May 14-21
Hi All,
“Hakodate is one of the main cities on Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost island. Looming over the town is 334m-high Mount Hakodate. The mountain’s summit, reachable by aerial ropeway gondola, offers dramatic nighttime views. At its base is Motomachi, a neighborhood of steep streets with Western-style, early-20th-century buildings. A city landmark is the grand Old Public Hall of Hakodate Ward, built in 1910.”
“Hakodate (函館) is Hokkaido’s third largest city, located at the island’s southern tip. Hakodate is best known for the spectacular views to be enjoyed from Mount Hakodate and its delicious, fresh seafood. As one of the first Japanese harbor cities to be opened to international trade after the country’s era of isolation, Hakodate has experienced notable influence from overseas, and the foreign population’s former residential district and a Western style fort are among its main tourist attractions.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hakodate,_Hokkaido
We certainly had some fun and R&R in Hakodate after the fast pace we have been on since leaving Kota Kinabalu last January. I’m writing this blog on Monday May 21 after we have spent the past week here in Hakodate. However, Mystic has once again incurred some wall bites….we have had some strong West winds blowing Mystic onto the wall and the large wall fenders here caused some damage to our rub rail. As well, we have ruined 2 ball fenders…..now 4 fenders in total ruined by these rough Japan walls…ugh!!!
So what all did we do….well, the first 3 days we had very nice weather so we played tourist….sunny, temps into the 70’s….we actually used the “hot” word on occasion. We explored the historical, red brick area, lots of various shops and restaurants, toured the morning market which has fabulous seafood….crabs, prawns, squid, fish et al at outrageous prices….king crab @ $70/lb, cantaloupe at $45 ea…yikes…..we are not sure why the high prices….Mizunosan just said for tourist, not for locals.
We did go up the gondola to Mt Hakodate for impressive views as well as toured several churches….Russian, Lutheran, Catholic, Buddhist et al!!! And we found a bakery with real sourdough bread, ala San Francisco style. The son of the baker wants to open a bakery in Oregon at some point. We exchanged information and it will be curious if we get a call when he comes to the USA.
Then we had 2 days of cold, rainy, windy weather….we ran the diesel heater and stayed inside and did boat projects…..Kathy cleaned, stored, fixed fenders and navigation lights and I spent time in the ER
Boat Stuff:
Balmar Max Regulator: The new 614 regulator I installed in KK last Oct is acting up…ugh. On our last run I found the reg stuck in the bulk mode….over 14 hours at 14.7 volts….not good….these are very tedious units to program the parameters but I did it underway and got the unit out of bulk mode and it behaved in float mode the rest of the trip. Emails to Balmar could not diagnose what went wrong so I have reprogrammed the correct parameters and will need to monitor closely on our next run to Kushiro!!!
Changing Zincs: There are 6 pencil zincs on the various Cummins components….so what should have been a 30 minute job to inspect/replace took me close to 5 hours….arghhhhh……gee John, you are really getting slow….what happened….well, on the brand new stabilizer heat exchanger we installed in Subic Bay in March the pencil zinc was installed crooked and when I finally got it out the bolt hole threads stripped…..wow….this new zinc had been installed by the factory…..yes, I’m a bit perturbed over this….anyway, I tried all my tricks to get the new zinc installed, no go….Kathy gave it a go, no go…..thought I was going to need a mechanic to come and retap….this is 11/16″ hole and my largest tap is 1/2″….Andy suggested filing the new bolt at the leading edge to see if I could get past the bad threads….brilliant…but after many hours of filing no joy….so my last attempt before admitting defeat I tried a new bolt and voilà…..somehow the filed bolt had corrected the bad thread and I was able to get a new bolt in and plug the holes…..ODG…what a relief!!!! This H/E has spots for 2 zincs so we will use the other side with just 1 zinc which is what we had on the old H/E so all is good!!!!
The storm finally passed on Sunday May 20, our 42 wedding anniversary…..nice day, sunny, still windy and temps in the 60’s. So what special thing did you guys do to celebrate….well, nothing special really, not like us but there you go…..I think Kathy and I are so focused on getting to Kushiro and Russia we both did not feel like trying to organize anything…yep, got our game faces on already for the Bering Sea….or, in YB terms, we are both a little puckered…..we had already decided to go to Fort Goryokaku with Andy and Sue and we had a delightful time there as well at viewing the parade festival. This is an annual event where the people reenact the Battle of Hakodate…..lots of bands, people dressed in various costumes and then the final battle reenacted….impressive!!!
https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e5352.html
“In 1869, the end of the battle of Hakodate in the civil war between samurai and the new government forces brought the dawn of a new era of Japan. A festival commemorating warriors who died in the battle is held in May. The main feature is the parade of about 1,000 people clad in combat uniforms in those days. In the course of the parade, they act out, as a motif, events that happened in the period of about 15 years between Commodore Perry’s coming to Japan and the end of the battle of Hakodate. There is a contest where applicants play as Hijikata Toshizo, the most popular samurai who died in the battle.”
Today we fueled. We were supposed to fuel last Friday but the weather was too bad. Andy and I did go with Mizunosan to Customs to change Mystic’s designation from domestic back to foreign boat. Now we are eligible for duty free fuel….85 yen versus 114yen….now fuel is @ $2.90/gal…not too bad!!! And, they had 2 trucks come to our spot on the wall and filled both tanks at the same time….635 gal in <30 minutes….a record on Mystic….and no drips, runs or errors!!!!
And while at Customs last Friday, Mizunosan said there is a new regulation where Immigration wants to know the last 10 ports in Japan…really…so off to Immigration we go…it takes another 30 minutes and finally they say this regulation is so new they do not have a procedure or form. They ask us to go back to our boats and make one up and then come back….wow!!!!
The Plan: We have a pretty good window to leave at 0700 tomorrow, Tuesday May 22 for the 207nm run to Kushiro…we should arrive Wed around 9-10am. Mark arrives on Friday, May 25th and we will be looking for the first decent weather window to passage to Petropavlovsk Russia….900nm, 5-days!!
Hope all is well!!
John
Mystic Moon
Hakodate Japan
PS: Pictures in the gallery: https://mysticmoonvoyages.com/photo-gallery/nggallery/main-album/Hakodate-Hokkaido
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