March 01 (#2 of 2): Third Day of Four-Day Passage to to French Polynesia

It is the first day of fall.

What!? (What a great opportunity to use an interrobang for punctuation.)

Meteorological seasons change on the first day of the month, whereas astronomical seasons change in the middle of the same month.

Fall is based on being in the southern hemisphere. 

Happy first day of meteorological spring to those in the northern hemisphere.

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Throughout the day, Nieuw Amsterdam held a course of about 160°, running into brief tropical rain showers. The wind had dropped since yesterday, so it was easier to walk on deck #10, which Pam and I prefer. There is a promenade deck (#3) on the ship where passengers can walk under cover, but we like the openness of the upper deck.

We stuck with our rigid sea day routine of getting up too late, eating too much, exercising too little, and doing as little as possible that had any redeeming social significance. It was a struggle, but we succeeded.

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Let's talk geography.

We crossed the Equator yesterday, so Nieuw Amsterdam is not far into the southern hemisphere. This begged the question, where is French Polynesia in relation to better-known landmarks? 

Since French Polynesia runs generally east-west, using Tahiti as a reference point, it is...

•   6° north of the Tropic of Capricorn.
  
  
•   7° further south than the north coast of Australia
  
  
• 16° further south than Singapore
  
  
• 17° northeast of the northern tip of New Zealand (and 2,550 away)
  
  
• 38° south of Hawaii
  
  
• 39° north of the southern tip of South America
  
  
• 49° north of the Antarctic Circle

Tahiti lies at 17° south latitude, which passes through Fiji, Bolivia, the Andes of Peru, and Lake Kariba (on the Zambia/Zimbabwe border). 17° north latitude passes through Mexico, Vietnam, and India.