Hanging out in Osaka Hokko!

We tied up at the Osaka Hokko yacht harbour at 9pm on a Tuesday night. Lots of yacht here, but nobody around. Wednesday is a off day for the marina office, so again nobody around, just us.

The reason why we were there, was that we needed to prepare for shipping, best we can at a cheap marina (free is better), before we go over to Shin Nishinomiya YH. It turned out that we had a whole week free berth! Amazing! And including electric and water! Unbelievable!

Take a picture of the bus sched.

… altho, maybe this marina is not located in a desirable location… surrounded by heavy industries, sanitary works and trash processing yard. .. Sometimes we get a smell, mostly we get rained out and it was so rolly that Doug rigged the roll-control! Inside a marina, can ya imagine! Well, the obvious draw is that its free, whereas Shin Nishinomiya YH is US$90/night for our 9m length. Yup, we’ll put up with a lot more, so that we pay as little rip off days as possible.

Osaka JR… the maze…

Unfortunately though, we didn’t have good weather for drying out our sails. It rained heavily on and off, and drizzle more than 50% of the time. Just as well, we caught up on rest, did some sightseeing, eat lots of exotic Japanese food.  Soon we be missing the authentic Japanese food …

Train schedules … er… help?

There is a pretty good bus service, 5 mins walk from the marina, that would bring us out to Osaka city. If we just needed groceries, there are good supermarkets in about 20mins bus ride. Bus ride is a flat rate US$2 per adult. Not cheap for a short distance, but its cheap if you ride all the way into Osaka.

Trying to catch a train to a tourist site? … unless you read Japanese… otherwise good luck. So its decided, I am not venturing further than where bus 53 goes 🙂

Yummy! Raw tuna, scallops, octopus… rice…

Doug is anti-social… so Lang has to do city exploring on her own. Which is okay, I get to walk and be distracted by all the fancy merchandise and eat all the raw stuff.. 🙂 Ha! And treat myself to good take out dinner! .. Like this cooked Hokaido crab that I bought from Isetan!

Not forgetting the work we have to do here… are we 🙂 For packing up precious stuff like our varnished Sitka spruce bowsprit, mast and bits, stainless bits and stuff, we needed to get big roll of good quality bubble wrap, cheap carpets, wrapping cellophane, tape etc… I Googled found a good DIY store to get them, that was a bus ride and 20 mins walk away. The stuff that we needed was rather inexpensively, but the cab fare back was expensive, US$26 to ride from the store, carrying our $80 purchases, and us…

Drying sails in overcast skies is never fun…

We were really thankful for the space to work with and all the amenities at Osaka Hokko YH. Definitely needed the electric for AC and all the nice things to have in life, plus convenient source of water for all the cleaning that we have to do. We had the pontoon to ourselves, so we could stretch out our sails and stuff that needs cleaning or wrapping. Doug took this chance to clean out the over flooded holding tank! Yucks! Nope, it was not the serious blackwater, just that a crack in some valve that led to liquids getting into the holding tank and flooded the fore peak area. Lots of stuff to clean… Doug braved the elements and Lang was strangely missing from the scene… 🙂

.. Somebody got to tend to the sails … 🙂  … and wrapping ..

Do we still have a bowsprit on? Guess not…

We were advised to remove the bowsprit and do whatever we can to prepare for removing the rig, as we are expected to spend only 5 days at Shin Nishinomiya YH. We were successful to remove the head stay (leaving the staysail stay to hold the weakened rig), and the bowsprit, right there on the pontoon. Some struggle to push the swollen bowsprit out, but we did do, just by the 2 of us.

Time pass quickly when we have so much to do. We made good progress in the 7 free berthing days at Osaka Hokko, despite the lousy weather… Next to the really hard work waiting for us at Shin Nishinomiya YH.

Seto Nakai part 3 – Passage to Kobe

Feeling refreshed after 2 nights at anchor off the beach at Kitagi, we were ready to go complete our sailing journey of 2013…. with mixed feelings. At the end of this last leg, we will plunge ourselves into a super packed 2 weeks to prepare Calliste for shipping. Not something that we look forward to, but we have to get it over and done with before we can get to the next sailing season… which we hope to be in much more fun conditions, milder weather and beautiful surroundings… 🙂 .. can you guess where we are headed to?

Look! Its a theme park!

Anyway, so here we are, leaving Kitagi at noon, so that we will make it to our next pass at 1500hrs. We timed it such that we have some current under our keel but not too strong to give us any trouble. Colin tells us that the worst passes are behind us already, so nothing to worry about… okie, I hope so..

Well, so this is my 1st under the bridge passing in daylight.. and perfect for pictures. 🙂 Snap away.

On approaching the 1st pass just after Kitagi, there were signs of a advanced (decadent) civilization… a theme park! I can imagine.. the view from those rides must be exhilarating. Wonder if they can see us in our little boat looking at them with our bino 🙂

Approaching the Akashi Kaikyo bridge

… And the pass itself was… yawn… so un-happening … after all our thrilling night pass-passing, this was a total non-event. .. so Colin was right, nothing to worry eh.

We camped (anchored) overnight at a marina in a beautiful location… kinda sneaked in and out without anyone knowing. In at 8pm and out by 6am… Was nice and quiet and cool… We are definitely liking the cooler temperature in the inland sea. Remember, it was 37 deg at Fukuoka!

Arrrggghhhhh…… …. turn back captain!

We had hoped to make the next pass, Akashi Kaikyo at 1700hrs. That is the time where the current change in our direction and after the peak flow… or so we hope..

This pass is the last and only 3hrs to further to Osaka, so it had all sorts of buildings built around it. .. but the bridge itself is really tall… Quite spectacular, dun ya think?

We are 15MT height sailboat going under 65MT bridge!

 

1400hrs to 1700hrs, we were fighting current and 1MT waves on approaching the pass, making average 3.5kns. No hurry, no problem, just not very comfy thats all.

1700hrs, we stick closer to the right of the channel, letting the big boys pass us on the left… strangely, there are lots of turbulence and chops on the approach… uh oh… what are we in for this time..?

… well, actually, this is different. Previously, we had turbulence after the pass, but this time, the turbulence was before the pass… hmm… I wonder why… but I am sure there is a logical explanation to it.

passing once

Evidence! Thats us, 15MT from the peak passing under a 65MT height limit bridge! What the picture cant show is the 50MT clear space between the top of our mast to the lowest rail on that bridge.

The passing height limit is stated in the chart. The lowest we passed under was 31MT at Kitagi, all others were 65MT… but its always a little unnerving approaching the bridge and looking up at our mast, wondering if its gonna clear… altho we know that we would … Calliste is 15MT max, and yet all the logic could not convince Doug to relax…

Passing twice

 

Passing over

1800hrs, we passed under the bridge in beautiful weather and the turbulence stopped. We are flowing rather quickly with the 2kns behind us and look at the quick series of snaps as we move away from the bridge.

Leaving our last pass behind us

1830hrs, okie, we passed all the passes… time to relax… and what a beautiful sunset. Time to bring out the cocktails. 🙂 …

2000hrs, its a dark night out and we are coasting into Osaka, dodging a few ships and some anchored ones… looking for leading lights. Navigating on the detailed Navionics chart on Ip4d really helps, altho it doesnt pin point our location (as mine dont have the GSM/GPS position fixing). Just getting the correct light info and matching it visually, we were able to get into the marina with no difficulty at all… of course, we had internet and could see the Google satellite picture and that helps too. 2100hrs, we are tied up at Osaka Hokko yacht harbor… time for a good rest. Bentos will have to wait.

Seto Nakai part 2 – Kitagi Surprise

We never heard of Kitagi until we were in Okinawa and doing research on shipping Calliste from Kobe, thus having to sail through the inland sea. We came across several blogs that suggested Kitagi to be a great stopover place for cruisers and visit with Colin and wife is like a foreign cruisers ritual if one is passing through the Seto Nakai.

Colin and Mika runs a sail loft and marine supplies shop on Kitagi island. What a unusual place for such a business… why Kitagi? I guess we are here to find out.

We arrive at Kitagi on a rainy morning day, a little breeze all around and some gust coming down from the mountains. A dreary day. We went into the harbor where Colin has his sailboats and allow side ties up to the boats… but we were not comfortable tying up and conditions were not quite right… so Doug drop me off the red ferry pier and went out to anchor off the beach in 8M. I carry my little portable Standard Horizon VHF for shore to ship comms on channel 72.

Ferry waiting hut.

It was late Saturday afternoon when I landed at the pier. I thought I’ll just walk around and see what provisions could be gotten on the island, maybe even a nice dinner to take out, then bump in Colin at his shop… Well, I guess one can always plan for the best and accept whatever the outcome.

A beautifully kept garden and mansion on Kitagi island.

There are only few streets in this village and a road goes around the island, joining all the villages. My estimate is that one can walk leisurely around the island in 4hrs, but for today, I am only going to walk around this village and gawk at the beautiful ornamented old houses. There were some very well kept gardens with bonsais and stone ornaments next to well kept manors… and on the flip side, there were some run down shop fronts, messy shop windows and signs of a glorious past left to decay.

There were quite many houses, but not many people at all… There was a small group of 5 tourist, and I guess they must be staying at the 1 operational hotel… where’s the restaurant..? No restaurant!? I didnt find any… I mean there should be a sign, menu or lanterns that would make a restaurant quite obvious right?

Yes, there is 1 provisions shop, and its quite well stocked. I am surprised, but they do have a limited selection of rice trikes and bentos. The trikes taste very good! One of the best that I have had in Japan. Well, that, fruit cake and fresh bananas for Doug. Thats all I could get for dinner… could have gotten frozen meat and some veges, but dun really wanna cook.

Colin’s sail loft on the left

I couldnt find Colin’s marine business in my walk, so I ask the man at the ferry waiting hut. Well, not that we could really converse, but I gather from his gestures that Colin is not on the island on that day… Well, time to ask Jaap, using my Docomo mobile internet and FB of course. Ok, made contact, Colin will be back this evening and we’ll hook up on Sunday. Called Doug on the VHF, picked me from the red pontoon and out to anchor again.

Skinny whitey

Next morning, while sitting at anchor, we figured out that the big building next to the waterfront is Colin’s loft. Somehow, we just did feel like that must be it… and we were right. 1200hrs, I called Colin to ask if its possible to arrange a small craft to come pick us from our anchored spot, and he was so obliging 🙂 .. Doug wouldnt have gone on shore otherwise… hard-headed man. Anyway, from what I hear, he was really happy that he did go onshore and made that connection.

Fatty Blackie… reminds me of smudge…

1st stop, tour de sail loft! Colin bought the building cheaply as many business were moving off the island, and converted it for sail work, warehouse, office and residence. Impressive! ..

Then we meet Mika in the office. And he has room for 2 cats here… sweet!

Buttered, pan fried abalone and top shells.

2nd stop, lunch. So there is a restaurant on this island? Yep, 4 restaurants but we’ll go to the only one thats open on Sunday… good thing is that they serve a lot selection of foods and cooking style. Seafood is their speciality of course… judging by the abalone and snail shells that lined their garden. So I must try the buttered pan fried abalone and snail dish… and I really like it! I’m a sucker for anything in shells.

The food was great and the company of Colin and Mika was amazing. This was such a treat! One of my most memorable meals in Japan for sure!

3rd stop, visit a stone works shop. We were so curious about Kitagi, I mean the numerous mansions suggest that there was a time when this was a very prosperous city and now falling apart as there are not many people left on the island. .. So this island was a rich granite mining ground and had many stone works shops, but demand for stone works fell off the cliff when the Japanese economic bubble burst in the 80s. Most of the quarry and stone workshops could not compete with cheaper foreign products and declining demand, had to close or moved away from Kitagi. Most of its younger families had to move off the island to get work in the city, leaving the elders and those who enjoy a simpler island life to continue working the land.

Stone works shop

There is still a small demand for Japanese stone works that could be satisfied by the smaller number of craftsmen still in this trade. Colin brought us to a shop that was busy and had to work through Sunday. It was the only shop that was open and it was busy because of automation, passion and innovation by its owners. 2 generations of husbands and wives work together in this shop.

What kind of blades cut a slab of stone…?

Using computers to control the cutting of the stone, technology to design and create the cut list for each project. Much less stone is wasted at this shop as they were able to design imperfections in the stone into desirable features of art in their work. They learned how to use art and technology in their work and that help them stay in business and stay together as a family. I am impressed!

We were very thankful to Colin and the people who told us about Colin. Without them, we wouldn’t have stopped at Kitagi, we wouldn’t have known what we missed. Kitagi may never become prosperous again, but the beauty of it is that the people remaining on the island has transcended the need for material wealth and is living the beautiful life of simplicity.

We returned to Calliste that evening feeling quite awed and … very zen…