Tuff Days at the Office

With the sky and weather charts free of T-bags & other nasty conditions, it was time to make a Move.

AKA SHIMA here we come!

Just 25 miles to the west of Okinawa is a group of islands called: Kerama Retto. Aka shima is one of them.

This pix shows the NE corner of the group.

 After a pleasant trip for most of the crew (sorry, not for all: Mal-de-Mer was playing a game with some stomachs),

 Fu Kyo found a possy along the wall in AKA Shima ferry port.
Same place where Alishan stayed for a week, 
now already 2 years ago....

Twice a day the Big "Slow" Boat Ferry stops at Aka Shima.

There is also twice a day a fast ferry, both connect to "mainland" Okinawa.

.....and the harbor became crowded with sailboats.

Longtime buddy Patto-man with son Kairen had arrived with his (job)boat, also from Ginowan Marina.

Trade Mark for Aka Shima.....
Shiro-kun.

A movie was made about his love affair.

Read more HERE. 

Told you: Tuff Days at the Office.

 Mr Doi, Mr Konami, Kairen and Patto-man taking a well deserved break from .....

Next day had Snorkeling on the Menu..

Mr and Mrs Mitsuda with instructor Konami san 

Look at color of the water...

and the posture of the beach-boys;-)

Wow, that was a hot bright day, but as you can see, there was also a nice breeze.

 Kerama Retto main business is diving and snorkeling.

Guess why...

Nuff said.

   

 Small boat harbor on the other side from the ferry port, facing SW.

An other trade mark for Aka Shima.

Original inhabitants AND protected...

Keep your front doors looked otherwise they'll come into the kitchen and help themselves to ....

 Oh yes, Aka shima has an airport, but main transport is by boat.

Just to show you the Okinawa building style.

These days with plenty of concrete...as it can blow by times....you know.

 Local Dragon boat, sadly in dis-repair.

Aka Shima's beach on the west coast, a good place to watch the sunset. Except in June as the sun is too far to the north and she disappears behind next door island.

Pretty beaches neh.

But you'll need a canoe or so to get there.

Or swim like Shiro-kun. 

Local dive shop owner Mr Nakamura san came to wave us goodbye.

See you next time! 

Heading back to Ginowan, we were able to sail most of the way just using the biggg gennaker. 

Map showing the Keramo Retto, Aka Shima is at the west side of the group.

Yep, a nice weekend at the Office.

Salute.

That was Guchol

All is Well.

Guchol visited us last night.

(why do T-bags always arrive at night and why always at high-tide?)

Again:

T-bags are mostly A Lot of Stress and A Little Trouble.

(if well prepared, of course).

This satellite picture was just before midnight. 

The eye is more or less due east of us and we had 

45+ knots wind. 

That's about the max i have seen. 
Oh yes, of course heavy horizontal rain by times.

Due to the wind, mono-hull sailboats were leaning over +++....

Nice to be on a catamaran ;-}

Two hours later and she is moving away nicely.

(And i have seen about a zillion YouTubes)

And now?

Tidy up all the lines etc?

No-No, not today because...

T-bag Talim is coming!!!

It's still a Tropical Storm. And  it's heading for this part of the world.

Pfff-falute

Monday 1600

Update 1600.

Okinawa is more or less the target.

Guchol is moving NEN:  North,   a little east of North

The rain is almost here..

it will come with the wind.

See the eye of the T-bag?

All okay.

From Above

Aint She a Beauty?

From above.

(the landmass to the left is Luzon, PI).

Think i have enough lines out right now.

The waiting game begins.

Salute

Guchol on Saturday

Guess what we are doing here in Ginowan....

Looks like Guchol will pass us to the right (= east of Okinawa), that means we are in the "okay" half of the T-bag.

Okay Half? 

In this Catagory,  there is also plenty of wind pfffff-ing

at that part of a T-bag...

Bring Out the Lines!!

Sa-sa-salute

It's Wet Out Here

Come to Sunny Okinawa,

they say....

Somehow the yearly rainy belt, that's supposed to be way to the north by now,

has dropped down again.

Right on top of "Sunny" Okinawa. 

(almost at the center of this map).

Due to all this wetness, not much outdoor stuff can be done.

Luckily before all the downpour started i have managed to change the engine oil of the 2 Yanmars.

(The entrance hedges to the engine rooms are 

out at the steps @ the stern of Fu Kyo...no decent rain cover).

And i did set a new record-time for the job: 2 hours 15 minutes, incl clean-up!

Time for a good book!! 

Hold on, what's that down there??

Looks like we're gonna be in for an other T-bag...

After the weekend!

Salute

This and That at Ginowan.

 Down there is Ginowan Marina.

Fu Kyo is parked near that central concrete pier, at the far end of it.

Supermarket,  coin laundry (easy to find), ice-cream shop all across the road. 

A reasonable nice 8K run from the marina to the east....

What else do we need?

 Ola, what's that in front of Fu Kyo?

Nobody less than Good Okinawa friend John of sy Horizon, see also at Alishan  

AND 

Tom and Fran of sy Dagon..

So happy to see Dagon is finally here in Japan.

At their first attempt (2009) they got nailed and hammered by a typhoon in the Philippine Islands.

See also what Marijke wrote at Alishan

Well what do you say: Ain't she shining?

Enjoy cruising Japan neh...

This Google Map shows the route (more or less) Fu Kyo has traveled since departure from Fukuoka.

Next??

Salute

MAWAR is Gone, BUT

T-bag MAWAR has gone!

The most wind we had here in the marina was 40 knots.

 Pfff.

And it came from the right direction: SE-NE....so we got 

protection from the land. 

As heard before: T-bags are often a lot of pre-stress and a little trouble. 

Now about that BUT.

The tidying up has not yet been done.

It takes some time to clean, coil, dry and stow about 300 meters of line, re-install the bimini and of course Post T-bag socializing with the other cruisers.

Salute.

Can You Believe It?

We had left Fukuoka one month ago, so it was time to fly back to 

Meinohama for some  R & R with Marijke and The Gang.  

Fu Kyo was in a good spot in Ginowan Marina, and allll the weather reports showed No-Worries.

Thursday May 31 it was fly-out time and a few hours later

 it was a happy-together on Alishan.

That night i checked, as usual, the weather.....

Can You Believe It?

 Near the Philippines a TD was born and the forecast was..

it's heading as a T-bag (aka typhoon)...

 ...for Okinawa....

What a bummer.

 On Sunday morning i flew back to prep the boat.

From the plane i took this pix: Hard to believe something nasty is brewing Down South when we're flying over Akune...the port where Fu Kyo made a stop a few weeks ago ( see Satsuma Country).

Friends Tom and Fran from sailing yacht Dagon had kindly taken down the furling jib ( should be done before any wind). The "only" tasks i had to do was running a spider-web of lines across the pontoon and concrete jetty, taking down the cockpit tent and bimini and put-out more lines and fenders.

This map shows the predicted track of T-bag Mawar.

Okinawa is at the C of 04-21 UTC.

And this is Fu Kyo awaiting wind and things to come,

12 hours before T-bag MAWAR will visit us.

Sa-sa-salute

(hmmm, a little worried??)