Japan Day 4/11

I seem to have lost count of the days. Sunday, for which this is the post is only Day four. So obviously, once again, my arithmetical skills have been called into question. On Sunday morning we left Shimoda at about 7. It was already hot and we cruised down the Izu peninsula and round the bottom tip, to follow the shoreline up along the "Dark Side." Quite why it's called that I haven't figured out.

We stopped at a small bay that was crowded with holiday makers. It was very sheltered and had lots of beach stuff going on - also a raft not too far away. Naturally after we had dropped the anchor a small man in a small boat with a flag puttered over to us to inform us we should not be parked so close to the shore. Eiko pretended to be Korean and we pretended to be her idiot charges, which was not too hard. We ignored him and he went away.

We swam in wonderful water at about 80 degrees. In fact we were in the water so long our hands went all wrinkly! We then enjoyed some al fresco lunch. At about 2:30 we left for our next stop, Ariri, the most typhoon safe harbor in all of Japan.

Hot, I'll tell you hot. Hot is when you tie up at a metal dock under almost vertical granite cliffs, with thick foliage on them. Hot is when there is not a breathe of air inside a harbor so safe it resemble a map of the inner ear. And we were booked there for two nights!

Like most small places, Ariri has very little in the way of amusements. And to make matters worse we were on the wrong side of the harbor. We decided to stay on board as we had an electric hook-up, and that meant fans. Oh the joy! We catered in house and with the fans going all night we actually had the best night so far.