Pacific Island question

A few months back I was on a cruise ship sailing from Pago Pago to Auckland, when I noticed the faint outline of two islands on the horizon. One was an almost perfect triangle, like a volcano shape, the other flat.
My camera has a GPS function so I took this picture https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-HtHQE4YPtMQ/VALHrom_gWI/AAAAAAAAThM/MAEepnwJXPI/w1462-h822-no/P1010924.JPG

When I arrived home I looked at the picture on Google photos and found the position on the maps, see this, https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Lw2yaaoNHd4/VDKXf704lvI/AAAAAAAAX5k/E82flLIrScU/w2018-h853-no/fiji.jpg

As you can see, the island appears to be FIJI, but I’m puzzled that the map scale shows it to be about 600Kms away. Surely I can’t see something that far away.
Can anyone throw some light on the subject?

It’s Kao Island, which of course is much closer to your position than Fiji. It’s the highest point in the Kingdom of Tonga. The nearby flat-topped island is Tofua.

Kao Island.

Tofua and Kao are shown on your map SSW of your position.

I’m amazed, the "DOPE’ knows everything. Thanks, I’ve just checked it out. It’s 47 Kms away from the ship.

Tongan mythology looks…robust, judging from the explanation for the two islands in that Wiki article…

I just put the latitude/longitude into Google Earth, and looked for the nearest islands. Then I googled their images to find which one looked similar to your photo.

My mistake was assuming it was Fiji. Never Assume is my future motto.

Good idea. Because it something bad to both you and me.

They are SSE of the position marked, so would be on the other side of the ship from Fiji. (I’m not saying that’s not what the photo shows - clearly it is - but I’m puzzled how the confusion occurred if the position is accurate.)

As soon as I found out that the island I saw was actually on the other side of the ship, I too was wondering the same thing. How on earth could I have thought it was Fiji?
The answer is probably old age (75).
When I took the photo I jumped to the conclusion it was Fiji, and never stopped to think I was looking in the wrong direction. I suppose that’s what old age does for you.

Is ‘supposing’ different from ‘assuming’? :smiley:

Right. Sorry for the slip of the keyboard.