Storm chasing was not our intention - we are not "hurricane hunters" - but here we are, inadvertently on the scene, being chased by Typhoon VongFong.
Last night the Diamond Princess was hiding in a bay or cove at the Southeastern end of Japan. Here's another view:
As you can see from this forecast, the typhoon will pass over us in a few hours. Even though we are on the edge, we have nowhere else to go with our 120 x 950-foot vessel.
I'm going to put this online while I have a signal, and update it if I can, as things develop.
Things are quite nice right now as it's 6:30 am, it's about 75 degrees F, and I'm out on the balcony in my Princess waffle-weave robe.
We are not alone out here. I just counted 28 other vessels in the same bay, just from my side of the ship. It doesn't feel too bad right now, but if we were in a 50-foot vessel like the yacht Jason
(see Cazalea5.blogspot.com)
we'd be getting our arse kicked in these "washing machine" seas.
The wind is wailing and whipping our huge flag.
It's now 4 hours later. We've passed through a very narrow strait at lowest tide with a 61m high bridge. BTW, we are 56m high - darn close! We're the largest ship ever to pass through here (and NOT on a planned itinerary). Here we go:
Safely through, we are doing better than 20 knots heading for south Korea and out of the path of the storm. We have whitecaps on each side as far as we can see. Winds are steady around 37 knots and gusting to 50 knots.
We can hardly open the ships doors, and some of the decks are closed for safety.
Heard onboard: "... Zoomba and line dancing classes will continue on schedule. Take care not to lunge against the movement of the ship as we don't want you to fall and get hurt. Try to go with the swaying ..."
BTW, X marks the spot of our cabin in the middle of the ship. You may click the image and it might enlarge, depending on your browser.
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