Thursday February 13, 2025 – At Sea between Hawaii, USA and Apia, Samoa.
This day did not exist as we crossed the International Date Line so at midnight we went from midnight on the 12th to midnight on the 14th.
The International Date Line was established at a conference in Washington DC in 1884 convened by the US president (1881-1885) Chester A. Arthur (born in Vermont October 5, 1829) with the purpose of Establishing a Prime Meridian. It was here that the Longitude 0º Greenwich Meridian was established as well as the International Date Line at 180º and other resolutions. These include that from Greenwich, longitude extends plus 180º to the East and Minus180º to West to form the IDL; That a Universal day be adopted, which is a solar day beginning at midnight on the prime meridian (Now UTC – Coordinated Universal Time or “Z” – Zulu-Time). So the International Date line (or Anti-Meridian) was established as an imaginary line going from the North to the South Poles, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean (where it is mostly water and uninhabited) where 180 West and 180 East Longitude from the Prime Greenwich Meridian meet.
Over time the line had been refined and adapted so that it is in line with country and island group such that it includes all the land entities of that country. The biggest shift is the Kiritimati Group. For us on this trip, Samoa, Tonga and Auckland were the closest to the Meridian. So as we passed from West to East we skipped one day, but a couple of years ago when we did it in reverse we gained a day.
Roger & Anne Travels 