Hiroshima

Dawnbreaker
Lars Alfredson
Thu 31 Mar 2016 23:59

pos 34:21.57N 132:24.89E
Kanon Marina, Hiroshima
Monday 28/3

We left for Hiroshima after breakfast. It was a very calm day and we took the opportunity to calibrate the autopilot on the way. When we started going round in circles to calibrate the compass, we were of course approached by a coast guard cutter. I think they understood what we were doing, because they left us in pease after a while.
We tied up in Kanonmarina about noontime. The paperwork took quite some time. Lunch and then the customs arrived. Lots of form to fill in as usual.
After all this the big hunt for propane started. We were out of propane and tried everything we could think of to get our two bottles filled. We took a taxi to the filling station but they refused to fill our bottles. I tried to buy japanese bottles with no luck. In the end we returned to the boat with two empty propane bottles! It seems that in Japan you can only fill Japanese approved steel bottles. As I was not allowed to buy a bottle, I am in a bit of a fix. I had to dig out my spare spare 5 kg grp bottle that I have carried all the way from Sweden in 2008. This problem have to be solved in Kobe / Osaka.

Tuesday the 29th was Hiroshima exploring day. We took the bus in to the center of town.
First we found the office of "The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport" and spent 1.5 hours making an application for visiting closed ports in the Seto sea.
After sitting on miniature chairs and watching the bueraucrats at work we needed some change and walked to Hiroshima Castle and learned about the history of Hiroshima.
After lunch we did the more heavy visit to ground zero and the museum. Heavy stuff!
After some shopping we returned to the marina and had a strange dinner of an omelett full of rice. Sometimes you go wrong when you can only look at pictures when ordering your dinner.

Wedensday 30/3 we took the bus to the nearest shopping center. We did our washing and shopping and at around noon took off for Miyajima Island.

All is well,
Lars and crew.

After all this we had dinner in the marina area and collapsed in bed.o