We had a long distance to cover from Hakodate so the 21st was a full day at sea with various lectures and sea life watching. We are now heading south of Hokkaido & Honshu, the main large islands of Japan, into the Pacific and will be visiting many small remote islands on our way to the Marianas and Guam. On the 22nd we arrived off the volcanic island of Miyake-Jima a bit after noon. 2 walking options were offered and we opted to go bird sighting instead of walking around the old lava flows. We rode zodiacs to shore and took a bus to the south coast where we walked for about 30 minutes to Tairo-ike Pond, a caldera lake surrounded by forests and home to several species of birds. The 2 ornithologists on our expedition team accompanied us and pointed out & named the various birds. Birds are well camouflaged and often difficult to see in the trees, but we had quite a few sightings in the 2 hours we spent there. They move around a lot so clear photos were difficult to photograph. It was a humid and sunny day with mid-70s temperatures. The island has an active volcano, named Oyama, which has erupted through several subsidiary vents around the island, the most recent being in 2000. A 1980s eruption was so severe that the island was evacuated for a period. We drove around to the west coast and had a look at Megane-iwa Rock, a lava formation along the water with 2 large holes that make it look like a pair of spectacles. We then went to Ako Lava Flow Trail, a field strewn with large lava chunks that had been very gaseous when bombed out of the vent in 2000 and destroyed a school. The concrete walls and some steel girders were all that was left. The gaseous nature of the lava rock makes them extremely coarse and sharp so wooden walkways have been installed in order to walk in the field and view the mess. We then drove up the mountain to the Shichito Observatory to try to watch the sunset and see nearby islands. We weren’t able to go to the very top of the mountain because the volcano is still active and is a prohibited area. The clouds unfortunately blurred the sunset so it was underwhelming. We got back to the harbor and rode zodiacs back to the ship in darkness. We went to our suite to shower & change before recap & dinner and at first thought we were in the wrong room. A bottle of Heidsieck Monopole champagne was in an ice bucket on our table and the bathtub was filled with a bubble bath and had a candle on one end. We enjoyed the champagne as we got ready for the evening. We had a delightful dinner with Mark Brazil and his Japanese wife. Mark is English, has lived in Japan for 30 years and has written several books on birds & nature of Japan and the Far East. He is only along for this cruise segment as a member of the expedition team. We went to the lounge after dinner and ended up sitting with a family from Mexico, parents, son, daughter and son-in-law and we had a great time talking with them.
We were the only LCT people on the birding tour, so someone else will post on the walking tour.
