Kasasa Ebisu

After a 7.30 send off from Akune by Shoji and his daughter Juno, we arrived in Kasasa Ebisu just on 4:00 p.m. after SLOWING down!!  Our memory of this harbour seemed to remind us that the entrance was quite shallow and that we had delayed our departure last year for this reason.  So after having a really good start to the day with the mainsail and then the main and headsail, and even turning OFF the engine we suddenly realised we were about to arrive at low tide.  We furled the headsail and still we were going too fast so we put a double reef in the main!  We managed to get our speed down to about 3 knots in the following, light 10-12 knots breeze.   We even took our time getting the main down and getting it packed away before daring to enter.  The cruise boat from the resort, where we would be tying up on the pontoon, waved us on and said no worries.  OK, so in we went.  Well, either our memories were playing tricks or else the channel had been dredged because we had plenty of water beneath the keel.  On the positive side, conditions were good - the 2.5 metre swell dissipated during the day, no strong wind to rock us about while we went slow, no rain and we had about 2 nautical miles of visibility through the fog, plus it is getting warmer.  Yesterday the fog had been quite thick in Akune and at times we could hardly see the other side of the harbour.

Staff were out to greet our arrival making us feel very welcome, and children just returning from the boat cruise were happy and excited to see us arrive.  We checked in and paid over the Y2500 (A$28) fee for the night which we think was more than last year but it is Golden Week this week so maybe there is a premium.  On the plus side though we were able to fill the tanks with water and use the resort onsen.  Bonus!!  A nice hot shower, shampoo and soak in salt water after a day on the water.  These two items alone are worth at least Y1100 (A$12.50).

This will be our last floating pontoon - from now on we will have to tie up to concrete wharves which involves making sure the lines are long enough at low tide and not too loose at high tide!  The weather is looking right to set off tomorrow for Io Jima, about 46 NM to the south.

Position: 31-24.54N, 130-08.00E