VISITING THE DATELINE

VISITING THE DATELINE

At Somosomo, on Taveuni, we anchored and went to town the next morning. Calm conditions. We took the taxi up the hill to the hospital where we waited in line for our turn to see the dentist. Fortunately it was a quiet day and just one lady patient infront of us. Skipper has lost a tooth filling the day before (probably due to some fresh coconut we ate which can be very hard), and we were lucky enough that Taveuni was a big island with medical facilities serving the communities of the many islands around it. The dental job went without fuss and was very afordable. Then it was time to play tourist again and we walked halfway down the steep hill, then accross a football field to get to the official 180 degrees meridian. And a few yards further, a complete tin shack church compound. It is one of those things that you know about and never think of since it's part of life. But standing physically with one foot in yesterday and with the other foot in today, came as a reality check about the amazing feats of the human race developement. Eelco has visited Greenwich in London many years ago and now also in the Southern Hemisphere. For him it was a completion of one event.

SAILING DIRECTIONS

We are in Fiji at the moment. After exploring some wonderful new bays and its people we sailed to Taveuni Island off the northeast of Vanua Levu, the northern big island. It was lovely weather - sunshine and a soft breeze. As soon as we were over the reef, the sails went up and we glided along in a seducing waltz. Our destination was just seven miles away and in view. Slowly but surely the tempo of the waltz decreased but we kept going. It was nice to be out 'sailing'. After lunch we had a look on our track and what do you know? We sailed at 1.2 knots backwards! The current in the strait was just so much more than the little wind there was. The old Volvo had to bring us where we wanted to be.