January 26-27 [I got behind on my blog while in Japan, and then we sailed back out to sea where we lack connectivity, so this post is 4 days later than the experience described] The high point of our time in Japan was an overnight trip to the monastery town of Kōya-San. The extremely rural
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Fire Festival in Nara Japan
Jan 25 2020 We struck out on our own to visit the city of Nara, the first “permanent” capital of ancient Japan in the 8th Century. Transit in Japan is fantastic – fast, efficient, cheap, and unbelievably punctual! No trouble at all getting a train directly from the port to Sannomiya Station in central Kobe,
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Kobe Japan, Jan 24
We are so happy to disembark in Japan! The Pacific crossing was a wonderful adventure – teaching, learning, getting to know people, adjusting to life at sea. And yet the sheer physical act of crossing the endless ocean at 15 mph for 3 weeks was just exhausting. The work schedule is very demanding: no weekends,
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Last morning at sea before Japan!
It’s dawn Thursday on our last day at sea before Japan! We’ve really enjoyed these three amazing weeks of life at sea. For me, the deep involvement with students and teaching has been just wonderful. Also, the isolation of the ocean crossing with the intense physical nature of the changing sea has been so novel
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Sea Change
Lat = 26.5 N ; Lon = 156.5 E ; Depth = 16,500 feet ; Dist to Kobe = 1206 km Yesterday we crossed a sharp boundary between the easterly tropical Trade Winds and the westerly winds of the Earth’s mid-latitudes. After a glorious morning of tropical sunshine and smooth following seas, we suddenly encountered
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Halfway from Hawaii to Japan
Lat = 25; Lon=168 E; Depth = 19,000 feet; Distance to port =2400 NM; Sea temp=22 C; Air temp = 23 C Lovely sunny morning of pretty Trade cumulus, with clouds shearing off toward the south. The sea is gorgeous – sun-sparkled water of deepest blue, the first day we haven’t had white caps. The
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(Time) Zoning Out
Latitude=22 N Longitude=175.5 W Course=284o Speed=18.4 kt Temp=26 C (79 F) As we sail west from Hawaii, Colorado slips further and further away. One of the unexpected ways this is becoming clear to me is that on many evenings, we are told to set our clocks back one hour. Our clocks are now 5 hours
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Polynesian Voyagers
We spent just 17 hours in port in Honolulu on January 12. The evening before we arrived in Hawaii, we had a raucous all-ship’s meeting in the large classroom. It was standing room only. The atmosphere was electric — after 8 days at sea, we were SO ready to disembark and begin our land adventures!
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Rocking and Rolling
1:30 PM Thu Jan 9 23 N, 143 WWe’re sailing just south of due west at 11 knots over 17,150 feet of waterSea surface temperature is 19 C/66 F and the air temperature is 20 C/68 F Finally getting in the swing of things here on Semester at Sea. Students are great – asking loads
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Partway Through 1st Crossing
7 AM Mon Jan 6: Lat 26d 41′ 72″ N ; Lon 125d 54′ 41″ W. We sailed from Ensenada into the sunset on Jan 4, and we’re now crossing the blue water of the North Pacific Gyre about 20% of the way to Hawaii. What a transformation in shipboard life since the
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