Our overnight sailing to Naha was a rocking and rolling affair. With winds Force 8 on the Beaufort scale (40 plus mph), and a very choppy sea plus sailing at 18 1/2 knots, we had the most motion of any sailing on this cruise. Since we weren't planning to dock until 2pm, it was sort of like a sea day. But it was a very full time until we docked.
After breakfast in the LIDO, we attended Phil's Japanese language primer session, He drafted a native speaker Japanese woman to assist him and we were exposed to some simple words and phrases. I collected our passports and then Jeremy did another fabulous presentation on the upcoming ports of Fukuoka and Nagasaki. He talked nonstop for 45 minutes with lots of tips and details for the independent traveler. Since many of these ports this leg are repeats, it's good to get a refresher course on them. Dr. Kam followed with his presentation on the history of Japan. He concluded his talk with a very funny segment on Japanese toilets that he learned about on last year's Volendam Asia cruise that we were on.
Following a very quick lunch we watched as the Volendam came into the harbor with 26mph side winds and two tug boats helping restrain her from being blown into the dock. This is the first time we've experienced tugboat assistance. The Captain skillfully inched the ship up to the dock at precisely 2pm and we then went to the Main Stage to get a disembarkation ticket. Ours was number 16. The ship was cleared about 20 minutes later but we continued to wait as the immigration officials were not yet set up. Finally Bruce, our CD, started calling numbers and the process went fairly smoothly. Once we got inside the terminal we were termperature scanned and we noted that 4 and 5 star Mariners had a special line, so we skipped ahead of about 100 people who were queued up.
The immigration inspection involved presenting a filled out landing card, one's passport, fingerprinting one's index fingers, and having a photo taken without a hat or glasses. After that was completed, we went through a customs inspection (there were agricultural inspectors looking for suspicious characters) where one presented one's passport again along with a customs form (one per family). We were out of the terminal by 3:20pm and gathered up a map, confirmed some directions with Phil, and walked out of the building. We later found out we could have played our 4 Star Mariner card earlier. A note to future travelers: Be sure to allow lots of time for your first port of entry into Japan immigration check. While I described ours in some detail, yours may vary. We'll have at least one more when we return from China.
Our plan for this day was to walk into town seeing things we hadn't seen on last year's visit. On last year's visit, we visited many of the major landmarks, so this year our plan was to find some we hadn't seen plus re-visit some others that might come our way. I had walking maps from GPSMyCity.Com on my iPhone plus the paper map. A short distance from the Port we found Fukusyuen (spelled Fukusyuen on the map) Garden which was marked as a must see on my GPS map. We paid the 200Yen per person entry fee (about $2US). The ticket agent asked us where we were from, and we said USA, Seattle, Washington. I handed them a sticker which has an outline of Washington State and Seattle and the Space Needle on it), and they were thrilled to receive it.
The Fukusyuen Garden was very tranquil and we took our time following the circular path around the garden snapping pictures and feeding the carp. There was one large white carp that we nicknamed "Piggy" as it bullied the other fish for food. The fish would see people come to the railing and they would swim up to railing. I even got Piggy to stick his head out of the water in anticipation of receiving some fish food. It was good fun.
We continued walking along Matsuyama-Dori Street to the main shopping street which Matsuyama-Dori Street teed into. The Okinawa Prefecture Government Building is located at that intersection. We turned left and strolled along the clean and colorful street with all sorts of merchandise for sale. We found the Makishi Public Market that we visited last year and strolled through it locating vendors we remembered from last year including the Owl Museum and a Beef restaurant that we ate at. This market is huge and fully covered and very neat compared to many others we have seen around the world. Afterwards, McDonald's was nearby so we ducked in for a drink and a chance to use the WiFI (it saves the data on our portable device).
We started a stroll at 7:00pm back to the ship retracing our path but on the other side of the street. We wanted to be back at the ship in time for the 9pm cultural performance. Steak dinners were $50 per person and up (this area is noted for its beef). But we found this nice restaurant on the second floor of a candy store and enjoyed some WONDERFUL pork and noodles and a most delicious broth for around $10 per person. There was also a couple performing traditional music on the 3 stringed instrument found in this area plus drums. The restaurant wasn't full, and the entertainers tried to communicate with us in their very limited English and our non-existent Japanese. In the end "Icharo" (a Japanese baseball player now back with the Seattle Mariners resonated with them and they also got a sticker. There was also a family from Brazil eating there. I wish I could give the name of the restaurant, but there were no English characters spelling out the name. I do have a picture of the building if anyone is planning to visit and needs a tip for a nice meal (they have much more than pork).
We wandered our way back to the ship and watched the cultural presentation which I didn't understand a word of. The costumes were very colorful, the music was nice, but I couldn't exactly tell if this was modern music or historical music. I'd bet on the former. Www.ryuchim.com is their website.
Afterwards, I happened to be next to the Event Manager, so I mentioned that I've led the last 3 Sunday Interdenominational services and asked if there would be a Protestant Chaplain on board for Easter Sunday. He said no and Bruce, the CD, was standing next to him confirmed it, so it appears I'll be the one leading both the Palm and Easter Sunday services as a volunteer.
We're overnighting in this port so tomorrow, we're planning to find a number of scenic points on our GPSMyCity walking tour. I created a custom walking tour and we'll follow that. Stay tuned.
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