Cruising the Kanmon Strait to Fukuoka

Today is a day at sea without any ports as our boat sails from Hiroshima through the Kanmon Strait to Fukuoka. Since there isn’t any port of call, the ship offers a few extra events and activities for its guests. One of which is a brunch in the main dining room. Our family decides to partake and head into the ship’s dining room. We order several different dishes which includes a fresh fruit plate, coconut pancakes, peanut butter French toast, chicken ginger congee, and tapioca pudding! It’s a departure from our normal breakfast and a very welcome change in routine! Everything is tasty and we enjoy our lazy morning and the great food!

Ship Laps

After brunch we decide to head out to the deck to do a few laps around the boat and work off some of the brunch. It’s a beautiful clear day out which makes looping the ship very enjoyable. On top of the incredible views of the sea, Holland America is thoughtful enough to have a staff member outside to hand out warm cups of miso soup. It’s a welcome warm teat as it is still pretty chilly outside!

Kanmon Strait

Soon enough, we near the Kanmon Strait and the crew open up the bow of the ship for guests to experience sailing through the strait from the front. The Sister and I head to the bow where we spend the next hour or two watching the boat pass through the narrow passage thatseparates Japan’s Honshu and Kyushu Islands. It’s a pretty unique experience on the boat and The Sister and I enjoy it!

After passing through the main parts of the Kanmon strait, we head back to our room. But not before stopping by the burger stand on the boat to pick up some hot dog and fries. We bring it back to our room where we can snack and enjoy the remaining parts of the strait from the comfort of our own balcony. The rest of the day passes quite leisurely. The family gathers in the games room where we continue to play games together and enjoy each others company. We have our customary dinner on the Lido deck and retire for the evening. 

Ohori Park

The next day our ship arrives in Fukuoka. It’s an interesting stop for me since I visited Fukuoka only a few months earlier. Because of my visit, it makes it a bit easier for the family to retrace my steps and check out several of the places I saw during my first visit. Our first stop is Ohori Park. It’s a large public park with a large pond in the middle. There is a small bridge and island network that cuts through the middle of the pond and offers unique views too. Many local Japanese will visit and walk laps around.  On a beautiful sunny day like today we also spend some time walking around the pond and also through the bridges and islands. It’s a beautiful walk and we all enjoy being outdoors and checking out the park. 

Ohori Park Japanese Garden

In one corner of the park is the Ohori Park Japanese Garden. This is a small sectioned off part of the park which charges a small fee to enter. Inside is a beautifully groomed Japanese Garden with a beautiful pond. There is an artificial mistnetwork that surrounds the pond and releases steam on an interval. It creates this fantasy like landscape around the pond and something the family enjoy seeing and walking through.

One of the things that is new this time versus my previous visit is the season. And fortunately for us some of the beautiful flowers of the garden are in bloom. It adds some very pretty colours to the green landscape. We spend some time taking photos around this beautiful garden and watching the mist roll over the pond. 

Royal Host

After our visit to Ohori, we make our way into the center of Fukuoka in search of lunch. Our target lunch location is a family restaurant chain called Royal Host. It’s menu consists of a lot of Japanese and Western fusion comfort foods. When we enter we’re surprised at how busy it is and after a short wait we are eventually seated. We all order various items off their menu including a seafood pasta dish, a pork chop and their Hamburg steaks. These are all delicious meals and we enjoy it very much. We enjoy it so much we even order some extra dessert in the form of a coffee jelly treat and a tasty parfait.

Fukuoka

After lunch, we spend some time walking through some of the central areas of Fukuoka. This includes some shopping streets and some of their outdoor greenspace. I like Fukuoka because it’s not as big and busy as many other large Japanese cities. And it has a great mix of metropolitan buildings and green space. There are also several canals that run through the city creating some natural sectioning of the city. It also creates some unique waterways which we enjoy seeing as we explore. 

Port of Hakata

As the afternoon wears on, we start to make our way back to the Port of Hakata to reboard our ship. Once onboard, we are treated to a lovely sunset as we set sail and say good bye to Fukuoka. Our family returns to our regular routine of Lido deck dinner and games! During dinner we run into one of the Parental Minion’s friends and stop to snap a photo together!

Tomorrow we will be stopping in Nagasaki. It’s a city that none of us have visited before so we are all looking forward to the visit.