Clicking on the small maps below will open a full-size map (1024 x 768) in its own window, on which I have drawn the route each ship took. For clarity, I have listed the ports of call on each voyage separately, along with their geographical co-ordinates (latitude and longitude.)


 

Ship:  M/S Volendam,  24 Sep-10 Oct 2009

A typical transpacific voyage takes no less than nine days.

Seattle, USA: 47º 36' N, 122º 19' W
Cross International Dateline: 47º 00' N, 180º W/E
Hakodate, Japan: 41º 46' N, 140º 44' E
Otaru, Japan: 43º 11' N, 140º 59' E
Aomori, Japan: 40º 49' N, 140º 45' E
Kobe, Japan: 34º 40' N, 135º 09' E

The Pacific Ocean is the largest of the five oceans and its surface area is larger than all the earth's land masses combined.  Crossing the Pacific in a westerly direction we found to be quite disorientating.  As well as the initial 8-hour time difference we experienced between the UK and Seattle (where we boarded), we were to experience 25-hour days for the next eight days as we crossed a different time zone each day.  Crossing the International Date Line at longitude 180° also meant that we skipped an entire day!  So keeping track of the hours, and even the days of the week, was quite a challenge!

By the time we flew back home from Japan we had circumnavigated the entire planet :-)  Phileas Fogg did it in 80 days - we did it in 18.

  

 

Total nautical miles sailed to date:


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