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Published: February 3rd 2009
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CS:
Sunday 1st February 2009.
We finally eased out of Masan on Saturday evening about 4pm. The weather had been pleasant all day allowing the last of the loading, including two huge pipe devices on the deck as well as much loose equipment stowed below the deck sheets, and of course more of the ubiquitous pipes that come in all sizes, lengths and colours and which we seem to collect and dispatch from port to port. Leaving Masan was welcome given that the two lots of unexpected delays (Chinese New Year holiday and bad weather thereafter) kept us there for nearly 10 days but given those delays it had been a most enjoyable spot to be in. We had taken advantage of a wonderfully sunny day on Friday to walk the other half of the town and found a Tesco’s to procure a few more needed supplies, including, yep, red wine.
As soon as we cleared the outer reaches of the river entrance the sea turned extremely nasty as we rolled and rolled across the Korea Strait. There was nothing straight about this Strait! Fortunately the journey was shorter than both PP and I had judged, because at about 1
am we noticed, because the rolling stopped and the ship nearly did too, that we were very close to land on all sides and we were picking up a pilot? Clearly we were not going to travel to the south of Kyushu Island and then along the east coast of Japan but were going through from Hibiki-nada to Suo-nada to the north of it, thereby cutting off a significant corner and bringing us into much calmer waters. It would have been good to see this area in daylight (Craig’s law strikes again) but it was quite spectacular at night too as we cruised, rather quickly, under a large bridge connecting the two islands.
By later the following morning we had sailed through the channel between the islands and were abeam Shikodu’s east coast and therefore in the Pacific Ocean.
The sea was kinder here even though the waves were quite large, until we got to the gap between the northern tip of Shikodu Island and Honshu, the main island of Japan, where again the conditions changed and we were rolling and shuddering again, but to a lesser extent than across the Strait, thank goodness. There are no further large open
passages till we reach Yokohama in the morning so we hope the seas will be kind over night so we can catch up on some needed sleep as we expect to be fairly busy on our next few days in Japan.
PP:
Monday 2nd February 2009.
We arrived (very cautiously) into Yokahama this morning - it took a couple of hours of being passed by other vessels before we berthed opposite the international passenger terminal. The site is quite pretty in that we are close to the city, rather than being in the industrial “boondocks” as has been common elsewhere (except Masan) in Asia. Yokahama seems a very attractive city, which we hope to see more of tomorrow (given that the loading was only to take a day, and we spent all of today in Tokyo). The loading may now take until midday tomorrow, which would suit us for the purpose of a better look at the local area.
Anyhow, today we caught the train from Yokahama to Tokyo, and then used the subway train system (the “metro” in other cities we have been to) to get to different parts of the city. Craig has been here
before and shortened our usual process of learning how to use the metro system here. It was all interesting and enormous fun. We didn’t get lost in any major way all day!! We went to Ginza for a short time, then to the lovely park commemorating the emperor Meiji Jingu and his consort which was peaceful - especially as this is winter and “out of season” - and the large Shinto Shrine there is very atmospheric (and quiet - except for the fit young monk who bashed a huge drum at about 1400 hrs when we were there). Craig took us to a lovely small Japanese restaurant that he’d been to before a few years ago, down a side alley near the park and we had a lovely meal. We walked the Shibuyu area (lots of shopping there) but only bought some necessities for travel, plus (of course) some wine (stocks for the Pacific crossing). Then we took the metro back to Tokyo central, then the train to Yokahama. We farewelled Axelle there as she is returning to her home in Marseilles and is now in a hotel until her flight leaves the day after tomorrow.
So: Shiver me
timbers! Splice the main brace! Officer of the Watch to the crow’s-nest! The last man back to the Brig! It’s across the Pacific now - so we won’t report for 3 to 4 weeks after this - then the message bottle may be a bit slow as we will be further away by then!
CS:
As PP has aptly and adequately described, we did make shore in Yokahama, travelling at a snail’s pace (if one can imagine such a thing in regard to our huge vessel - if the Captain was a bit concerned at the haste of our passage between the islands earlier he will have been more than satisfied with the caution employed here) including going under a splendid bridge which had two layers to take two lots of traffic in both directions at one time.
The ‘gang of four’ hit the Japanese train system as soon as the formalities of immigration were complete, which proved to be significantly less painful than had been suggested and as far as we can tell our cabins were not searched.
Our attempts to purchase a portable DVD player were again thwarted (extraordinary to consider that said devices seem to be
completely absent from the Korean and Japanese mainlands since we decided we might like one) but our day was full of wonder as described. Craig took us to the area where apparently young Japanese are able to hang out in garb and accoutrements not commonly seen on the street and we duly noted this phenomenon in the small walking street (alley) where we had our late lunch.
Our return to the ship was via Axelle’s hotel and we bid her a most fond farewell. She is a delightful young woman and we will remain friends via email and blog. This now makes me the only female aboard our find craft until further notice.
I look forward to reporting that our ‘crossing’ has been as pacific as the name implies (fingers crossed) when we reach the warmer waters at Panama.
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