JAPAN CRUISE DAYS 8 & 9: ALL AT SEA

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....