Fiji the long way with our last QFi JASA.

[love_the_life]

Looking forward to seeing the ship again so that I can become morose and sad that I have not been on her for a while. See my polar bear!
Antarctica is on the radar but probably not till the end of 2015 I need my cruise fix.
Come on Drron :mrgreen:

 

[drron]

Things not going quite to plan.The fishermen's union on Hachijo-jima refused to let us land at their sheltered port this morning so we continued on our way.today a new typhoon appeared.It's predicted course is right over the Bonin Islands at the time we are supposed to be there so we will miss them taking a westerly course to outrun or if not at least have the swell and winds to our stern.A few rough days ahead.

 

[tgh]

High adventure on the high seas… I'm green… which , I suspect may not be an uncommon complexion shade over the next few days.. enjoy

 

[drron]

Finally back to the TR.Friday comes and a leisurely brekkie-my last Japanese one for some time.At least mrsdrron will be happy that I am not putting such stuff into my mouth.There are periodsof heavy rain and bright sunshine so we decide to take the short walk to the station a little early as it was a sunshine period.So I got to indulge in an old pastime of train spotting-

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It poured whilst waiting undercover at the station and again on the train but we arrived at Otaru station in bright sunshine and got a taxi to the Silver Explorer.We were soon onboard enjoying a glass of Prosecco-well it is an Italian line and besides I am not a champagne lover so no problems.Served by the lovely Vangie who has been on most of the Silversea's cruises we have been on.In fact we know a lot of the crew.Captain Maggie is on again but only the staff captain and not in charge.So a few different views of the harbour from on board-

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[drron]

For this cruise being in warmer waters we chose a Medallion suite as it has a large balcony.So some shots-

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So back to the harbour and sail away-

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[drron]

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[drron]

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And then the sunset-

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[love_the_life]

Fun times ahead. The Medallion suite would be a good choice for this cruise as you will probably have the opportunity to use the balcony a fair bit. We had a veranda in the Arctic (French Balcony) which was good to lean out and take photos and get a bit of fresh air into the cabin. It was a bit chilly to be out on a balcony! We did wrap up and have lunch outdoors at times - the knee rugs were very welcome. Hope you get smoother sailing soon. Wonderful pics. Can we have a few more of the ship too please?

 

[drron]

We met our butler,Rowena,and room attendant Luluth.A great team.Rowena especially is very proactive.Mrsdrron asked if there was only 1 power point in our suite.There is only one.But 30 minutes later Rowena is back with a power board.Today it was a little bumpy so I brought back a couple of pieces of ginger from lunch.Back from dinner and there is now a plate of ginger.
Dinner was with an American couple from Guam,a really nice Canadian who has been on 2 previous cruises with us and Chris-the British birder on the Expedition team.Lobster was on the menu so we all chose it.As yet I have not taken any food pictures but will remedy that in the next couple of days.
Saturday and we awaken cruising the Tsugaru straight on the southern coast of Hokkaido-

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Soon we see the destination for today,Hakodate.Of course our second visit having spent 9 minutes changing trains on Monday!

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Then the cable car on Mt.Hakodate and the navy is waiting for us-

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-jsxx_Rdf8FE/VCEAf-0sv7I/AAAAAAABZRM/gvOvwFQSg9I/s400/DSC08373.jpg.

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The locals are fishing and the busses are waiting for us-

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[drron]

A great welcome-

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About an hour and we are on the slopes of Mt.Komagatake whose last major eruption was in 1640 when the top blew off.Was calculated to be at least twice as powerful as the Mt. St. Helens eruption.A minor eruption in 1990.

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This was a great test for my knee.The busses could only go to the 6th station.A 2.5km track then leads to the summit.A 25 minute stop and I was able to get a KM up the track and back.Previously though I could come downhill fast as my knee was stiff.Now virtually normal movement so have to take it a little slower.

 

[drron]

Fun times ahead. The Medallion suite would be a good choice for this cruise as you will probably have the opportunity to use the balcony a fair bit. We had a veranda in the Arctic (French Balcony) which was good to lean out and take photos and get a bit of fresh air into the cabin. It was a bit chilly to be out on a balcony! We did wrap up and have lunch outdoors at times - the knee rugs were very welcome. Hope you get smoother sailing soon. Wonderful pics. Can we have a few more of the ship too please?

I went around and took some shots of the ship today.will need to edit them in the nextday or two.

 

[drron]

So on climbing the hill you could not only get views of Mt.Komagatake but views of the valley below including the Onuma lakes formed by the eruption in 1640.

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[drron]

Onuma is not quite a National Park-

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But it is a beautiful Japanese park-

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[love_the_life]

So on climbing the hill you could not only get views of Mt.Komagatake but views of the valley below including the Onuma lakes formed by the eruption in 1640......

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Now that doesn't look like one of the ship's zodiacs :mrgreen:

Looking forward to some more pics - they are great.

 

[drron]

I forgot one shot.Coming down from the mountain I saw this-

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turns out that they were installing a deep seismic device to help in predicting future eruptions.The theme for this post though is mushrooms of Onuma-

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[drron]

Next it was Mt.Hakodate to overlook the city-

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Good views of the harbour-

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Then the greek orthodox and catholic churches-

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And the former British Consulate from the Meiji restoration times-

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And a sportsground on reclaimed land-

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[tgh]

We had a quick lunch at the cable car restaurant….
I opted for a local beer… it was Blue !!
Tasted like cough.. lunch was also unmemorable…..
Looking forward to the memory lane trip with the ship pics

 

[drron]

At the port there was this old ship.No one could tell us what it was.My guess a model of one of Perry's "black"ships.

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We didn't have long up the mountain so no restaurant for us.It is a communications hub.Also a small protest aimed at Russia.The day after Japan surrended in WW2 the Russians declared war on Japan and seized half of Sakhalin Island and the Kurile Islands which were then Japanese territory.They still remain Russian even though the Kurile Islands were awarded to Japan in the treaty of 1875.They have never been Russian before this seizure.Japan has been asking for only half the Kuriles to be returned.Totally justified IMHO-

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Then mum and dad crow sat still as baby crow was in a nearby tree.The closest I have ever been to a crow-

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The view back to Honshu-

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Back to the ship by 1730.our balcony-

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And it looked like something was to happen-

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[drron]

The sun was setting-

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Then the dancing began-

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[drron]

The young were appreciative-

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But soon had their turn-

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But the older women joined in.They appeared to have limitless energy-

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