Kumano and Japan Inland Sea

Getting back to our cruise, after we left Shimizu, we arrived at Kumano on Wednesday, 17 August at the end of the day to see the famous fireworks display.

The fireworks look a lot more impressive from this angle!

We were a bit confused about this; according to the information we had been given before we left, we expected to be taken off the ship by tender and taken to the beach where the fireworks were at. But no, the ship set anchor and we watched it from afar. The fireworks were very pretty, but there were long delays throughout the performance and if there was any music, we were too far away to hear it. So it was okay.

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The next day we spent cruising through the Japan Inland Sea. Very scenic, so we should have had the camera ready, but there was so much happening to keep us entertained on the ship that we forgot to take any photos!

Japan and Korea

Time to dust off the passports once again for another trip to Japan. We enjoyed visiting there so much earlier in the year that we have decided to do a short vacation and fly out on 14 August to Yokohama, where we will board the Diamond Princess for a 10 day cruise to several Japanese and Korean ports and then fly home on 25 August.

This is our itinerary. Highlights include an excursion to Mt Fuji (no, not climbing it ourselves, we will take the easy way!) and a Korean Festival with a fireworks display. Also looking forward to boarding a ship that we haven’t been on before, which will be the biggest so far. Getting excited!

Goodbye Australia – Hello World!

Boarded the lovely “Sea Princess” in Sydney (after driving down from Brisbane) on Monday 20 May. We are on Deck 11 forward on the starboard side. Very comfortable and plenty of space to settle in for our 104 night adventure.
Sailed back into Brisbane last Wednesday and it was cold and raining when we left.
There is no shortage of things to do on board and I have been getting plenty of exercise with Zumba, line dancing and the gym. Lots of craft activities and Alex was pleased to find sketching and photography classes. Yesterday he won a bottle of champagne in the trivia challenge which was a laugh, considering the questions were on “How Australian are You” and he is from the UK!
Today is Tuesday 28th May and we can feel the weather getting warmer and more humid. The sea is unbelievably calm as you can see from the photo. There is hardly a ripple and the ship is just gliding through the waters of the Java Sea.

Photos show leaving Sydney, our stateroom and steward and Thursday Island.
We arrive in Singapore on Friday, so will post more later.