So we are on the Explorer now and seems like I have been busy since I stepped on this ship. We upgraded out suite and are enjoying the extra space.

Delay on the flight due to bad weather so we arrived in Tokyo much later than expected. We stayed at the INTC for the night the room was good and about 20 minutes from the where the Explorer docked.

Kim and Alice met us for lunch on embarkation day and we met Alice's niece who now lives in Tokyo. Family resemblence was amazing not only in the looks but in personalities. It was a lovely lunch.

Franck is the GM on board and Marius the Restaurant Manager. Two of my very favorite staff members. We have known them both for a very long time. Ken's brother Richard and Lori are also on this sailing and that is nice as a foursome we get along extremely well. They have just learned RUMMIKUB and Kim, Alice, Richard and Lori played with me yesterday. They learned all the complicated rules that got thrown out the window by the KLT group and it is much more fun the way we play. Fewer rules - more fun. We also have extra jokers which changes the fun significantly.

First tour we went to some gardens which were okay not fantastic. Not the traditional Japanese garden but interesting. Huge trees and a area of bamboo trees. Learned a lot about bamboo. THe next two days we are not going on tour. Very cold today and a lot of walking and just dont feel like doing all of that. Being onboard is the best place to be for the first few days.

Ngaire, I am surprised you didn’t like Karakuen Gardens. I loved that whole itinerary. Much better than the extreme heat we have been experiencing on the Voyager.

We enjoyed the gardens but over the years we have seen many beautiful gardens. The gardens here were nice and some beautiful blooming trees. But I think they do not compare with gardens we have seen before.

Weather turned cold and rainy but the seas were still quite calm. The preliminary winners were drawn for the free cruise last night. Kim and Alice were drawn and they have won before and also won a $10K referral bonus from Silversea. They are very lucky ladies. This is a very nice group of people and we have been enjoying those we already know and the new people that are on this cruise.

One more port day tomorrow and then we are at sea for 4 days. Lots sleeping in, speakers, and game playing. I must admit I love days at sea.

I have a few pictures that I will post tomorrow.

Sorry so busy. Amazing how the time passes so quickly.

We began sailing the crossing on May 1 and so far great seas. This area of the ocean can be bad but we have been blessed with a fairly calm sea. Lots of activities taking place to enjoy on the crossing.

My days have been so busy with Rummikub with Kim, Alice and my sister in law Lori and ship events.

Plus lots of KLT issues so on the internet constantly. The internet is fantastic. I got the streaming package and tried it and it was like being at home on Netflix. Not been able to take the time to take advantage of the streaming package. Seems like I get up in the morning and on the go until dinner. We decided to stop playing in the morning.

Our first tour to a garden. Ngaire and Lori.


Swans on the way back from the gardens.


Lucky Kitties.

Went into town on the shuttle. Flowers everywhere.


Plus a welcoming poster to the Explorer.

Thank you for the report.

We are on day 4 of our 7-day crossing the North Pacific from Aomori, Japan to Kodiak, Alaska. This is our 2nd May 3rd due to crossing the International Date Line. Very smooth crossing so far. Cloudy skies today. But calm seas. We have to move the clock forward an hour every night. So they have been having the show at 5:45 before dinner instead of after dinner at 9:30. It feels weird, but a lot more people are in attendance that way.

Some cherry trees at Hirosaki Castle

Neputa floats and lanterns from feudal era festivals:

Amazing flowers at Hitachi Seaside Park

Days are flying by. We lose an hour each night. Tonight is the last night we have to change our clocks forward. We are waking up late, then I am working. Before I know it time for lunch then Rummikub.

Before we go to sleep we check out the speakers for the day. Really good speakers. One on photography with an iPhone. One on sea creatures of all kinds, and one on history.

Food has been really good it keeps on improving though size of the dishes is a little bit smaller it they are big enough.

Tonight we had dinner with Kim and Alice and two other ladies and had a great time. Picture below of Ken and his harem.



Pictures of Franck the GM who we have known for years.
Here he is drawing the winners for the free cruise on this sailing



Here he is making crepes at afternoon tea. They were really good.

Pictures from the Sunday brunch.






This was a cake.

We have had two days of rough seas and cold weather. To be expected on a long time on the ocean. Today is sunny and calm seas again. People eating on the deck again.

Last night was the society party and at the end they announced that one passenger is probably about 4 to 5 years old becomes gold on her next trip. Guess the parents sail a lot with the children. They have another younger daughter about 18 months old as well. Extremely well behaved I guess they are growing up on ships.

Tomorrow we arrive at Kodiak Island.

Kodiak Island weather was cold and windy. Most tours were long but there was a highlight tour that was short so we went on that tour. Not much to see but our guide/driver was great.

He has lived here for about 10 years and loves it. He is the school bus driver. He talked almost all the time and he was funny. One set of lights only and a traffic jam here is more than four cars at the lights.
It would have been a boring trip without him being our guide. We gave him a nice big tip.

Downtown appeared to have some interesting things to see but it was
so cold it would not have been fun.

So today we are in Whittier and the sail in was spectacular. Snow capped mountains and beautiful green fir trees with seagulls flying. The water was reflective truly stunning scenery. The tours are long so we will take the shuttle bus. It is 35 degrees fortunately no wind.





Last picture is the town of Whittier. One huge hotel certainly stands out as the biggest building in town.

This turned out to not be a hotel but a very old building with tiny appartments and is now low income housing.

We had a great day in Whittier. After walking through a tunnel we came out where there was very little to see. A grocery store and the fire department.

Ken always likes to visit fireman. It is like a brotherhood. We started talking to the fire chief. A super friendly and down to earth guy. We talked to him for a long time in the fire house. His story of his life and how he ended up as Fire Chief in Whittier. He had a huge snow mobile that caught my eye. He said “get on it you won’t hurt it”. So I did. Hard to get on but I managed. Picture will follow.

Then he said why don’t I give you a tour of the town. So he left the fire station and we went in his very large vehicle (like a sport utility vehicle) Again getting into that vehicle was a little bit too high for me but I made it.

We went to several lookouts and met some people enjoying food and hammocks, There is a speaker on the ship who had rented a car and he was at the lookout point. He is a very popular speaker who is sharing great iPhone information how to take and improve your pictures. The chief told him what area to visit where there is a lot of wildlife activity.

We saw the school, best restaurants, the hospital and beautiful scenic spots. Also the history and changes in town. He was raised here. The school has 60 kids up to grade 12. Just 2 kids graduating this year. The fire department visits the school often. Trains are everywhere. He said about 35% of imported good come through Whittier.

While all this was going on he handled his business on his phone. Best tour and experience we have had in many years.











This is the best hotel in Whittier that was totally flooded and just reopened after a major renovation.

Thanks for sharing this experience, Ngaire! I think these kinds of interactions with locals are the best way to get to know a place and remember it forever!

Sue

We are now sailing down to Hubbard Glacier. Magnificent mountains with the snow shining in the sun. This is the highlight of an Alasksan cruise. It has probably been this way overnight. Snow covered mountains when we went to bed and snow covered mountains when we woke up. Stunning beautiful.



SITKA. When we arrived it was very dark skies and looked bad for the days outing. But over breakfast the skys lit up and by the time we were going on tours it was much better. The best thing was no wind. We chose going to the Eagle Raptor Center where they treat injured birds and once recovered they return them to the wild. This was interesting. There were eagles that could not return to the wild as they cannot fly. Quite a few birds recovering in their own cages that will be released once they are able to go back to living in the wild.





Then we went into town to a museum. A couple of picture's from there

Ketchikan. Stunning day. Bright sunshine only a light breeze.
Quite a few of us went on the Lodge Crab Fest one of my absolute favorite tours.

This is a Dungeness crab feast. Starts with a nice salad then three rounds of Dungeness crab. Most people could only handle two rounds. Cannot imagine the price of this feast in a restaurant.
After all that crab you get a really tasty cheesecake. I requested a table for 8 people as that was how many in our group were on our bus. Picture of the group below plus some other pictures Ken took.