Thursday Oct 15, 2026
Hi All! Today was really a sea day but part of the day was considered “scenic cruising” through the Kanmon Straits. The Kanmon Straits, or the Straits of Shimonoseki, is the stretch of water separating Honshu and Kyushu, two of Japan’s four main islands.
On the Honshu side of the strait is Shimonoseki which contributed “Kan” to the name of the strait and on the Kyushu side is Kitakyushu, whose former city and present ward Moji gave the straits its “mon” name.
The strait is very narrow thru most of its stretch at a little over a half mile wide. So with cruise ships and tanker ships going through it gets very tight! On the land sides we saw a Ferris wheel, an aquarium and a replica of St Mark’s Campinale (bell tower) in Venice. It was a wedding venue with a chapel next to it!
We also saw a pod of dolphins swimming next to the boat and also caught a beautiful sunset! It was nice to sleep in today, do some scenic cruising and just relax. We also attended a Q&A session with the HAL singers and dancers. We put in a request to have dinner with a couple of them later in the cruise so I hope that works out!
We had dinner in the main dining room and I made it a rib night. Had Shanghai Ribs for my appetizer, the Beef Short Ribs for my main and Carrot Cake for dessert. All yummy once again!
After dinner we went to the show which was the violinist from the other night. I think she was even better tonight! This show was called “From Baroque to Rock” and she really rocked it out!
After the show we did what we always like to do (if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!) which is listen to the piano player sing and play great tunes! Tomorrow we are in Fukuoka, Japan. Should be fun!
