A beautiful day of scenic cruising around the Shiretoko Peninsula on the Diamond Princess. We had a lovely relaxing day today rounding the northern most tip of Japan on our way to Russia. On the way around the eastern side of the peninsula, there was not much to be seen as the land mass was heavily covered by mist and fog. But as we rounded onto the west side of the peninsula, you could see the cliffs and volcanic mountains that form the north island.
This area is well known for it’s hot springs, onsens and even hot water waterfalls. We had to stay 3 natutical miles off the coast the whole time so as not to disturb the fishing industry that put their nets and pots out and operate along the coast catching king crab and various other seafoods.
The ship traversed through the four ‘contested islands’ between Japan and Russia that saw neither country sign any peace treaties after WWII… which in effect means Japan and Russia are still officially at war. Japan maintains the islands belong to Japan, of course Russia maintains the islands belong to Russia, and in 60 years since the war ended, the impasse has not been resolved. It’s not much of a war though – there are daily ferry services that run back and forth between this part of Japan and Russia and other than what seems farily strict customs procedures, it mostly seems to be fairly amiable… well as amiable as Russia is with any of its neighbours! 😀
We saw large pods of dolphins swimming alongside the ship, and had a lovely calm day as we sailed towards Russia, and an absolutely beautiful sunset today from the Skywalkers Nighclub this evening.
