Arrived at Ward Cove just on the outskirts of Ketchikan at 08:00am on a rainy morning with temperature of 9C. Ketchikan, Alaska is the state’s southeasternmost major settlement. With a population at the 2020 census of 8,192  it is the sixth-most populous city in the state. Ward Cove pulp mill closed in 1997 and reopened…

Arrived Sitka at 08:00am on an overcast, rainy morning with temperature of 9C. Sitka is in the southeast portion of Alaska. It was under Russian rule from 1799 to 1867. The city is situated on the west side of Baranof Island. As of the 2020 census Sitka had a population of 8,458, making it the…

A beautiful, mostly sunny day with temperature around 12C saw us arriving in Yakutat Bay around 1:00pm. This is about 302 miles from Whittier and 226 miles from Juneau. After picking up the Alaska pilot proceeded in towards Hubbard Glacier. This is located about 30 miles north off the coast of Yakutat. Hubbard Glacier straddles…

Arrived Whittier at 10:00am on a dry, overcast morning with temperature of 8C. Very scenic sailing up the channel with plenty of snow still on the mountain tops. Whittier is a city at the head of the Passage Canal about 58 miles (93 km) southeast of Anchorage. The city’s population was 272 at the 2020 census….

Arrived Kodiak at 07:00am after our 6 days crossing the north Pacific. A bright, dry start to the day with temperature at 2C rising to around 6C in the afternoon. Some snow still on the tops of the mountains. Kodiak is the main city and one of seven communities on Kodiak Island, Alaska. All commercial…

Saturday May 9th is the beginning of our ocean crossing from Kushiro, Japan to Kodiak, Alaska. Due to weather conditions further south we will be taking the northern great circle route across the Bering Sea. This entails passing through the Aleutian chain of islands at either end. The International Date Line (IDL) is an imaginary…

We arrived Kushiro at 08:00am on cooler, partly cloudy morning with temperature around 11C and reaching 14C later in the afternoon. Kushiro is a city in Kushiro subprefecture on the island of Hokkaido. Located along the coast of the North Pacific Ocean , it serves as the subprefecture’s capital and it is the most populated…

Arrived Aomori at 07:00am on a windy but sunny morning with temperature around 14C. Continued partly cloudy all day with temperature reaching a high of 24C. Aomori City  is the capital of Aomori Prefecture in the Tohoku region at the northern end of Honshu Island. The city has an estimated population of 270,000. This is…

Arrived at Hakodate around 7:00am on a clear, sunny morning with temperature around 14C. It continued fine all day although windy and up to 20C in the afternoon. Hakodate is a city and port and the capital of Oshima Subprefecture on the northern island of Hokkaido. The city has an estimated population of 250,000 and…

Arrived Miyako at 08:00 on a clear but windy day with the temperature around 12C. It continued mostly sunny and windy all day rising to 14C in the afternoon. Miyako is located in central Iwate Prefecture, bordered by the Pacific Ocean to the east, with the main urban area fronting on Miyako bay. It has…

Arrived at 08:00am on a windy overcast morning. And temperature around 16C. Hitachinaka Kaihia Koen in the Ibaraki prefecture developed primarily as a company town for Hitachi group factories, and Hitachi remains the primary employer. Secondary industries include commercial fishing, agriculture and seasonal tourism. Hitachinaka was formed when Nakaminato and and Kasuta merged in 1994….

An overcast but dry morning in Yokohama. Temperature up around 24C today. Yokohama is the 2nd largest city in Japan with a population of 3.7 million. It is the largest port city and high tech industrial hub in the Greater Tokyo Area and the Kantō region. The city proper is headquarters to companies such as…

A fine, sunny morning in Tokyo although windy with temperatures reaching about 27c this afternoon.  9:30am checked out of the Metropolitan Edmont hotel after our 3 day stay. Walked the 10 minutes to the Suidobashi overground station near the Dome, towing all of our luggage. Bought our tickets (620 yen each) for the trip to…

Awoke this morning to heavy rain as forecast, so did not go out early. Eventually braved the weather and headed out around 10:30am for a shopping expedition to Ginza. A short walk took us to Iidabashi station where we caught our metro train on the Tozai line. 4 stops later we got off at Nihombashi…

Day 2 in Tokyo on Thursday April 30th. A cloudy, dry day with temperatures reaching 17C in the afternoon. Out by 9:30am and walked to Iidabashi station Then down to the Oedo Line subway. Took the train for 10 minutes out to Ueno. A short walk and arrived at Ueno Park. Completed in 1873 this…

Departed Vancouver for Tokyo around 4:45pm on Tuesday April 28th 2026. Flying on ANA (All Nippon Airways) Boeing 787-9. An uneventful flight saw us arrive at Haneda Airport, terminal 3 just before 7pm on Wednesday April 29th. Immigration was quick with no waiting as we had done our pre-clearance online. Luggage was retrieved quickly and…