February in 27 days

We are currently passing the Kermadec Islands, an island arc North Northeast of New Zealand, all part of the same nation. The islands are situated on the Western hemisphere and the motherland in the Eastern hemisphere. So on the Kermadecs it’s still Sunday, but in New Zealand it’s already Monday. In terms of time zone the are aligned, but with a 24 hour difference. That is, geographically speaking. For practical reasons the date line was moved, allowing the islands to have the same date as their main land. For similar reasons the date line is not a straight line across the antemeridian. For example the Kiribati Islands, with two island groups on the Western hemisphere and one on the Eastern hemisphere. They all have the same date aligned with the Eastern hemisphere. In the North the Aleutian Islands reach from Alaska to Kamchatka. Most of them are American territory with the desire to be on the same page in their agenda as their president, ignoring the geographical date line.
Tomorrow at noon we should declare the remaining Monday to Tuesday, but to avoid misunderstandings we will silently change from Sunday straight to Tuesday. It would make the Boomtown Rats happy…

Richard Slootweg
Captain Clipper Stad Amsterdam