7 Days - 7 Time Changes

We are on our last sea day of the trip and we think that the 7 time changes that we have had in the last 7 days is finally getting to us. We managed to get up earlier today but it is hard to keep any routines with the "hour forward tonight" notice on the bed every evening. we are about 5000 miles from the port in China and have covered about 3000 since leaving Japan. The number of activities seems to have slowed as we approach Alaska. Tomorrow we are along side at 5 am. About 1100 people are staying on with only 700 or so leaving the ship. Another 1000 or so are boarding. We probably will see every street and house in Whittier since everybody lives in one condo building. All 200 of them. We hope that the snow is gone at least in the streets. We will be into the fiord the next day and the captain reported that there is a pod of whales in the area. Still having trouble eating the 15 meals a day.

Sailing In the North Pacific

These time changes are a killer. An hour every night means that we are going to sleep later and sleeping in more and more. Today we almost missed the dance class at 10:30! Needless to say we are missing a meal (breakfast) and going straight to lunch. That of course means more eating to catch up on the missed opportunities. We are filling our days with talks and shows. The captain gave a very nice interview the other day on life at sea and how at 38 he is the CO of this ship. It was very interesting and he is probably the most personable of all the captains that we have heard. We are getting better at dancing and the lessons are a big help. They have an hour every day where one can practice the various dances. Waltzes are good, cha cha is doable but the tango is still a bit confusing. We figure that by Vancouver we will be able to hold our own.
Our table of 10 is getting along quite well. We have 6 Californians, 2 Aussies (from New Zealand) and one good looking Canadian couple (us). We have been having special orders almost every night. Onion rings, chicken wings, chocolate pie, banana cream pie and coconut cream pie for the table have all been delivered as a special request. Never a shortage of food, just a need to loosen our belts every day.
We are in Alaska in 2 more days . Some people are reporting whales and dolphins but so far we have not seen any. Perhaps tomorrow.

2 Mondays at Sea

We have been sailing for a few days now and the Internet connections seems to be much faster that a few days ago. The Japanese do not allow ships to use the Internet in their waters so the system was down for a few days. The weather is getting cooler - now around 40F as a high - as we are heading north east towards Alaska. They have plenty to do on the ship but it seems that just relaxing is the best thing. We have been changing time zones every day so the body clock is a bit out in the mornings. However we don't need to get up. Most days we have gone to the dance and line dancing sessions as well as eat and watch the shows. Today we did the Tango but are still not ready for dancing with the stars! Hardly enough time to eat! Food is great and plentiful.
Today is Monday as it is the second one this week. We are approaching the International Date Line where we get back the day we "lost" when we flew to China. One woman told us that since we are on the second Monday. she was concerned that tomorrow will be Wednesday! Where is Tuesday was her question. Our mini-suite TV problems seem to have been corrected. Other than being too cold to sit on the balcony, everything else is fine.

Volcanoes in Muroran

The Japanese were at it again. after promising that the procedures for going ashore would be short, we again were hours getting clearance. The entire ship needed passport control; no problem there as we did that the day before. The medical screening was the same stuff. Everyone from the Captain on down needed screening. We were scheduled to go ashore at 8 am; but ended up leaving around 10am. What that means is that with a 4 hour excursion, we got back late and it is hard to go wandering as the ship leaves early.
We were off to Mount Uso which was active in the mid 1940's. The steam was still rising from parts of the area as it is an active volcanic zone. We took the gondola ride to the top of a nearby mountain for views of the entire area. A side walk up to the rim of the crater was billed as 139 extra steps. However you could go down into the pit which was still steaming. The entire distance down was about 710 steps. My legs were a bit tired after that!
The next stop was at a massive crater lake. The highlight was a foot bath in the natural hot spring water. Then the return to ship features a stop at some buildings that were covered by a recent lava flow and a stop to take a picture of a cherry tree in bloom. Hokkaido is the northern most of the main Japanese islands and has a climate much like Southern Ontario. Many vegetable and dairy farms dot the area. They also claim the best beer in the world. It was good but I am not sure of the "best" claim.
After a quick stop at the ship, we took the free shuttle downtown. The city is not that big and the shops were very expensive. we managed to find a "7-11" type shop that sold wine so we spent our last yen on wine and chips. We found a California "bottom of the barrel tasting" wine as well a locally produced wine which we have not tried yet. A quick shuttle back and as we were leaving a Japanese dance troupe entertained us until we were far off the dock. If only Japanese officials would be a little easier to deal with.