Captain’s Log: Yonabaru Okinawa

March 20-25

Hi All,

Well…..part of me says good riddance Yonabaru Okinawa and a part of me says, oh boy, Japan is going to be a real challenge but once we figure it all out it could be quite exciting….we sure hope so as we feel we are limping out of the marina, spirits pretty low, not liking that cruising here in Japan seems to be so difficult and expensive…..so unlike us. In the last 6 days we certainly had some very frustrating moments with a few pleasant ones thrown in to keep our spirits up. But we feel we have “Barry luck”….from the TV show “The Goldberg’s”……

First, the marina. We did find out it has been open for 3 years and it is still 1/3 full…..hmmm….but, as we would find out it is not convenient to much at all. Ginowan is the place to be for cruisers so we chose unwisely, even though we wanted/needed the power option for Mystic. There were no cruisers here, but we did meet some locals albeit with very little English, one Sportfisher in particular, who left to go fish for marlin!!! The marina itself is very nice with excellent docks but horrible power. The marina people are not used to foreigners/cruisers and therefore, try as they did, really were not much help. The best thing Henrysan did was to introduce us to Harujisan who was a godsend of help….more on him later!! I must have reset the power breakers 15-20 times……arghhhhhhh!!! Henrysan was convinced it was our problem until a local catamaran came in with pretty good English and told me the marina’s breakers are too sensitive and they always trip. He then showed me how to properly reset the pedestal breaker….it was a bit tricky to reset and before I may not have been doing it right.

A few more oddities….as we approached the marina when we arrived we called on the VHF….normal worldwide procedure….to let them know you are arriving and to find your berth…important for Kathy to know which side to prepare the fenders….we call 3x with no answer….finally the Coast Guard answers and says the marina does not have a VHF….really….yes, they want you to call them on the phone….hmmm, fist clue they have not had many foreigners…..sir, we are just arriving in Japan and we do not have a cell Sim card yet….oh, yes, how silly of them…I will relay your message….he comes back and says to proceed to the marina and they will direct you to your berth…..which they did but got the wrong fairway necessitating to back up and go around.

Then the other day while moving to the fuel dock they did not help Kathy with the lines….they just stood there and let her climb on/off the boat….very unusual behavior by our standards and just not sure why that is acceptable in their culture….we have so much to learn about Japanese.

Fuel: Well we screwed ourselves and made what will be a four figure mistake. When we changed our designation to “domestic” we gave up our ability to get duty free fuel. The best we could find out was this would be a few hundred dollars (8%) but it turned out to be over a $1.31/gal tax….$3.35 versus $4.66/gal…ouch. Henrysan felt horrible and evidently spent many hours with Customs on our behalf trying to get an exemption…..no joy. He then told us he thought fuel would be cheaper on the mainland so we just took on ~400 gal….enough to get us to Fukuoka on Kyushu. There are some cruisers there and Kathy joined the Japan cruiser FB page and Jaap can help us arrange a fuel truck and the price will be $3.98/gal….still an oweee but better!!

Sim Card: ODG what a PITA…..you can’t just go to the local cell service store and get a sim card. First, most are limited to residents and 2nd, most are just in Japanese. Kathy spent hours researching and we finally settled on a $266 Sukura card (100GB for 90 days). You have to order it and it came 3 days later. We put it in and yep, it did not work..ugh!! Spent 4 hours trying to figure it out and finally we had success. Of course, we had walked to a Softbank store for help (that is the cell service) and after 10-15 minutes they told us they could not help as not their card. But, the guy was very helpful in that he tried to make many phone calls on our behalf. We eventually found the right #….maybe after 10 fruitless phone calls and the lady said OMG, so sorry, we sent you the wrong APN information. The APN info does not load automatically so you can connect to the internet, but instead they send you a link to a program you download…but, if you are not on the internet how can you do that….fortunately we were on the marinas wifi and we got the download and all worked. I bet we spent 10 hours via research, ordering and then troubleshooting…..that is by far a record for any country we have been in….even Indonesia….arghhh!!!!

Oh and it gets better….the story continues…..we just found out we can not use the “personal hotpsot” on our iphones (there is a link to a website to enable tethering but it is in Japanese and the marina could not translate, then we went online to the Sukura website and there in FAQ is a line that says can not tether to IOS devices….really!!!!) so we can’t even tether to our laptops or Ipad…..that is rather ridiculous in these modern times….so no Facebook, online banking, weather et al from our laptops unless we find a wifi somewhere. We will be able to use John’s phone and get emails on Uuplus, weather and be online, but still a major disruption in our personal lifestyle….yes, I know, many of the younger generation only use their phone but for us old guys, the screen is too small….just another learning experience I guess. Again, no other country has been so restrictive…..major arghhhhhhh!!!!! Of course, Sakura help does not work on Sat/Sun so who knows if we can get this fixed. Most likely in 10-14 days when we are in Nagasaki we will change to something else….just more $$$$$….ugh!!!!

Stay tuned…..

ATMs: Well…..we lucked out the first day when Aiumi took us to a Family Mart (like a 7-11). After that we went to 7 different ATMs with no joy….WTH. It seems most ATMs will not take a foreign issued card….really…ODG. But, we found one about a mile away that worked and we stocked up….we have to pay for fuel and the marina in cash…really a first world country and no CC’s at this marina!!!!

Cummins oil leak: On the 3rd day of our passage I found a small oil leak coming out of some open holes in the flywheel bell hosing….never good to see that. After many emails and pictures (like maybe 10-15 hours worth) to Les, Steve, and Greg we have determined we have the start of a main rear seal leak….probably very age appropriate for Mystic:(((( We did some other tests and we feel it is something we can monitor and have repaired when we are back in the USA. But, just another stress point for us….ugh!!!! We actually may have had this for a while and the motion on the last passage may have slung the oil around enough to come out the open holes…..we shall see over the next few passages!!

Harujisan: Our biggest bright spot and he was sensational. He is over 80 years old and still runs a marine maintenance business with maybe 30 people and still very hands-on….he is maybe 5’4″ and 100 pounds but certainly a lot more agile than either of us….very, very impressive. He was born right before WW II, went to USA to train at the Long Beach boatyards in the 1960’s and then returned here to start his business. He has great English!! He primarily works for the MSC….Military Sealift Command on these big 1000 troop carrier go fast catamarans. Henrysan called him to help us with Yanmar parts and the icemaker. The first guy Henrysan called was too busy. So on day 3 Harujisan shows up with 2 other guys. They proceed to go to work, take out the unit, find a loose wire, and little gas. They fill it with gas, the unit gets cold and we ask him a few more things….where can we get big fenders and Yanmar parts. He says there is a store in Naha and he will take us and then we can come back and make sure the unit is making ice. So away we go in his van and 30 min later we are at a marine store and purchase 2 large Styrofoam fenders. We will need these big fenders when we have to tie up against rough walls in some of the villages we will visit. We wanted 4 but they only had 2 so we will likely sacrifice one of other fenders and hope it is enough. These walls are encrusted with barnacles that eat up fenders. We will also try to find some used tires and rig something up…but these 2 fenders will get us going. Unfortunately it was no joy on the Yanmar parts so will try further north.

Harujisan took us to his office which is also his home. Wow….the memorabilia he has collected from all his military service was incredible. He bought us back and unfortunately the box had not dumped any ice….but was still cold. We told Harujisan it must be the thermostat and we would change out in the morning….it was now close to 5pm and we had not had lunch…yikes. We did change out the thermostat the next day but the box did not get cold….yep, we have a gas leak somewhere as we thought. Harujisan came back the next day bearing gifts and we thought the invoice. But when he found out the box was not cold he got sad and said he would be back the next day with his guys. He gave us our first bottle of Sake….a 15 year old bottle made in Okinawa…we think it is “Awamori which is an alcoholic beverage indigenous and unique to Okinawa, Japan. It is made from long grain indica rice, and is not a direct product of brewing (like sake) but of distillation.” We had some the other night….chilled…hmmm, it must be an acquired taste….very strong…..so we will try warm next time!!! He also gave Kathy a small Buddhist replica of “lions” that will protect Mystic from evil spirits. It is the guardian Shishi, a Buddhist deity…..wow…..how special and sincere of him….we were touched. He collects hats….must have over 100 from all the ships he has serviced and we gave him one of one of our Mystic hats….he also was very touched!!

After so many attempts to repair Harujisan concluded that we have a small gas leak in the embedded coils around the box, so unrepairable…..and, he would not charge us anything as he did not repair….oh, no, that is not right so we paid him what we thought we should….we think that is a cultural norm to refuse but one must keep insisting. Again he was a bright spot for us and we are sad to be leaving him….we hope we have many more experiences like that to make up for the several thousand $’s Japan is going to cost us for our mistakes/learning curve.

Weather: It has been very pleasant…..maybe low 60’s in the am and low 70’s during the day. Two mornings we ran the heat on the reverse cycle cruise air just to take the chill out. But, Nagasaki, about 600nm north where we will be in ~2 weeks has lows in the 40’s and highs in the 60’s….brrrrr. Time to get the Kabola running….which we tried today AND…..drum roll please, it works….boiler fired, fluid got warm, thermostats all worked and 45 min later we were pumping warm air…..all the effort over the last 2 years and finally in KK and it bears fruit when we need it….HAPPY DANCE….yep, it’s the little things in cruising:))))

The Plan: We have a good weather window and since anything we might want to see in Okinawa is not very convenient we said lets go. We are leaving today, Sunday, March 25 at 3pm for a 140nm overnighter to the island of Amami and Atetsu Bay. The weather will be 2-4′ seas, medium period though, and winds 10-15kts both about 30-60 points off the starboard bow so once again we get headseas….ugh!!!

And the best news….if all goes to plan we will have Opening Ceremonies with Andy and Sue on sv Spruce. They hope to arrive sometime Tuesday afternoon….let the games begin!!!

Hope all is well!!

John
Mystic Moon

GO MYSTIC GO!!!