Ever since 1995, the International Data Line (IDL) has taken quite a few funky jogs near the equator, in order to place all the Pacific islands of Kiribati on the same day of the week. This makes a lot of sense locally, as now the whole Republic can now conduct business on the same 5 week days, instead of only 4.
However, as a result, the eastern most chunk of the line is close to 150 degrees west, a full 30 degrees from the natural 180 degree date line of Nautical Time. Also, there are so many corners on the IDL that by JUST sailing due south on the 160 degree meridian you could go from today to tomorrow to today to tomorrow, back to today.
As luck would have it, the truly happy cruisers are the ones who lose track of the day of the week anyway. Still, as we ponder Kiribati as part of our next adventure, I have to wonder if anyone here has done any time travelling near Kiribati where an island rendezvous might have been one day early or late as a result of a big mismatch between the International (land) Date Line and the Nautical Date Line?
Missed a church
service or a New Year's party?