February 27: Second Day of the Two-Day Passage to Kiribati

Today is tomorrow. This explains why there was no yesterday (February 26).

It is tempting to leave you hanging there, but let me explain.

The simple version is that we crossed the International Date Line (IDL), but it is not that simple.

Many of us grew up talking about Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) with the prime meridian (0° longitude) passing through Greenwich, England, and the antimeridian (180° longitude) somewhere in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

In the 1970's, along came Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Yes, the name and abbreviation don't match. It is a French/English compromise thing.

GMT is technically a time zone, while UTC is a standard. UTC incorporates leap seconds to align with Earth's rotation.

I am going to use UTC for the rest of this blog because it is more common in online reference materials.

At noon, Nieuw Amsterdam's position was about 157° West in the +14 UTC time zone.

"But wait!" I hear you cry. "Isn't the IDL at the 180° antimeridian? Don't time zones range from +12 to -12?" 

Welcome to the Kiribati Adjustment.

The International Date Line (IDL) zigzags through Kiribati (and other places like Fiji) to keep the entire island nation on the same calendar day, preventing confusion and aligning it with its main economic partners like Australia and New Zealand, rather than splitting the country in two with different days. Kiribati deliberately moved the line eastward in 1994, shifting it significantly away from the 180° meridian to encompass all its scattered islands, making daily life and trade much simpler.  

Why the Bend?

Political & Economic Unity: The primary reason is practical, not purely geographical; the line bends to follow political boundaries, keeping island groups together so one part of a country isn't on a different day than another.

• Kiribati's Decision: Before 1994, the 180° meridian (the original IDL path) divided Kiribati, with its western islands in one day and eastern islands in the next.
• Skipping a Day: To solve this, Kiribati moved the line far east, effectively skipping Saturday, December 31, 1994, so that its eastern islands (like the Line Islands) would share the same day as its western islands (Gilbert Islands) and trade partners.   

The Result

The IDL now juts far east into the Pacific, almost to 150° longitude, before looping back to the 180° meridian, creating a distinctive hook shape to accommodate Kiribati. 

                                                                                          [Google]

----------

Having not even sighted a ship on the horizon all day, that's it for today.