Day 37 - Tuesday - 2nd 5/02/17 - At Sea to Alaska - 4

At around 9:15pm last night we crossed the International Date Line which theoretically follows the 180° longitudinal line.  Up in Alaska it curves sharply to the West so as to have all of the Aleutian Island chain of islands on the same day as the rest of the USA.  It's an artificial marking on the map, and there was no 'bump' or sensation of crossing that line.  ;-)  We did receive certificates that we did cross it!

It also worth noting that we are traveling north of the Aleutian Island chain as the great circle route we are following took us there.  It's the shortest distance from our last stop in Japan until we reach Kodiak.  Interestingly, we have to sail at least 16 miles from the nearest land because in a full response emergency requiring us to stop, a response can't be expected for 12-14 hours and it would take us at least that amount of time to drift into shore.  Additionally the seas are much calmer up here north of the Aleutian Islands in the Bering Sea than it would have been sailing in the Pacific Ocean south of the island chain.  We did see a couple cargo ships plying their way towards Japan.

Coming back to the day's activities, it was a really low key sort of day onboard the Volendam.  Following the morning interdenominational service which I led with 20 in attendance, our first lecture was by Terry Greenburg on differences between East and West.  It was really good!  I attended the Navigational lecture which today was focused on the technical description of the ship.  It was really well attended (standing room only).  We were told that we'll be passing back through the Aleutian chain tomorrow with two more sea days before Kodiak.   Harry Strong's lecture was on coral with lots of pictures and movies.

Before our Lido dinner, we spent several hours in the Crow's Nest reading and watching for wildlife.  I finished another mystery novel, 'Signature Wounds' by Scott Morrison.  It's time to start my fifth book which will be another mystery novel.  After dinner I returned to the Crow's Nest to watch for wildlife and update my daily blog.  The evening's entertainment was the BBC Earth production of 'Frozen Planet which we have seen multiple times including once on this voyage.  So we elected to not go again. 

After dinner and a dry but cold day today, a light drizzle formed on the front facing windows in the Crow's Nest  as darkness continued its slow creep upon us.  We ended our evening in the Mix watching and listening Don play Broadway show tunes.  He's pretty good and we've seen him on other cruises.

And so ended our second May second. Fortunately the mats in the elevators didn't change so we knew it was still Tuesday.  For those who don't know, the carpet floor mats in the elevators have the day of the week on them and are changed out daily to help us keep track of what day it is.  It's a clever and simple way to keep us passengers aware of what day of the week it is.  Otherwise, there's very little sense of what day of the week it is.

Day 36 - Tuesday - 5/02/17 - At Sea to Alaska - 3

Oh how nice are the lazy days of sea days.  While I had to be up early to lead the interdenominational service, I was pleased that we had 31 in attendence.  Jeremy gave an interesting presentation on the two upcoming ports of call in Alaska as well as our final destination.  Harry Strong followed that up with his presentation on Sea Turtles.

After a brief lunch I attended the daily lecture on navigation presented by the ship's second officer.  It was interesting, and I learned we would be encountering weather in the upcoming days on our way to Kodiak. The afternoon's lecture by Andy Fletcher on space and time matters was pretty intense and was followed by a good Q&A session.

Up in the Crow's Nest, we spotted 3 whales which entertained us for a few minutes.  Later on at dinner in the Lido, some dolphins or porpoises were spotted.

Kubo and the Two Strings was tonight's movie and we followed that up with watching the cast performance of Droom.

Day 35 - Monday - 5/01/17 - At Sea to Alaska - 2

The fog horn continued to blow overnight and it was still foggy in the morning.  After leading the Interdenominational service (quite well attended) with a topic of 'Mystery' we ate a later breakfast than normal.  There was another Mariner awards ceremony and Bruce noted there were over 1,000 Mariners on the crossing.  It was followed by a Mariner's lunch.  There we enjoyed table conversation with a Dutch couple, single ladies from Perth and Alabama.  Before the 3pm lecture on Issac Newton, we did a bit of reading.  Andy Fletcher was a bit difficult to keep up with his presentation on Newton and Einstein and their positions about science, particularly time and space.  Afterwards we assumed our position in the Crow's Nest, read and watched for wildlife as the skies had cleared.  We spotted some fish rising and ocean debris, but that was all.

While tonight was Gala Night, we elected to eat once again in the Lido and had simple meals.

The evening's entertainment was Elliott Finkle, a simply outstanding pianist.  We've seen him before and in my opinion he's the best entertainer we've seen on a ship!  We even came back to watch his 10pm show.  I hope he plays an afternoon classical concert  like we had on another ship.

Day 34 - Sunday - 4/30/17 - At Sea to Alaska - 1

Overnight there was a little motion to the ocean but nothing too severe. However it was extremely foggy.  There was even fog inside the covered LiDO pool area which made quite an eerie view.  

As a volunteer for the interdenominational service it went okay.  Leading songs is not my strong suit, and someone volunteered to help with that at our next service.  Today's ventriloquist entertainer volunteered to read the Scripture, and he volunteered to help in the interdenominational devotional times for the next 6 sea days.

Mr. Greenburg gave an excellent presentation on differences between Japan and the West.  His 4 key points were:

1. Hierarchy vs Equality
2. Individualism vs Collectivism 
3. Certainty vs Ambiguity
4. Acceptance of contradiction vs logic

At noon the Captain came on the PA system and announced that the ship's time was now 1pm.  So in less than 24 hours we've lost 2 hours!

I finished reading 'The Greatest Generation' and started a rereading a novel titled 'Terms of Use' by Scott Alan Morrison.  It's a mystery novel about cyber attacks. I also started a new action thriller 'Field of Fire' by one of my favorite authors in this genre: Marc Cameron.  They are high intensity action packed spy thrillers with a central character of Joshua Quinn who rides a BMW motorcycle.

Harry Strong began his lecture series on One Ocean this afternoon.  It was just an introduction, but he appears to be a good speaker.  Following his lecture we resumed our customary spot in the Crow's Nest watching flat sea and thick fog pass by accompanied by the long blasts of the ship's horn every two minutes in accordance with international maritime law.  Those tones continued throughout the day and into the night.  I wonder how much longer we'll be sailing through fog which makes wildlife spotting nearly impossible.  It was also about 39°f outside which made walking the deck a bit challenging.

The evening's entertainment was a ventriloquist, Rob Watkins.  He was quite good with a number of different routines.

Day 33 - Saturday - 4/29/17 - Kushiro

Finally, we reached our last Japanese port on this cruise at Kushiro on Hokkaido.  We arrived at 8am and were quickly off the ship and found our guide for the day.  We quickly headed out of the port area for an observatory which turned out to be locked as we were too early.  So we reboarded the bus and drove a short distance up the road to a observation point for a brief stop.  It was a bit overcast so there wasn't much to see.  We reboarded the bus and drove back to the observatory and found it to be open.  The guide seemed insistent that we needed a lavatory and this was the place.  What she didn't realize was that there was really good WIFI there and that for me was more important as I couldn't get my portable WIFI device to connect.  

One surprising thing about Kushiro was how cold it was.  It's located at 43º north latitude which is 4º south of Seattle's latitude.  But it's so much colder here and very few spring plants have started to turn green for the the year and there was still snow banks in many places.

It was a short drive up to the AKAN International Crane Center Tancho Observation Center where there was a little crane museum and I paid the 340¥ to be able to see 3 cranes which are in the rehabilitation pens.  One even had an egg that it was caring for.  It was a very large egg.  They are beautiful large white cranes.  After leaving the Crane Center, we headed for AKAN village and spotted a crane in a field.  At the Akan village we watched a cultural show and had a chance to walk around the village.  What was surprising was the number of Alaskan like totems and wood carvings.  We also visited a museum to see the green algae balls and had an opportunity to get some snacks for lunch.  My choice was dried squid, and I found it delectable!  As we were leaving the museum, a fox made its way along the embankment next to the bus.  Later on on the drive back to the ship, we spotted another fox in a field as well as a pair of cranes.  The male crane was doing what our guide said was his 'happy dance.'

We arrived back at the ship 15 minutes before the posted deadline and there were a few local merchants selling their wares plus some students lingering around.  We reboarded and went through the very fast exit of Japan immigration process on the ship in the Franz Hals lounge.  

There was a 1/2 hour delay in the departure due to 3 buses of HAL shore excursions which came back late.  Later we met a couple who were on one of the excursions and the guide, upon hearing of the 3pm on board time, simply shrugged their shoulders and said the tour would occur as scheduled.  

We watched the sail away from the Crow's Nest as the ship backed away from the dock, backed into the turning basin and rotated clockwise 180º, sailed out of the harbor and headed for Alaska with a projected 6 days at sea.  

The captain announced that we would be losing an hour tonight and then an hour every day at noon.  The entertainment was the Cast show of 'Variations' which we watched twice and I worked on my sermon presentation and the order of service for the Interdenominational  service for tomorrow morning that I'm leading.   

Day 32 - Friday - 4/28/17 - Muroran

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.

Day 31 - Thursday - 4/27/17 - Aomori

The bay that Aomori is located on is quite large.  We sailed in  it for over an hour this morning until we reached our berth.  Once a 180° clockwise turn was completed, we slipped sideways into our parking spot poised for an easy deoarture. 

Our tour group organized by Carol from Cruise Critic assembled and we were easily off the ship by 8:15am.  There was a short delay in finding our guide, but eventually we located her.  Yuki was her name and she spoke great English, but had never guided a group before.  This led to a few challenges throughout the day as she didn't clearly and loudly set expectations or communicate directions.

It was about an hour to Hirosaki and its famous castle and cherry blossoms.  We toured a Samarai house before wandering our way through the park. A striking feature for me of the castle are the many dams that are found in the moat.  Also the castle itself dating from 1811 has been moved about 50 meters away from its foundation which is being renovated.  It's a 10 year project with 6 more years to go.  We also enjoyed a bento box lunch on a tarp in the lawn.  It was a bit brisk, however.

We then drove back to the port area to visit the Nebuta Warasse museum with its collection of very colorful lighted floats from the annual Neputa Festival in early August.  This was a highlight for me!

Back on the ship we played trivia (not very well) and watched the sail away from the Crow's Nest before our Lido dinner.  Today (4/27) is King's Day in Holland so there was a 7:15pm party around the Lido pool. Everyone was encouraged to wear some piece of orange to commemorate the day.

We watched the Bill Murray movie 'Lost in Translation' which was set in Tokyo and Kyoto.  While a number of the Japanese cultural scenes were cute, there was a big emptiness conveyed in the film.  Afterwards we watched the main stage show, 'Strings Alive'.