Today's stop at Muroran was the Volendam's first ever stop here. And the town appeared to be ready. But more on that later.
Denise from Cruise Critic organized a tour that would take us to Hell Valley, Lake Toyo, and Mt Usu in one tour. Generally the HAL tours only would go to 1 or 2 of the three on a single tour, but visiting all three in one trip would be a real treat.
We easily got off the ship just after 8am to the watchful eyes of a number of Japanese port guards. We even had to show our stateroom keycard to take the stairway down to A deck to disembark. Our cheerful guide for the day, Fuji, was waiting for us and after a brief delay we headed out to the Hell Valley which is the English equivalent of Jigokudani. It's a sulphur rich hot springs and steam vents area not unlike those found in Yellowstone, but on a much smaller scale. There are nice paved and wooden walkways and some stairs in order to get closer to the action! Nearby there are a number of hotels and thermal related activities.
From Hell Valley we drove over to Lake Tōyo where we stopped at a nice overlook with a souvenir shop and restroom facility. I sampled some seaweed soup which was excellent! Afterwards we drove up to Mt. Usu which looks out on Mt. Showa-Shizan which was steaming. This latter mountain was formed in 1943 after the eruption of Mt. Uzu. There are even other ruins of an apartment building, a bathhouse, and a hospital from the various recent eruptions. This is a seismically active area!! We took the Ropeway (gondola) up Mt. Uzu and hiked another few minutes up to the Ginnuma crater viewing area. This crater was formed by a 1977 eruption. In fact the whole back side of Mt. Uzu has been increasing in size due to volcanic activity.
After all of this activity and with the cooler temperatures, we enjoyed some Ramen at a little restaurant. It was quite good. In fact, I liked it better than the Ramen museum Ramen. Again, it's nothing like the Top Ramen we get in the States.
On the drive back to the port we saw the site of the G8 summit which is situated on top of a large hill. It was likely selected due to its ease of establishing a security perimeter. We were also able to drive over the high suspension bridge that we would later sail under as we left the port area.
Back at the port, there was a beehive of activity with local artisans selling their wares, the high school kids taking surveys and offering to paint a person's name in Japanese characters on a card for a small fee. One could also wear a kimona, use the free wifi, or earlier in the day take a local hop on hop off shuttle bus for 1,000¥ or $10 for the day. They also provided really nice free maps of the area.
Later, we learned that while we were out on tour, the Mayor presented Captain Baijens a commemorative plaque in honor of the Volendam's first call at Muroran. This will be added to the display on Deck 4 just aft of the theatre. We watched the sail away from the Crow's Nest while watching the school kids and townspeople give us a rousing send off. And with a blast of the horn the Volendam eased away from the dock and backed into the turning basin, rotated 180° clockwise, and sailed out of the harbor and under the suspension bridge, discharged the pilot, and sailed into the large bay before turning north in the Pacific Ocean on our way to Kushiro.
After another Lido dinner, my wife chose to watch the movie, The Forest, but I wanted to see the main stage performance of the Alley Cats, an accapella quartet. They were really good, so I decided to see them a second time at 10pm, and used the in between time to update my blog.
Tomorrow is our last Japanese port of call at Kushiro. We have an early all aboard time of 3pm in order to have our exit clearance processed from Japan. We'll have 6 sea days until we reach Kodiak. Time to rest up, and there will be a delay in my posting until we reach Kodiak. Stay tuned and despite the importance of the destination, remember to savor the journey.
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