Niuatoputapu - Vavau
12.09.2011 - 22.09.2011
Tonga - WHERE TIME BEGINS
The Kingdom of Tonga is the last remaining monarchy in the southern Pacific.
Sprinkled over 700,000 square km of ocean are the 170 islands of Tonga with and land area of only 691 square km. 42 of the islands are inhabited with a total population of about 100,300.
Tongas longitude is approximately 173 degree West and still 7 degree or 420 nautical miles short of the theoretical position of the Dateline. Somehow Tonga managed to put itself west of the Dateline in to the new day and the Tonga Visitors Bureau uses the marketing slogan WHERE TIME BEGINS. The time in Tonga is UTC + 13 hours! Western Samoa and Tonga are basically on the same longitude. They even share also the same time. The funny thing is that they have a different Date and Tonga is one day ahead of Samoa.
Sprinkled over 700,000 square km of ocean are the 170 islands of Tonga with and land area of only 691 square km. 42 of the islands are inhabited with a total population of about 100,300.
Tongas longitude is approximately 173 degree West and still 7 degree or 420 nautical miles short of the theoretical position of the Dateline. Somehow Tonga managed to put itself west of the Dateline in to the new day and the Tonga Visitors Bureau uses the marketing slogan WHERE TIME BEGINS. The time in Tonga is UTC + 13 hours! Western Samoa and Tonga are basically on the same longitude. They even share also the same time. The funny thing is that they have a different Date and Tonga is one day ahead of Samoa.
