Waiting, Waiting

Before leaving our last harbour at Io Jima, we became aware of a tropical depression east of the Philippines.  Tropical depressions in this area quite often develop into tropical storms, severe tropical storms, cyclones or typhoons.  This particular one has developed only as far as a tropical storm and we have watched as it moved along the eastern shores of Luzon Island, Philippines, headed for Taiwan, went east of Taiwan and is now headed for Okinawa and the Ryukyu Islands.  The projected track should take it to the east of Yakushima and our refuge in Isso.  At the most we can expect winds of about 30-35 knots so at this stage we are still feeling comfortable with the whole thing - tomorrow we'll know just how close it will come to us.  

This morning's weather map shows the TS heading along the string of the Ryukyu Islands to the NE while this tracking map shows the projected track of the TS.  Our position is just under the 'r' in here.

We had some winds up to 25 knots coming through yesterday but by evening they had died out and it has been calm ever since.  We expect the winds to pick up again some time tomorrow.   It seems a bit strange to be in such calm conditions knowing that there is a TS lurking to the south of us!   Tweed is very comfortably rafted up to another vessel inside the well-protected harbour.  We think it is one of the most protected harbours we have been in so far. 

Isso is quite a small town and the main industry is dried mackerel.  There are several factories along the river where the mackerel are processed.  There are a couple of small shops selling a limited range of fresh produce and grocery lines, a bakery,  post office with ATM, police station, fire station and other necessary services.  Monday evening we heard a truck playing music and on investigation discovered it was a man selling fresh fruit and veg.  A much bigger choice than the local shops although at a premium price.  We are not concerned about that though only that we think Monday is the only day he comes.  However, no coin laundry!!  Yesterday we caught the bus to Myanoura, the main town of Yakushima, about 10km away.  Although the road is along the coast it is too hilly for riding our bikes.  The bus trip cost us over A$20 return for two!!  Oh, well, we like to think we are supporting the local economy.  Fortunately the coin laundry and supermarket were fairly close together so we were able to pick up some extra groceries while there. 

The foggy conditions have lifted in the last couple of days and so the other evening we were able to get a nice late afternoon reflection shot looking towards a waterfall.  The vegetation usually looks too dark to be able to share.

A walk to the beach and then to the waterfall yesterday.  We expect there will be a lot more water flowing by the end of the week!

With the calm conditions it was a good opportunity for Jon to be raised to the top of the mast to do a maintenance inspection.  All checked out OK.