Days 26-28, At Sea, January 30 - February 1, 2013

Days 26-28, January 30-Feb 1, 2013

Numbers, numbers, numbers:

Three days have now passed since leaving Bora Bora.   Sadly - due to rough seas - we were unable to disembark at the Cook Islands.  I guess the captain didn’t want a repeat of the Easter Island mess!

This equals 6 consecutive sea days between Bora Bora and our next stop – Auckland, New Zealand.  The good news is that we now have an extra night in Auckland!!   This is a treat due to the extra time created by no stop at the Cook Islands.

We are currently travelling through some of the deeper trenches of the Pacific Ocean.   The current sea depth is 19,650 feet or nearly 4 miles!!  A bit creepy, really – especially considering the very rough seas. 

Distance             

We have now sailed 10,450 miles since leaving Florida.  Amazing.

Tonight we cross the confusing International Date Line!!  As if constant time zone changes weren’t enough, this evening we lose an entire day… February 2 will never exist for us.  We jump from 11:59PM February 1 to 12:01AM February 3.   The captain was joking that those that have a Feb 2 birthday have it made.  ;-)

Additionally, we were reminded that constellations are totally different here in the southern hemisphere!   Rather than the North Star – the prominent stellar display down here is The Southern Cross.  Long used in maritime guidance, it is also a symbol on the New Zealand flag.

We are very excited about New Zealand!   We have a total of 5 ports of call on both north and south island, and plan on visiting everything from Kiwi farms to vineyards.  Stay tuned!

Oh, and today also marks a milestone… we have now completed exactly 25% of the journey.  Exactly 3 months to go!! Some days it seems like much more and others much less!!