Today is our last port in Japan.  Boo hoo.  We don’t really want to leave, we have enjoyed everywhere so much.  We have an overnight at least, but the port times are weird.  We aren’t arriving until late – 1pm – so we have all morning to do our normal things, including one lecture and then lunch – which is the Officers’ BBQ – woo hoo.  We don’t really care about ribs or steak or any of that – but they do have suckling pig.  Oh really now!  Pande Egi – we’re all in on that, snatching the first platefuls and enjoying the sunny sail in on the sunset deck while we eat.

Then it is down to the Cabaret to check in for our….shudder….first ship’s tour.  You know we wouldn’t normally do ship’s tours, but we had a bunch of shore excursion credit that we would lose if we didn’t, so…on the bus we go.  We’ve not done a tour in so long, in fact, we don’t know the strategy.  We know where to sit, but can we leave now?  Just go outside?  A few people are doing that, so we just feign ignorance and slowly follow them.  Yep!  This is the ticket.  We are outside, through immigration and on the bus as one of the first.  Ok.  We’re good now for the rest of the cruise!

It is another gorgeous day today, and will be perfect for our repeat tour of the Sengan-en gardens.   Yes, we’ve been here before, but not on such a pretty day.  After getting our tickets and making sure we know where and when to meet back with the group, we immediately ditch them and strike out on our own, hiking up hiked up this trail we weren’t able to do last visit. Phew! Steps!

It was a climb, but so worth it for the atmosphere – we’re all alone up here in the forest – the sights – the hexagonal Roku Jizo Pagoda with stone carvings of the six Jizo Bodhisattva, which guide and save people in each of the Buddhist realms, some inscriptions describing the Kansuisha Pavilion that was one there – and the views! Spectacular all the way across to Sakurajima on a clear day.  You can’t beat that.

On the way down, we notice this wooden corral with a bunch of bamboo and wood sticks in it….oh my gosh!  They even provide you with walking sticks for the trail!  Had we only known – and opened our eyes on the way up!  So convenient and thoughtful.  Meandering a bit more through the forest and more shrine-like carvings, we eventually manage to make our way back to the meeting place, with enough time to spare that we can hang out in the shade and wait.

And wait.  And wait.  Most of the rest of the group shows up, confused because Miche, the guide, isn’t there.  They wander around like deer in the headlights, even though we tell them this is exactly where she told us to be.  Ugh.  Group tours.  But, then again MIche is definitely late.  She is really sweet, but with this group you need to crack the whip, and whip crackin’ she ain’t. We finally start to hear the crackle of her whisperer and she eventually appears with the slow walkers (yeah, don’t get me started on people who don’t read the tour descriptions, and then Shore Ex who don’t enforce their recommendations) and we all coalesce for the slow walk over to the glass factory and then through the glass store – where of course we lose people – and then half of us walk back to the bus, and half of us don’t and…well..hey – it  isn’t our deal. We’re on the bus, we’re not organizing. If we miss the ferry – it’s on Miche. 

Oh – and I didn’t even go into the people on this tour who can barely walk and the one guy who is in a wheelchair.  Yep.  A wheelchair.  To hike the volcano?  We know the tour description says people with mobility issues should not choose this tour – do they not read the description?  Does Shore Ex not enforce that?  Honestly.  Ok – rant done.

We finally get everyone back (including the woman who leaves her passport and credit card in the glass shop…no…no comment) and we are off to the ferry for Sakurajima. This is really why we took this tour – we wanted to hike through the lava rocks to a view point of the volcano – little did we know the hike was a walk up paved stairs on a circular trail a toddler could do – but still.  Free is free, right?  On the ferry most of us go upstairs to get a view of the volcano on the trip across the bay – understanding we have to be back on the bus at a certain time to drive off the ferry.  The views are great – but just as good from the ship, so all of us – but 2 – troop back down the stairs at the appointed time.  And wait. And wait.  Miche even has to run upstairs to find the 2 recalcitrant tour participants who saunter down the stairs just as the ramp for the cars is lowering onto the dock.  Sigh.

We then drive around the island to the viewpoint for the volcano, with a quick side trip the driver decides to do to take us to the Lava river – which is a channel that has been cut to direct the lava when it flows.  That’s really amazing – and it is definitely a Lava river!  And we’re the only bus going there – because our driver is the only one who suggested it!

As we drive, Miche asks us which path at the viewpoint we want to take – the normal route with stairs to see the volcano or the easy path without that gets a good view of the sea.  Ok – well – after some initial confusion, we all vote for volcano, thankfully – but honestly, it wouldn’t matter, we’d go the volcano route and meet them all at the bus later if that was the deal.    And the walk is really great, with lots of lava rock and ash – ash everywhere! – and little shelters where you can go if Sakurajima erupts.  Great fun shots of the volcano, but really short (we should have known!) and we are back at the bus and the little shopping stall in no time.  Perusing the goods there (including fake Sakurajima oranges – they grow the smallest oranges in the world here – and the ones on display for sale are not so small!) we look at a shirt for Ed, but when we pull it out of the plastic wrap it isn’t cotton like the display, so no go there.  Ok – we’re back to the bus!

The ride back and ferry are uneventful, and Miche teaches us how to count, then does this great bingo game with Japanese numbers.  Very fun, seriously!  Even though we don’t win, we all get bookmarks she has made for us – even though, as she says, we all read e-books now!  But so sweet and nice.  (She tells us the Government gave her a teaching job during the pandemic, teaching kids English – which explains her demeanor completely, and gives us a wonderful insight into the Japanese government.)

Back at the pier, we really wanted to go to the mall for dinner – it is a 20 minute walk and it is our last night in Japan!!! But the weather had become chilly and windy and we needed far more clothes than we had on, which would have been a huge hassle to go to the ship, change, come back out through immigration, walk, etc., etc.  So we ended up blowing that off and staying on the ship. Disappointing (because we also wanted to search for Kit Kats) but prudent.  We actually had a very good dinner in the buffet, then went to the Den where Jose, the Assistant CD put on an excellent show with songs all in Spanish.  He’s originally from Costa Rica, but grew up in Memphis, so he has no accent, but is fluent in Spanish. It was quite good and entertaining.  Then we went to Rob’s show in the Cabaret where he talked all about growing up, his stage fright and how he overcame it to be the fabulous piano performer that he is today.  Just so great.  And then to the cabin for the evening.  Tomorrow – another tour, this time to an area we have not been previously to visit a Samurai village and the Kamikaze museum.  Should be an interesting day!