January 16th, or maybe 17th, no, wait! It's the 16th again!
Tho' the future's most uncertain
I'm sure of this one thing...
That when I'm in the bathtub
The telephone will ring!
~The Cheerful Cherub, Rebecca McCann
I'm unsure of the date because it's supposed to change a couple of times today. Yesterday, we crossed the equator and had the requisite Appeasement of the Neptune ceremony. This involves ritual shaming of "polywogs"--those who've never crossed the imaginary line that belts the earth before. It's all in good fun and involves the symbolic debasement of crew and willing passengers. Eventually, after much splashing about in the pool, everyone is pronounced a "shellback" and it comes down to a stylized food fight.
Not my cup of tea, so we retreated to our cabin to do a little reading for pleasure. So far, I've read MM Kaye's Trade Winds, set in 19th century Zanzibar during the height of the slave trade, and I'm almost finished with Hillbilly Elegy, the autobiography of JD Vance, our next vice-president. His escape from poverty and a deeply disfunctional family is compelling. Being able to read without feeling guilt over the things I should be doing instead is one of the big perks of an extended voyage.
Today, the Sky is hopscotching over another imaginary line--the one that separates today from tomorrow. Unlike the equator, which is a straight line girdling the planet, the dateline meanders through the Pacific in an effort to keep widespread island nations all on the same calendar date.
In the screenshot to the left, the Sky is the glowing blue dot. As you can see, we have strayed into tomorrow, but as we continue southward, we'll go backward into yesterday. Um...or maybe I should say today.
As the rock group Chicago famously asked, "Does anybody really know what time it is?"
We've also had a change to our itinerary. There has been a medical event onboard that is beyond our ship's doctor and staff's ability to deal with. One of our fellow passengers needs a hospital and the nearest one is Papeete, Tahiti.
So, we are highballing past Bora Bora and the captain has put the hammer down. We'd been lazing along at 16 knots. When the big engines kicked in, I could feel the difference in the Sky. She seemed to lift a bit in the water as she streams in a beeline to the nearest haven. But it's not for nothing that the Pacific Ocean is called the largest feature on earth. Even with the increased speed, we won't reach Tahiti till early on the 18th.
Some passengers are disappointed over missing Bora Bora and I sympathize. It's a magical island and we were blessed to visit it in 2016. Here's a link to my blog post of that port stop. But even if we hadn't already seen it, I wouldn't want our captain to make any other choice than the one he's made. He puts the safety and welfare of the passenger in need above all else. God bless him.
This also gives me a chance to encourage would-be travelers to buy trip insurance. Whatever health insurance you have in your home country, it likely will not cover you internationally. And if you need to be medically repatriated, that can be financial trouble you have not known if you don't have insurance. That's why we have travel health insurance as well as a policy with Fly Me Home. Yes, it's spendy, but it's worth it for peace of mind. Pretty good for a purchase I hope we never have to use.
Whatever else we fill our days with, they all start with Bible study in Torshavn. The DH is doing a great job leading us through the gospel of Mark and our numbers increase almost daily. It's a wonderful group from lots of different flavors of Christianity represented. The participation and discussion have been thought provoking and engaging.
I think we've found our tribe!
More soon...
