Orders are orders

When the harbourmaster says the port is closed - no ships in and no ships out - his word is final.

And so this morning instead of cruising along out at sea in the direction of Aomori we were still docked in Yokohama.  Disappointing, but unavoidable.  Another change to the itinerary.  We will not visiting Aomori, where among other things, I was looking forward to eating apple ice-cream; Aomori is very close to the area where the Fuji apple originated. However, as the Captain explained, it is pointless to arrive in the port  at 4 pm and leave at 5 pm. 

The big feature of the morning was departing Yokohama and scurrying around to various vantage points as the ship sailed under the bridge.  

The sun shines brightly today and I feel an inexplicable sadness at leaving Yokohama.

However the bridge is waiting, along with a flotilla of smaller vessels, for us to get under way and leave we must.

We have two days at sea ahead of us and plenty of time to investigate all aspects of the public areas on the ship and to attempt to find my way from the Crow’s Nest to the Dolphin Deck and back to Room 3332 without resorting to screaming for help in a loud, panic-stricken voice.

Once out of the harbour, land soon disappeared and our focus turned to the list of activities on the ships newsletter. The newsletter arrives in the slot beside my door each evening, allowing ample time to consider what might be happening tomorrow and to make arrangements with any other interested parties.  The ship day starts at 7 am in the morning with Morning Stretches as part of the Fitness Class in the Crow’s Nest at 7.30 am.  I can say right now there is no chance I will be attending a fitness class at any time of the day never mind 7.30 am.  This is a holiday fer cryin’ out loud.

At a more reasonable hour, and more in line with my interests, is the Book Club enrollment.  After a few false starts I eventually find my way to the Explorations Café and collect my copy of How to be an American Housewife, the selection for this cruise.  It is a small book, and in keeping with a cruise taking in Japanese ports it has a Japanese theme, albeit one relating to an era at the end of WW2.

After lunch I find a seat at the back of a packed auditorium to hear a presentation - the Birth of the Pacific Ocean; it deals with volcanoes and tectonic plates and the ups and downs over several billions of years, which gave us the ocean we will all cross in a few days’ time.  There is a small, lingering worry I may have placed myself in line for a dose of the flu; sitting in the only seat available, I find the woman seated next to me has a loud hacking cough, which rocks my seat and I avert my face to avoid  collecting unwanted germs as she coughs unrestrainedly.

I line up this evening in the Lido buffet, which has a great variety of food; enough, I’m sure,  to prevent starvation over the next three weeks.