20240929 Sunday, September 29, 2024 Okhotsk Sea
The ship is now sailing within easy sight of land in the channel that runs between Hokkaido and Honshu, the two largest and northernmost islands of Japan. We awoke to find a heavy rainfall washing off our veranda, but as the day progressed, the weather cleared and the sun came out to dry the decks.
This is our last day at sea before we make a port call in Sapporo (Otaru) tomorrow. After breakfast in the Restaurant (hard to pass up eggs and lamb chops for breakfast), and a morning lecture on the Japanese language (10 phrases and customs), Ben walked the Promenade as the ship encountered much heavier ship traffic in the form of freighters and tankers in the Okhotsk Sea. There are areas where evidence of strong currents are evident with white caps being present adjacent to flat stretches of water.
We had our final Progressive Trivia quiz today, and there was no surprise come from behind upsets. We won the final session with a score of 13, which was 3 points ahead of the next highest scoring team. We stretched our progressive lead to an astounding 20 points. But we were a bit surprised to have that announcement greeting with applause and not solid booing from the room. The prize for our Progressive Trivia win were unique Viking Orion medallions suitable for wall hanging in sturdy leather wrapped cases that were originally given to VIP’s during the Viking Orion’s Christening ceremony where retired Astronaut, Anna Fisher, smashed a bottle of champagne over the bow as the ship’s official god mother. These are certainly a unique limited production item, but we doubt they would fetch much on eBay.
We have tended to spend the afternoons in a relaxed combination of eating lunch, napping, watching prerecorded lectures, walking and spa time. The ship does have other activities including some art classes (water painting), bridge lessons, and even a Baggo (Corn Hole) tournament, but we have chosen not to pursue those. It is interesting to note that Viking has made a real effort to increase their entertainment options since our first Viking Oceans cruise in 2018. We generally are much busier on Princess cruises but we haven’t minded have more unstructured down time during our sea days.
Sailing between Honshu and Hokkaido Islands shows how at a distance, they look a lot like the Hawaiian islands in that they are very mountainous with lush green forests covering the mountains. Aside from some power transmission lines, most of the developments appear to be limited to the small amount of flat land around the bases of the mountains and along the coasts. There are rail lines along many of the coasts with sheds to protect the rail lines from landslides. These reminded us of our Rocky Mountaineer trip.
Dinner was in The Restaurant, which featured a squid ink Linguine and grilled Mahi Mahi options. We had first encountered the squid ink Linguine during a River Cruise in Hungary. The food quality in The Restaurant is comparable to the specialty restaurants but the atmosphere is a little more intimate in the specialty restaurants.
The theater had a second show of Doug Cameron, the violinist. He did a number of jazz and jazz rock fusion numbers that highlight his unique skills in these genres. It was an entertaining and fast paced show.
Tomorrow we arrive in Otaru for our Sapporo port of call. After so many sea days, it will be quite a transition to be back on land for excursions. We will have to go through Japanese customs first.
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