sadism which everyone needs to show he or she is a sport by submitting with seeming reluctance to this ordeal. 

I returned to the Observation on Deck 6 where Dolphin Dave and a group of committed passengers were looking for signs of marine fauna. We had seen a number of laysan albatross already, skimming the surface of the sea, but while I was there, a red-footed booby was spotted hanging over the prow of the vessel, before it suddenly swooped down and caught a flying fish. Hopefully it will be possible to see more as we near Hawaii.  

The ship also sent us individual named certificates stating that we had crossed the International Date Line. 

For the evening the Borealis Theatre Company had put on a show of Chartoppers from the 1960s onwards. Obviusly these are targeted at a specific generation and for the young dancers and singers of the vessel's company these songs are as ancient and strange as Marie Lloyd and Bing Crosby. And yet, and yet these songs, once so ephemeral at the time of their presentation, and now timeless classics. Do You Love Me? Paperback Writer, Shout, Chameleon, I Don't Like Mondays (which brings to mind the controversies of the Monday school massacre by a disgruntled California schoolgirl), Imagine, Heart of Glass, Wannabee, Happy, all strung together on a seamless medley. What is amazing is the sheer energy of the dancers and the precision of their choreography considering they only have one week between one performance and the next. The band consists of 3 male vocalists, 2 female, plus 5 dancers, and they are all excellent. As I left after the performance I told two of the performers standing at the door, "I don't know where you get the energy, I just get exhausted watching you." 

Time for the evening General Kowledge Quiz. Helen and Tony were able to make it this time despite Helen's painful back. We managed 7 correct in a very difficult quiz, and the best result again this time was just 9. I was a bit angry at myself for not pushing the right answer inreference to the Red Square in Moscow. Why is it called "Red" when the square is not red. I know that the square is called Krasnaya, which could be either red or beautiful. But my colleagues decided to say the name red came from the Bolshevik Revolution. Well, it turned out that "red" was the right answer. At least I could not fail to get right the nationality of the explorer who discovered Mt Kosciusko. He was Polish of course (Paul Strzelecki). Nobody else got that answer right.

Time goes forward again tonight by one hour. I think the time is currently exactly the same as in London, but just half a day out.