Captain’s Log: Amami and Yakushima Islands Japan

March 26-29

Hi All,

3:00am, March 29 and all is well!!!! I’m writing this blog on passage from Amami to Yakushima…..another overnight 175nm passage!!! But, this time trawler weather baby!!!

Amami: We did leave Okinawa at 3pm on Sunday, March 25. As I mentioned our spirits were rather low and of course, the weather was a bit rougher than forecast…..for the first 4 hours we had 10-15G18 and 2-4′ seas all on the nose….spray everywhere….all over our clean and salt free Mystic…..whaaaaaaaa!!! But after the rough beginning the weather calmed and for the rest of the 155nm run it was close to trawler weather……8-12g15 then <10 kts and seas calming to 1-3′ and all clocking to ENE or about 45 points off starboard bow. We pulled into Atetsu Bay about 11am……beautiful and calm bay….could be in New Zealand or the PNW….but deep with moorings everywhere, as in 80-120’…..we searched for about 10 min for a spot to anchor and couldn’t find one…..too deep with too many moorings….a Japanese sailboater comes on the VHF….w/broken English says American yacht you need to take a mooring….oh, ok…..a man came out in his tender and helped us tie onto a huge Coast Guard mooring and by 11:30am we were having Bloody Mary’s in the cockpit…..our mojo back and troubles forgotten!!!!

Of course, I was still dealing with the cell Sim card issue and the inability to use the personal hotspot. Sukura helpline started to work on Sunday-Monday and we had an excellent email dialog on what to do. We eventually were talking with the Managing Director and she was extremely apologetic about our issue and determined to make it right…..wow, back in my manufacturing days we had studied Japan manufacturing and their Customer Delight attitude and here we were experiencing it first hand…..nice!!! After about 20 emails she had a solution with minimal cost to us. They are sending a pocket wifi unit that will connect to our phones. They are sending to the Post Office to our next destination….Miyanoura on Yakushima…..we should be up and running in the next 4-5 days!!!

The next morning we went on a walk through the small town of Atetsu. We were looking for a bakery but only found a very small shop with a woman that spoke excellent English. We had some tea and a nice conversation and bought a few items from her shop….fresh coutons and snow peas!!! As we walked around we were struck by how clean and quiet it was….Kathy asks…where are the animals…..we saw and heard no dogs et al…..then a baaa baaa and we came across some white goats….then some huge cows in a pen….must be ready for the butcher…..then a cat….so there you go!!!

We had spotted some used tires on shore next to a small fishing fleet….so we went over and saw a fisherman….no English but with Kathy’s book and Google Translator we were able to communicate we wanted 2 old tires….the fisherman went and got us 2 and would not take any Yen. We went back to the boat and Kathy made up a tin of candied pecans and we took back….he was most appreciative and we had a 5 min talk via the microphone on Google translator….amazing!!!! I then proceeded to attach the tires to our fenders….our plan is to use the big orange fenders we just bought plus these two fenders w/tires and hope that is enough to keep Mystic off these rough walls!!!

AND…..drum roll please…..about 1pm we look up and a sight we had not seen in a while…..sv Spruce….I jump in the dinghy and help them tie up to a mooring……then Opening Ceremonies…..oh, what joy to reunite with Andy and Sue and share stories and information. We will be with them now off/on for the rest of the trip to Alaska!!! We talked until well past 9pm….cruisers midnight…..during the day Andy and I had looked hard at weather…..there is a Tropical Strom Jelawat that formed several days ago close to the Equator but was advancing up to 500nm east of Philippines…..fortunately there was a blocking High and the TS was forecast to become extra-tropical and eventually dissipate maybe 600-700 south of us….great, no worries…..except starting Thursday, our planned departure day the seas and winds were building to not be very nice….the better day to leave was tomorrow…..the day after Opening Ceremonies….not ideal but if we don’t leave tomorrow then we could get stuck for 4-6 days to let the weather clear!!!

And so here we are on Passage. But, when it is trawler weather for us and we are doing the Happy Dance…it is not Goldilocks weather for a sailboat. Spruce was fighting a 1.5kt foul current and not much wind so gave it up and put in to Naze on Amami after a frustrating day of trying to sail and motor with not much progress. They hope to leave maybe Sat or Sun with more wind to help fight through the current.

Kuroshio Current: Well, our old nemesis/friend is back. We crossed the then north setting Kuroshio current when we crossed the Luzon Strait coming out of Philippines….with calm conditions only to pay for it with 2 days of rough weather to follow. Well, the Kuroshio went into the East China Sea and makes a turn to NE and follows the Japan island chain. It then turns easterly and cuts across the bottom of Kyushu…..where we are!!! But, thankfully, we have calm conditions and so far with 40nm to go we have had no issues. Speed OTH, has varied from 6.4-9.6…..just lots of eddies and current to deal with.

Miyanoura: Yea…..we arrived safely around 8:30am…..171nm, avg sped 7.4 kts, except for one 4 hour period of 105G18kts, we had <10 kts E-ESE, seas <2m…..all on our beam…..trawler weather baby!!!1 Now the challenge was to tie up to one of these walls in the small harbor. It’s a narrow entrance and we make it with 8′ under the keel…..not what we had expected….all the small fishing boats are med moored…..we start to go to a spot and a fisherman is waving not there but back behind us…..he jumps in his truck and goes to the spot he wants us to tie to and then proceeds to help us with our lines…..nice guy, but no English!!! BM’s were made and we sat on the FB deck and enjoyed the view!! (yes, it is warm here….mid-70’s today….wow). We waited until low tide and set our lines pretty tight….about 3.3′ under keel….there is a lower low tide tonight at midnight so we left enough slack for that….but, maybe 2′ under keel…yikes!! In the meantime, as you go up on the flood tide, the boat is pretty loose from the wall but seems to ride ok on the fenders….we will see how all this works!!!

We went for a walk and in search for our first authentic Japanese meal. The first 2 restaurants were closed….hmmm, must not be tourist season yet….but we finally found one that was open and Kathy had the panko breaded prawns (huge tiger prawns) and I had the breaded pork cutlet….all very delicious served with rice, Miso soup, we think mashed potato salad, cold steamed broccoli in some sweet sauce and some pickled veggie we could not identify….a lot of food….oh, and 2 Asahi beers…cost $34….we think close to USA/CA prices.

We then found the information center and wow…there was a Frenchman speaking English….we arranged for a car and guide to give us an island tour tomorrow…yea!!!! Vincent also showed us how to catch the bus and go to the National Park for some hopefully excellent hikes maybe the next day!!!

Not sure how long we will be here…..we are waiting on our pocket wifi and hopefully for Spruce to catch up but not sure if the weather is going to cooperate!!

We will most likely leave either Sunday or Monday but maybe Tuesday!!

Hope all is well!!

John
Mystic Moon
REST MYSTIC Rest and no touchy the wall:)))

PS: Pictures on the website: http://mysticmoonvoyages.com/photo-gallery/nggallery/main-album/Amami-&-Yakushima

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