At Sea, Berthing at Otaru this afternoon

 At 6.30am this morning we awake to find ourselves travelling through the Straits of Tsugaru, between Honshu and Hokkaido

It is another sunny day (with some cloud over the land) and as we are on the starboard side of the ship we have views of the Hokkaido Coast as we pass through the Strait. We see a few wind generators along the coast, and one wind farm, in a coastal valley.



Progress so far (at 6.30 am)


Passing through the Straits of  Tsugaru

As you can see  from the map above, we are surprisingly close to Russia, with Vladivostok almost directly west of Sapporo. The temperature is also dropping and it is now 8 C but still very pleasant in the sun. As we are approaching the end of the straits we start seeing snow covered mountains in Hokkaido.


Snow covered mountains 

The coastal scenery is incredible and it continues all of the way to Otura. Snowcapped mountains close to the coast, classic volcanic shaped craters also covered with snow, dominate this beautiful coast. We are very lucky to have great weather to enjoy this spectacle. The further we head up the coast the better it gets.









We spent the morning attending a presentation at 9.30 am on some of the more quirky parts of Japan which was very entertaining, and of course the hi tech toilets were given a fair amount of time. 

At 10.30 am we went to an audio visual presentation in the Explorers Dome, a theatre unique to the Orion and one other Viking Ship, Jupiter. It was hosted by the resident Astronomer and titled "The Skies above us". Once again a very interesting insight into astronomy, the stars, planets , galaxies etc. in a theatre where it is all projected onto a roof dome giving an all round realistic view as if you were looking up at the sky.

As we approached Otaru, we went up to the Explorers Lounge to find a comfortable seat to watch the arrival.


Upper level of Explorers Lounge





Approaching Otura Harbour, awaiting the pilot



The pilot on his way to join us

At around 4.30pm we are approaching Otura Harbour and the pilot came aboard at 5pm. An inter island ferry was leaving at the time of our arrival, so we had to stand off whilst he cleared the very narrow harbour entrance.


Otura Harbour with 2 inter island ferries in port


Township located nearby



Ferry leaving Otura as we stood by

Whilst the harbour has plenty of room once inside the break wall, the entrance is very narrow.

We were secured at our berth by 6pm.










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