Golden Week is Here

Golden Week is in Swing with Sun, Gale and Rain. As yet Nothing special to report. Marijke is working away on her picture projects and Jaap is prepping Fu Kyo for it's first sail. Fu Kyo? Yes that's the boat of our friend Mitsuda who asked me to help him making miles on his brand new Lagoon 421.  More on that later.   The previous On the Move post shows a couple of blank spots. Nothing has gone missing , but some how i can't edit that post correctly. So, just scroll further down to read and see the rest.   Salute

Spring Gales & Tales

It's coming and going with Lows and Highs these days. One day we walk around with a coat and the next day it's t-shirt stuff. And all come and go with plenty of wind & the odd rain shower....ah well, as long as it doesn't snow.... Last weekend was "bus-hike" weekend for the Nogami's, our fishermen family we are very close with. The youngest brother turned 60, so a good excuse for an all-in-the-family outing. And they took us along..Nice neh. Of course the bus made stops at several temples, souvenir shops and even a beer factory. At the Suntory Beer Factory...where taking pictures is f******* The Ladies in Sundays Best. At night a super meal with the ever and always karaoke and Japanese dance. And what a great time we had:Our bellies were hurting due to laughter. The Birthday Boy Tamotsu. We stayed in a ryokan=japanese inn with an indoor ONSEN (yes, with twice a day soaking) at Kikuchi Town in Kumamoto Pref. Indeed this is thermal-land as at 2:47 AM the whole place rattled and shook us awake because of a serious earthquake. No damage, but a good reminder where we live! (and what happened a few weeks ago..) Next week it is Golden Week. At lot of national holidays...Good time to either stay at home as the roads are loaded OR head for the sea. What we will do? Will let you know. BTW, it is now 8 years since we moved on board of Alishan and sailed her from Tokyo to Fukuoka. BTW2, this week jaap did get his Japanese Boat License. ( what he should have had on that trip 8 years ago as Alishan was under Japanese flag. Now Alishan is dutch flagged and ...funny, in Japan foreign vessel don't need a Japanese licensed captain...Figure that one out). Salute

Sunday Shelling by the Seashore

This is Muromi River on a Sunday afternoon in Spring. What a great weather to look for shells that taste so good in the miso soup and spaghetti. And it is fun to do it with the family, as you can see. (click on the pix..)

This is the mouth of Muromi River, it ends up in Hakata Bay.

Fukuoka, it is a good place to live!

It's April already!

Time flies, even when we are not moving Alishan.   Marijke came back home and she too had a good time in Holland. Of course she was way too busy with seeing all and everybody in the family and eating all her favorite dutch food.... Thank you for looking after us! We are happy to have made the trip to see Mom and to be with you.  Too bad our stays were so short.  Mind you, one way we will remember our trip as we both gained a few kilo's in just those short periods. We blame the good bread and mountains of cheese! And the odd, ahum, " Tom Poes" pastry.   In the mean time, here in Fukuoka, the cherry blossoms have popped out by the zillions. Such a pretty way to celebrate the end of the Cold Weather.   It was good fun to meet Vicky (sy Sunstone) "On the Run". I had " challenged " her to join us for the Sakura Half Marathon and yes, she joined me and the group for thos 21 K last week Sunday. Most of the way we ran together, beating me in the final 2 Ks. Well done. The weather was perfect and so was the scenery.  Sunstone was still in the Inland Sea, so Vicky had taken the Highway Bus to travel to Fukuoka and back.   Then a few days latter it was Rush Hour for us at Odo Yachtharbor as beside sy Tweed, sy Sunstone and sy Bannister arrived. Of course we had to take that opportunity to share a meal with all these overseas yachties... No no. No sashimi or sushi this time, but yummy Taiwanese Food.  And it was good fun.  This week all 3 will Move On. Tweed is going south (Okinawa and Taiwan), Sunstone and Bannister are going north ( Hokkaido and Alaska). THE major reason these 3 yachts came (back) to Fukuoka was of course they trouble over there on the East Coast. When will it be again to meet overseas yachts here in Fukuoka? Due to all the sad things, many of the planned trips to Japan this year, have been cancelled.   Understandable.   We? Well, we'll stay. This is home. But we will be making Moves. Tell you more later.   Salute.