Jeff's Log ~ Saturday, May 24th, 2008

Noma, Japan, Island of Kyushu

We stopped at Amama-O- Shimi for an overnight stay. The port looked like it once was the center of a hustling city. Now, it seems, the port buildings are being demolished slowly, and the place is being reworked. We tied Pipe Dream to the sea wall and made sure that every fender available was out to protect her from the large tractor tires on the sea wall. Again, as soon as we got there, it seems that everyone in town heard of our arrival. The customs officials already had copies of all of our paperwork, so checking in was a breeze. The Japanese coast guard was fantastic with their weather reports, and seemed eager to help with whatever we needed.

I went up to the gas station about a block away and inquired about diesel fuel. I no sooner got back to the boat to pick up the jerry cans, than a truck pulled up to the boat loaded with diesel fuel. The driver spoke no English, but he did have the correct forms to supply to customs and coast guard officials. We proceeded to top off the fuel tanks, and filled all of our jerry cans. That made my chores a lot easier. Next on the list was ATM, Lunch, etc.

Things went smoothly, and Mark and I found time to walk around town a bit. We both wanted to send some e=mails, so we set out in search of an internet café. As we were walking through a sort of open air shopping mall, there were three young school girls who came up to me and asked if I spoke English. I told them yes, and they proceeded to introduce themselves and said hello. The spokes person was a girl by the name of Homi. I asked them if they knew where we could get on the internet, and they took us to a civic center type of place. We signed in and sat down, and were served tea. After about a half hour, the girl at the desk said she was sorry, but time was up. I asked her how much, and she would take no money. It was free.

In the meantime, the place had filled up with tables full o9f elderly women. My guess is that it was afternoon tea time. They kept trying to feed us and invited us to sit with them. We respectfully declined, and a couple of them started stuffing hard candies in our hands. The three school girls asked us to go have our pictures taken with them, and we went along with them to a photo arcade. Homi put some coins in the slot, and we sat in a very large photo booth while they climbed around and acted nuts behind us. Neither one of us had ever seen anything like this. After the picture were taken, we all went to a viewing screen where they can customize the pictures and add all kinds of stuff to them. We all had a lot of fun with that, and then we said goodbye and returned to the boat.

We all went to dinner together at a local restaurant. Tracy, Ranon, and Scott returned to the boat, and Mark and I set off to sample some of the night life. We went into a stylish building with four bars on the top floor. We settled on a place that was finished nicely and had a few people inside. It turned out to be way too expensive as they charge by the hour for the table to listen to karaoke, plus the cost of drinks. The waitress then walked us over to her girlfriend’s place which was a very small bar on the second floor of a building not far away. She introduced us to Marissa, and we agreed on a price for the evening. We paid 5,000 yen for all we could eat and drink. That’s less than fifty dollars for the two of us. It also was karaoke, with about eight other people besides us. After a few drinks, I started singing karaoke with the best of them. They had a pretty cool setup with an electronic device on which you picked songs by artist, song name, record label or whatever.

We all sang ,laughed and carried on until the owner-mamasan through us out. Lots of fun was had by all. When we got back to the boat, the tide had dropped considerably. I sat down on the sea wall and got one foot on the tire and stepped elegantly onto the boat. Mark tried not to sit on the sea wall, and mis-stepped and ended up with two thirds of his legs in the water, hanging onto the lifeline stanchion. So much for being quiet! I helped him onto the boat, and Scott poked his head out and asked if anyone needed a doctor. We told him no, just a clothes dryer.

The next morning, as I was cleaning the exhaust soot from the transom, one of the fellows that was there rode by on his bike and shouted and waved from half a block away. Later, on the way to the grocery store, we crossed paths with one of the ladies that was there. She smiled, said hellow and bowed when she saw us.
While Mark was grocery shopping, I thought that I would see about more time on the phone. The customer service girl spoke no English and did not have a clue about what I was trying to say. A fellow walked up and asked if he could help. His name was Shusi. He walked with me in the rain for about ten minutes to the phone place, and explained to them what I needed. The girl was about to hand me the card, and all of a sudden changed her mind and wanted to see the phone. It was on the boat, so we walked back to get the groceries, to the boat, and back to the phone store. Shusi stayed with me the entire time, just in case translation was needed. He works on a tuna fishing boat, and was glad that he could help a fellow seaman. I sure was glad to meet him, and thanked him very much.

We then threw the lines and took off for Kyushu in the rain. We had good wind behind us and lots of rain, so it was a fairly quick, wet trip. Sailing with a strong wind from behind at night is a little nerve wracking, because if you come off of a wave the wrong way, the wind can change sides and make the sail jibe unintentionally. When that happens, it can be dangerous. We try to keep the wind forward as much as possible, but it just kept clocking back. We decided to rig what is called a preventer, so we could maximize our speed and course.

To rig the preventer I have to take a line and tie it to the outboard end of the boom and run it all the way forward to the bow cleat, and down the other side to a cockpit winch. It always happens at night, it seems. I use all of the safety stuff, and stay harnessed to the boat. It is secretly kind of thrilling to be on the foredeck with waves breaking over the bow in the rain at night. Just in case of the worst happening, and ending up in the water, I do wear a locator strobe on my arm that I can easily activate.

We arrived in Noma and rafted up on a floating dock. The dock attendant was obviously taken by surprise as he was out in the pouring rain in a white shirt and tie. After helping with our lines, he waited and walked us up to register. The poor fellow was completely soaked.

After a cocktail or two on the boat, we went in and had dinner at the small yacht club restaurant. Everything was presented beautifully and we enjoyed our tasty sashimi dinner. They had vanilla ice cream for dessert, and we all really enjoyed that. It is now 9:00AM on May 25. We have been under way since 0545, en-route to Nagasaki. The weather is cool, and partly cloudy.

Captain Scott ~ Thursday, May 22, 2008 8:58 PM

Subject: P Dream Japan
Now in Nazi (city) on island Amami OShima 28 23n 130 39e. We sailed deep into the inner harbor which is undergoing some renovenation. So no commercial boats and no other cruisers. We are tied to the cement dock in the center of the city all by ourselves. Officials made us welcome, coast guard gave us weather, and a fuel truck showed up unasked and sold us cheap diesel. Nazi is small and surrounded by lush hills. Low clouds spill over them in a misty Japanese way. We had a great dinner which can be difficult with the language problem. When the waitress finds you know no Japanese she repeats herself only louder. Then girls in a nearby booth begin to giggle. Mark and Jeff found a bar and stayed out late. On our dock its a step up at high tide. With a 8ft tide you need a parachute at low tide. Mark found that being drunk did not help getting back aboard and fell in the water.

Captain Scott's Log ~ Thursday, May 22nd, 2008

9:04 PM

Weather here is wet under an occluded front but sea state and wind good. A new low is forming near the Phillipeans and so we will push on. We leave today for Yaku Sima 30 20n 130 39e. From there we will either go west around Kyushu toward Nagaski as originally planned OR go east in a sprint to Osaka.

Jeff's Log ~ Wednesday, May 21st, 2008

We left Ishigaki two days ago at about 11:00AM, because Scott got ants in his pants, and just could not stand to be there any longer. He and Mark went for the weather, and as soon as he saw the tropical depression was abeam of us, he said that was all he needed. Mark looked at the wind field report and wanted to wait until Tuesday morning. Scott over ruled him and we drove out of the marina. When we left, the wind was 18 knots. It soon built to 28 knots, and we anchored at noon after traveling a whopping seven miles. I don’t think I will ever understand that move. Mark and I kind of got hurt feelings because we could have had one more night hanging with all of our new friends, but what can ya do?

We sure did enjoy Café Taniwha. Saturday night, they had a Japanese folk singer there who jammed with anyone who could play an instrument or sing. Lots of people joined in playing the piano, the guitar, bongos and drums. One very talented young lady sang a couple of solos and then a duet with the folk singer. A couple of our friends from previous evenings were there. The singer is the son of the man who manufactures the rice liquor that we were drinking.

Sunday, a female singer by the name of Nanami performed there. We had met her the first night, and were impressed with her talent. She put on a great show and at times reminded me of Gloria Estefan. She was accompanied by a fellow playing the guitar who was just incredible. After her performance, we all hung out and just had a good time. I shot some darts with my favorite English student named Nobu. We had a lot of fun with him and a guy named Iraki on one of the previous nights. Kuri has an English class once a week for some of his patrons. We came in right after class was over, and Kuri announced that we could help them practice English. I announced back to everyone that we could help them talk English good! They all knew enough about sentence structure to get a laugh out of that. Mark and I sat down at a table and were soon surrounded by people. We had a real good time, and Nobu would get excited and start mixing Japanese and English, and we would all say ENGLISH!!! Then he started drawing pictures and writing stuff and we all added to the VIP (very important paper). I have that paper, and will try to keep it forever as a reminder of a really great place full of really great people.

While we were in Ishigaki, people came to see the boat almost every day. The girls that we met in Café Taniwha came the next morning with Kuri. There was Nanami, the singer, Ria a writer, and Junko, who sells beer and other items for Kirin brewery. They brought along a couple from another boat in the marina by the name of Kiko and her husband Masa. They all loved Pipe Dream, and were especially thrilled with drinking water that had been made from the sea. Kuri knew about water makers, but none of the others did. Ria and Junko invited us to dinner that night at a local restaurant. We went and had a great meal with lots of laughs. The food was local fare with a lot of raw fish, tofu, and other things that hardly any Americans eat. I am keeping an open mind about Japanese food and so far I will eat everything that I’ve had again. I am finally learning how to eat with chop sticks too. I even like sea weed!

On Sunday night, the whole crew of the boat went to hear Nanami sing. Kuri has many flags of many countries displayed along the ceiling of Taniwha. Scott took one of our old American flags that was a little frayed at the upper corner and slightly gray from exhaust staining. It had flown from Pipe Dream around the world. He presented it to Kuri, and everyone wanted to get in the pictures taken by everyone. Unfortunately, my little faithful camera is now Kaput, so I will have to see about someone emailing them to me. Hopefully, I’ll get that worked out.

It sure was hard to say goodbye to such a great bunch. There were many hand shakes, bows and hugs all around, and a few teary eyes, especially mine. The best thing about my job, is meeting people from around the world. It is really amazing to me that people open up to me everywhere I go. I feel truly blessed with all of the good friends that I have made during my travels so far, and am very thankful to have this opportunity. If anybody knows George Bush, tell him that he should be paying me big bucks to be an Ambassador!

One thing about Japan is that western electronics will not work here. Kuri got a telephone for me, so at least I can call home. I could not find a pay phone that would make international calls. They also have radio frequencies jammed, and Scott’s Sky mate will not work. Sky mate is in the process of getting permission granted, but until they do, we are out of touch with the rest of the world. We will be at sea for the next day, or so, and hopefully the next port-of-call will be as nice or nicer. Ishigaki will be tough to beat, though.

Captain Scott's Log ~ Tuesday, May 20th, 2008

Sent: 3:38 PM
Subject: Passing Okinawa

On the 19th the Japs revised their forcast to agree with the USA one and the
storm was well to the east and safe for us to leave. So we cleared out, we last
minute shopped and was underway by 11. Amami OShima 400 miles to the NE. By
noon it was clear that we were leaving in the same deplorable conditions
that we had arrived in--big seas and high wind on the nose. So we found
another little cove and anchored. Rain and more wind in the afternoon made
this decision even better. Renan cooked up curried shrimp (no raw fish) for
dinner which we had with wine and it was a snug night. Several freighters
anchored in this lee behind us. Dawn showed us what a pretty island Ishigki
is. On leaving the anchor would not come up--hooked on a coral head. So we
dunked Mark and he got us free and underway by 9. Left over seas and wind
still on the nose made an unpleasant start. But by afternoon the main
steadied us as the wind veered to the East. Passed 25N and a full moon made
it a good night at sea. Now at dawn the wind is light and shifting but seas
down to 4 or 5 feet. Power sailing passing Okinawa

Jeff's Log ~ Saturday, May 17th, 2008

Kuri told me he would have a phone for me today. That’s pretty exciting. This keyboard is difficult to use. There is a secret key that when bumped will change everything back to Japanese. It took me about 57 tries to get the little at symbol so I could get my email. Now when I hit it this is what I get [[[[[[ isn’t that wonderful? Thank God I got it once for my email address. All is well here, supposed to get some hard wind tonight and tomorrow. We put a breast anchor on Pipe Dream to pull her off of the sea wall a bit. I am enjoying the days of rest, even though Scott wants to leave. He’s handling it very well, and beginning to sightsee a bit. We had fun last night at cafe Taniwha. There was a folk singer doing Jap folk music, and a lot of people from the bar joined in playing various instruments and singing. A good jam session for sure. Tonight a singer from Tokyo that we met there the other night is singing to sort of promote her new cd. That should be another fun night.

It reminds me of the fireplug and all of the great people there. The local people always greet me warmly when I walk in and even though most do not speak English, we are still communicating. Everyone is interested in hearing about our travels, and Kuri answers what questions I can’t get through. It really is quite cool. When I do get my computer on line, I will send a list of email addresses so our blog can go around the world. The only problem in staying at places like this for a while is that it gets harder to say goodbye the longer we are here. It is gratifying that I will have friends around the globe who I will not forget and who I hope will remember me. Say hello to everyone for me. Miss ya

Jeff's Log ~ Friday, May 16th, 2008

I've walked about four miles, and tried about 6 phones, but cannot get one to work. I could see one that I could change to English, but could not get the phone booth door open. I really miss talking to you. This will have to do for now. One of the people from cafe Taniwha is　ちぇc金g恩子st、絵tcふぉr亜背llp骨ふぉrめ oops! Checking on cost,etc. and will help me by getting a phone for me if we stay here long enough.

We are waiting on weather to clear, as the system is wandering around just to the south of us. Scott is very antsy about leaving, but so far is being cautious. Anything new and exciting going on at home? Here all is well. Beginning to understand Japanese customs a little bit better.
Yes means maybe, maybe means no, no means what.... are you nuts??? When things are too far to walk, I take a city map with me and point to where I want taxi to take me.

Last night at Kuri & bar, they had an English class just before we got there. Mark and I had a lot of fun with a couple of the guys teaching them how to talk English good. Some things get lost in translation, so lots of picture drawing with circles and arrows was going on. It was a lot of alcohol affected humor, but really good time. I’ll try to save the paper we were playing on, but 5 more months on the boat... who knows?

My little camera is on its way out. The lens is grinding as it goes in and out. Sometimes the pictures are like pink negatives, or full of lines. When we get to a bigger city, I will have to get a new one. I carry my phone now to use as camera. The internet cafe in the ferry station is really cool. As I sit here, there is a huge theater screen and surround sound and a film of all kinds of scenery and animals, etc. is playing. Very relaxing, and I could enjoy sitting here for hours.