Day 57 - 06 Sept - Iwo Jima

Today was a very special day in that we got to cruise by Mt. Sirabachi and view the landing beaches of Iwo Jima. Our approach started just before 2pm and Mt. Sirabachi became obscured with a rain cloud that quickly passed over the island. The Captain went about 1/2 way down the landing beach and then rotated the ship 360° for all to have a chance to face a view of the island. At one point, we were facing the beach just like the young marines would have done back in February, 1945. And all the while, we were under surveillance of a Japanese Coast Guard ship.

There was a wisp of steam coming out of crater and another steam vent down near the beach. A quick Internet search yielded that this volcano has the potential for being the most destructive in the planet in that the tsunami it might create would be highly destructive all along Southeast Asia.  

Iwo Jima, actually now called Iwo To by the Japanese, is closed to the public as it's a Japanese military base. Once a year on one day, Americans are permitted to visit the island. One flies to Guam, spends the night, takes an early morning charter flight to Iwo Jima, walks from the tarmac to and up Mt. Sirabachi, participates in a memorial ceremony there, visits the landing zone beach with its black volcanic sand, and flies back that day to Guam before returning home. I'll leave the reader to do their own research on the battle as it's been well covered. And I wonder how long these visits will be permitted after the last WWII veteran is dead.

After the ship did its 360° rotation it changed course slightly and headed towards our next port of call, Saipan. We went to the Lido to mentally process what we had just seen. A few hours later I was looking out the portside window and spotted what looked like a tip of an ice cream cone poking up from the sea, and it was partially obscured by clouds. As we got closer we could see it clearly and it was an island. Using Google maps, I identified it as South Iwo Jima Island. Angela did some more research and surprisingly she discovered that it was the setting for the Japanese School of Wizardry in the Harry Potter series. For more details do an internet search.

All of the preceding took place from 2pm to 5pm and was like the filling in an Oreo cookie. Let me describe the hard parts of the cookie that contains the filling.

Our morning coffee chat was with Greg Redfern, or sky guy. He was followed by Terry Greenberg speaking on the Japanese Aesthetic Sense. Bruce Petty presented oral histories of Australian and New Zealand WWII servicemen and women. After lunch John Shively described the battle of Iwo Jima in pictures and words which was an appropriate introduction to what we were about to see. 

We joined for dinner 3 other cruising couples (Barb & Alex, Ann & John, and Barbara & Dan) that we sailed with on many previous cruises. It's what we affectionately call our Anniversary Dinner. We contributed our CostcoTravel sparkling wine gift. It was a fun time and the sunset wasn't bad.

We made it to the 7:30 Elton John Experience performance by Greg Andrew and Ben Smith's, EXC photographer, 8:30pm showing of some of his work. We then saw a repeat of the Elton John Experience. While we really liked the show, his diction wasn't clear enough to hear the words to the songs, all of which were and are massively popular. I don't know if it was the ship's audio system or what else that caused it.

Tonight we lose an hour to adjust to Australia time. But it was a good day. Oreos are always good.