Day 309: August 3, 2025 – At Sea

Our 10-day voyage from Alaska to Japan involves 7 time zone changes plus a dropped day, leaving many of us struggling to keep up. Since we are in the middle of the ocean and not tied to any land, phones don’t automatically update correctly.

I see the Change Your Clocks Back reminders, but did I already do that before I went to bed? Or was that the night before? Or did I adjust my laptop but not my phone? At one point, I had four different times showing on my laptop, phone, TV, and watch.

Our chat group sounds like a Who’s on First, What’s on Second skit:

Person A: Good morning. It’s 7:05 AM, right?
Person B: No, it’s 5:05 AM, we switched clocks again.
Person C: I though we weren’t switching back today. I thought it was 6:05 AM.
Person D: My TV says it’s 8:05.
Person C: What location did you set it to?
Person B: I used Magadan, Russia.
Person E: Efate, Vanuatu worked for me.

One of our talented techy shipmates, Chris Guld (who along with her husband Jim posts on Geeks on Tour) took pity on us and launched a pop-up Time Zone Help Desk in the ship lounge to help get us all aligned.

Someone suggested our theme song for this week should be Chicago’s signature song Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is, and it’s perfect.

As I was walking down the street one day
A man came up to me and asked me
What the time was that was on my watch
Yeah… and I said

(I don’t) Does anybody really know what time it is?
(Care) Does anybody really care?
(About time) If so, I can’t imagine why
(Oh no, no) We’ve all got time enough to cry

It’s true when you’re out at sea in the middle of nowhere caring about time is not a high priority. It’s not like we have places to be, important people to see. I just don’t want to be one of the people who shows up for breakfast two hours before the espresso is available. Which has been happening lately.