on the way to Japan

Stan's photo blog

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8bStWwJ2x3PLXJLbGFzemloSDA/view?usp=sharing

We continue to take an unplanned northerly course across the western Pacific. Continuing tropical storms are impacting our cruise  (and others), but considering the devastation in the small island nation of Vanuatu, our disruptions (and bouncy seas) are minor inconveniences.

We were just told that we will not be able to dock in Yokohama due to unsafe weather and sea predictions. We'll go to Kobe instead (and skip Nagasaki altogether) and Cunard will jump through a bunch of hoops to get  our coming and going passengers to and from the ship and arrange tour options for the rest of us. I don't even know where Kobe is, other that having bullet train access to Yokohama and Tokyo. We'll look at options once we see what the tour office had to offer.

As it turns out, Kobe is relatively close to Kyoto (1 1/2 hours by coach), which is supposed to be a highlight of Japan - an ancient capital. Since there was no way to do extensive research while at sea, we are taking two separate ship tours - one to Kyoto and another the next day to Osaka (probably could have easily managed Osaka with research time and better mobility on Stan's part). This will make for a busy two days, but we figured it would give us a chance to see two different locations of cultural importance in Japan. Then there's a sea day before our tour in Busan, S Korea.

This morning there was an unexpected announcement from the Bridge that there was a volcano on our port side which was erupting. It was about 12 miles away, on the horizon. We could definitely see it (and the steam from fumerols below the sea around it) but the light and distance made it mostly fade into the atmosphere. After 5 days of seeing only ocean, it was an item of interest.

Today is a beautiful sea day, a bit cooler as we head to Japan, but we have hazy blue skies and a calm, following sea - nice for a change.

The morning show this morning shared two limericks that Stan had written as part of their St Patrick's Day observances. I'll post them here if I can. We had fun dressing in our bit of green and checking out others - it was a fun evening.