Tuesday, August 26, 2014
In the morning we walked over to Hilde and Tricia’s hotel. After a little last minute shopping, mainly for shoes, and some sushi lunch, we took our friends to board The World.
We all attended the ‘mandatory pre-departure safety briefing’, followed by the ‘face-to-face immigration inspection’ to be stamped out of Japan. The rest of the afternoon was spent unpacking and settling into our apartment for the upcoming voyage. As The World departed the dock in Otaru we were entertained by the sounds of a traditional Japanese drum performance.
Wednesday, August 27, 2014
Overnight we had sailed to Korsakov where the clearance procedure into Russia would happen. While that was going on we attended the ‘Mandatory Expedition Welcome Brief’ which not only addressed zodiac safety, but also introductions of the Expedition Team.
Later that day went to a lecture by Simone Winchester: ‘The Story of Sakhalin and the Kurils’. Sakhalin, the island Korsakov is on, is Russia’s largest island. The Kurils are an island chain, part of the ‘Ring of Fire’ of which some are the subject of a 60- year old dispute between Russia and Japan. Next up was a photographic workshop with Raul Touzon. The evening started with the Expedition cocktail party and a cultural performance of traditional Cossack and Russian songs and dances.
The ‘Sea of Okhotsk Expedition on The World’ will again be led by EYOS Expeditions, who have managed several expeditions on this vessel in the past years. This is their link to track our progress: EYOS Expedition Tracker.
