Well, i'd like to start off by saying these 2 days at sea as we sailed north from Okinawa back to Yokohama were full of potential. On paper. In reality, it's the wrong time of year (probably at least a month too late in the season) and on top of that, I don't think the ship sails far enough out into the Pacific Ocean to connect with the really good stuff. In fact, it's pants! Too many hours were spent gazing at a birdless sea. The first day out from Okinawa produced 7 distant Black-naped Terns, 4 Bulwer's Petrels and around 60 mostly distant Streaked Shearwaters. We had one mad hour when a really scraggy-looking moulting booby with a white head flew past and it did get my pulse racing. As a little while later a different white-headed bird flew past. Surely they had to be immature Red-footed Boobies but the white head set alarm bells ringing for a bit. A quick scroll around the internet confirmed they weren't Abbott's Booby - well, one can dream! And a little later a really obvious Red-footed Booby appeared. All the while we had around 9 Brown Boobies circling the ship. And that was it..!
 |
| This was the 3rd Red-footed Booby today - shame it hasn't got a dark tail! |
 |
| A classic Red-footed Booby - the 2nd one today |
 |
| What a mess.... The 1st Red-footed Booby today |
 |
| Buoy oh Buoy..!! |
 |
| Lots of flying fish were disturbed by the ship and the BB's took full advantage |
 |
| More BB's |
 |
| Brown Booby with Amami in the background |
 |
| One of the 4 Bulwer's Petrels from today |
You know, the last day at sea was awful. No Short-tailed Albatross, in fact no nothing. Just a single Streaked Shearwater seen all day, but I did spend a large chunk of it drinking cocktails!! And that was the cruise done! So what did I think.... Well, the days on Ishigaki and Okinawa were great. Taiwan is always fun. But the cruise doesn't work as an entity in its own right. So I won't be repeating it next year. Instead, i'm in the process of sorting a really great epic Japan tour for next May to include Ishigaki, Okinawa & Amami, as well as Honshu & Hokkaido. With a little bit extra thrown in. I'm back in the office next week and will update the website as soon as I can. But I have to tell you, all this sushi, soup for breakfast and the crazy fascination with fish & seafood over here isn't for me. Myself and Mrs B have been spending quite a lot of time looking at different hotels and restaurants that can cater for people, who like me, can't stand fish! Oh and Mrs B is vegetarian and has worked out a pretty good non-meat, non-fish, non-seafood diet that's to her liking! So if the food situation in Japan has deterred you from coming here, fear not! And I don't mean any disrespect to the Japanese catering and food industry in any way.... It's just not for me!
Anyway, onwards and upwards. Off to Hokkaido we go....
