Day 27 - 8 Aug - Vladivostok, Russia

After staying up until 12:30am to watch the docking procedure, 6:30am came mighty early. Day 27 - 8 Aug - Vladivostok, Russia Passports were returned starting at 7:30am and we joined our private shore excursion group in the 6th floor atrium and proceeded off the ship where our passports were checked for the presence of our Russian immigration stamp and a visual comparison of our face to the passport.

Once off the ship we quickly connected with our guide, Sergei, who turned out to be the owner of the company. We did a little walking tour to visit the pretty railway station that's the terminus of the TransSiberian Railroad. Lenin Square and the main post office were located near our bus boarding point.

Our bus journey out to Russky Island took us across the Golden Horn bridge and Russky Island bridge. We got see more Russian submarines and some other warships.

 Once on the island we traveled a few miles on a former gun emplacement (the entire island was under military control for many years). 

From there we could see the Aquarium and the very large university. After coming back across the bridge we visited a viewpoint crowded with many, many Chinese tourists. There was a monument there devoted to the two creators of the Russian alphabet.

We enjoyed a nice lunch in downtown before taking a 1.5 hour walking tour through the old Chinatown which was purged of Chinese in the 1930's. We then drove out to the lighthouse where 3 of us waded out to the lighthouse. On the way to our final stop was a brief visit to a collection of produce and miscellaneous sundry items. We then visited the U-56 submarine display (the hull of that submarine had many patches) and monuments to the soldiers and sailors lost in the second world war. Nearby were a number of guided missile frigates.

Back at the pier we were encouraged to immediately reboard the ship (surrendering our passports in the process). Angela and I, however, elected to visit the port shops before reboarding the ship.

Parenthetically I would note that HAL staff on this cruise are strictly following the US State Department published Russian rules which require a Visa from most visitors unless one is on a tour whether it be a Hal or private tour. 

Back on board we visited with friends before eating an early dinner with friends until the sailaway. Hundreds of locals lined the dock to wave us off to the accompaniment of Russian marching music. 

 We needed to slip sideways away from the dock and rotate counterclockwise within close proximity to 3 Russian guided missile frigates. So we were hooked up to a tug for additional power protection or as the Captain later said, "He did want to be the one captaining a vessel that hit Russian frigates."

Once turned around we sailed out of the harbor and under the Russky Bridge which we had sailed under scarcely 18 hours earlier. After the pilot departed the ship and an exchange of toots and blasts we headed out to the open sea and towards Korsakov.

We missed the early show and Evening Insight, but watched the mentalist, Ace Mc Dermitt's really good late show. Both of us were really tired after a short night and a long day, and we both misinterpreted the clock change requirement thinking that we needed to roll our clocks back instead of setting them forward. I wonder if that would affect us tomorrow? Stay tuned.