People, Kelp and the Tsugaru Strait
Submitted by jono on 13 Jul 2024.
Here is an effort to share some recent pictures. Finding the time and place to curate and comment isn't always simple. But I grabbed a charge at the convenience store (until chased off by a grumpy employee, which sometimes happens) and began writing this at the fishing cooperative building. The fishing community I find to be very accepting and increasingly nice! Perhaps that is because I have now settled in, and there is an expression of that in how I carry myself and communicate. Also, the journey is now sufficiently notable that I am a source of curiosity/interest/humour!
Pictures start on the east-facing Pacific coast of Honshu, offer a glimpse of the Tsugaru Strait, and then provide a first impression of Hokkaido.
Woman collecting kelp from the gulleys inside Tomari harbour. Note the bicycle inner tube repurposed as her belt. These are humble communities that make do with what the ocean provides or washes up on their shore.
The strong offshore winds kept me at Tomari an extra couple of days.
Round the corner (Cape Shiriyazaki) and on to a coast which is caressed rather than assaulted by the Pacific swells. Here paddling in fog.
As the fog cleared, it became a beautiful paddle.
The water is beautifully clear.
A handy pull-in for a short break.
Looking back.
Gliding over kelp and sea grass. The plants and seaweeds help slow the currents and calm the waters.
Smiles and laughs with this fun fishing family, a few miles short of Cape Oma.
Cape Oma, the northernmost point of Honshu. On the other side of the Tsugaru Strait is the island of Honshu, which is visible on a clearer day.
Sightseeing, while waiting for better conditions to cross the Tsugaru Strait.
A day trip with time away from the sea provided welcome respite from my worries about the crossing.
Thanks to Oma local Yumiko for noticing me and providing a distraction.
Now we can see Hokkaido! The current through the Strait is ferocious. As I sailed, left of frame is where the board was pointed, but Cape on the right is where I ended up.
A simple GPS (in this case a Garmin Etrex, in a small Aquapac case) is very useful to monitor speed and angle, which are difficult to judge when on a sliding carpet of ocean.
Mount Ena (the Cape on the right from picture 14) is an active volcano. I rounded the Cape and stopped at the fishing port of Motomuracho.
The picture robs it of scale, but Mount Ena is a big lump and the current rips off the end of it. I stayed in very close as I rounded the tip, and dealt with the inevitable wind disturbance rather than risk being caught by the current and dragged out to open ocean.
Motomuracho port. The ramps used by the smaller boats are also where I head to.
This friendly fisherman gave me a lift to a hot spring bath (in the rocks near to the lighthouse I had just sailed past). The bath waters are made piping hot by Mount Ena and cooled to deliciously warm by the Pacific Ocean.
I walked back to the port, and was readying to sleep for the night when Izumi (daughter) and Yoshikatsu (father, a sprightly 94 years!) insisted I sleep at their home. That was the first night since Onjuku (journey start) that I did not sleep under my sail! Izumi cooked great food for a second dinner, breakfast, and packed lunch the following day. Thankyou so much!
Kelp farms. Tens or hundreds of thousands of buoys each with a rope to which the kelp attaches. These farms provide employment, pull in lots of CO2, act as a sea defence, and provide nurseries for sea life. For a sailor, they can make navigation awkward, but they are also a safety net in an offshore wind (if one sails inside of them).
The kelp being harvested. Apparently this is after about 1 year of growth. (A random stat I recall is that kelp can grow up to a foot in a single day, which means this is quite slow growing by kelp standards).
Where I finished this post!
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Tsugaru Strait
postcards