Life on the ferry is good

July 1, 2023 to July 3, 2023

We have been enjoying our time on the ship. With 3 meals, plenty of entertainment and people watching, and just watching the view go by…the time is passing, all too fast. There is something truly relaxing about being on a ship, or a train, for an extended period of time with all of your needs met in one place and so well. Life is simple, no decisions to worry about, just be.

We are enjoying the Ishikari very much. We are lucky that our trip coincided with this vessel as 3 ships are used on this route. The oldest one only has bunk beds for sleeping. This is an upgrade.

The Yacht Club offers a la carte meals for those not going to the dining room. As well, they serve beer, coffee, ice cream etc. very popular.

The theatre will have live music later followed by feature films.

We sailed on the Sunflower line when we went to Kyushu earlier on our trip. We also enjoyed that trip.Not sure where this ship is headed as they are leaving Tomakomai at the same time as us.

This is interesting…we have been seeing truck loads of cattle coming and going for some time.

The workers at the ferry always come out to wave at the passengers during the departure. A lovely tradition.

This beautiful grand piano is in the lounge by The Yacht Club. Look forward to hearing it later.

Goodbye Hokkaido. It has been a pleasure getting to know you. Someday, we will return.

After dinner entertainment in the theatre. We particularly enjoyed the woman who played (jazz) and sang beautifully.

Breakfast was great, but rice gruel didn’t really appeal to us. I think it is an acquired taste. However, I can say that we were in the minority. People loved it!

The entrance to the dining room is just the beginning. There are four large dining areas beyond, all with a nice outlook to the sea.

There are so many spaces to sit and enjoy the view. The only downside is that there are small contained rooms which is where people are allowed to smoke. Inevitably with the doors opening, the dregs of smoke can linger in places. Nonetheless, the segregation of smokers in an airlocked room with filters is a big improvement

We had a stopover of a few hours in Sendai. Watching some of the passengers depart.

Dinner, as usual, was very good. A few highlights were the encrusted eggplant, dumplings, chicken…and always, the small salads, very good.

The weather has been good for our voyage. At times, we have had rough seas, but it has mostly been calm sailing.

This man loves the birds. We came out on deck to this vision of him surrounded by hovering gulls who were eager to have a crust of bread.

All of us had fun watching the birds fly through the wind, eager to get their share.

The gulls made themselves aerodynamic as the wind was fierce.

Along this coast we have been seeing more freighter and container ship traffic. It has been interesting.

Leaving Sendai and the beautiful sand beaches that stretch for miles

We got to recognize some of the birds…like this guy who always flew with one leg up and one leg down.

The blue windows on the right are in the elevator. When you are in the elevator and moving, the different colours of blue make it seem like you are underwater.

The entrance to the men’s public bath - the half length curtain is always a clue that there is a public bath or onsen inside.

Dining room - section C which seemed to be where we always ate. Note the chains holding the chairs in place…there are also bags placed around the ship in case you are feeling sick. Luckily this trip has been smooth.The ship is generally very spacious and you never feel like it is crowded, except perhaps at the first dinner when everybody lined up at once. Nonetheless, there was room for all.

It is mesmerizing for all to stop and look at this display. Here it shows the complete route, but we all wait for the screen to change and show where the ship is at this moment. And oh yes, Barry took this photo to show that at 8am the temp is 35 Celsius.

Waiting for the cars to go, then it is our turn and then motorcycles. The adventure and the ride continues.

It is stinking hot and we have about 20 Km to ride to reach our hotel in Nagoya. It is morning and it is already 35 Celsius. Yikes.

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