Never again will I moan about the wet weather in the UK!

Never again will I moan about the wet weather in the UK! When it comes to rain Japan can teach us how it’s done. It’s like someone upstairs has been ..I was going to say holding a watering can over us, but it’s more like a garden hose, I really hope the attached videos can convey how wet it is here. But this is why Japan is so green and so beautiful.

This morning we were pretty sure that the festival and weather would keep the boats in the harbour so we lay in a little later. Then John, Patricia and I , who had been here a whole 3/2 days, took Junior, who arrived in last night, around Taiji. (we had become the old-timers - felt nice, felt right).  We  checked the boats were in the harbour, did a walk along The Cove, visited the pens holding the captive dolphins … they weren’t jumping today and I was starting to wonder if they weren’t there, but John reminded me there were no boat engine noises to drive them crazy today whereas when we have seen them before, at the neck of the harbour, it’s always busy with boats…guess it’s like living with severe tinnitus for them…no wonder they don’t live long in captivity…
But I digress.. So after the holding pens we visited the Whale Museum, by visited I mean parked outside and looked at it as there’s no way we’d pay money to “fund” this ….sorry digressing again…then we stopped at the dolphin resort, a hotel with it’s own dolphinarium , sorry I mean dolphin splash pool..and this is where the reality really hits you, they’re held in pens so small that even an idiot must recognise it’s cruel. Guess that’s why the guys working there wont look you in the eye when they walk past you, they always look at their feet..sorry digressing again… it’s hard not to drift off subject as everything upsets me here. No that’s not true. Not everything. It’s like I’m torn in two. I’ll try and explain….

This weekend is the festival.. As we drove through Taiji the floats, that should be so beautiful, were covered in rain sheets, people had plastic rain mats under their national dress which, well…it wasn’t the look of celebration they were hoping to convey.. In fact they looked rather silly.  I was thinking GOOD! If you are religious take this as a message. I was glad the festival and what it stood for was a wash out. But I could not stop thinking of the crocodile of kids I had seen the day earlier, their smiles and hellos that had warmed my heart. I was so torn ‘cos I’m a mom, I’m guessing these kids were excited and will have  puts lots of work into the weekend only for it to be washed out. They are innocents (like the dolphins) it’s the  generation before them that have sold honour for profit …

I was very glad to drive out of Taiji today and leave them to it…..we escaped to the moutains and after 2 days of rain…wow…Lake District England eat your heart out, you are beautiful but this pips you. The waterfalls were so powerful, yet looking at the river defence walls this was nothing close to the levels that can be experienced here…awesome..watch the videos wet cove ,waterfalls cos words cannot describe the beauty and the power. 

So now we are back at the hotel, and the rain in still pouring down…and I’m glad (sorry kids).

I said I’d post a link covering the “talks”??!? yesterdayThe Meet, and I’m attaching links showing the wet weather and waterfalls.

I feel blessed that so far I’ve had 2 days in glorious sunshine swimming in The Cove and 2 seeing the transformation the rain can make here, a whole new dimension… this country is so beautiful and so are, with the exception of a few, it’s people.

We had a really nice moment on our way back to the hotel.. We stopped at a shop as Junior needed some supplies, Elora can always eat..lol , and me? well if there’s a bottle of chilled white wine…when a young man approached us and asked if the t-shirts were wearing were Sea Shepherd, we replied yes and he asked to take a photo, of course we said yes and then we bowed and parted. We must be really scary terrorists ..not :) lol

Tomorrow is another day.. I hope it will be similar to this one as I’ve had a great time.
Monday might be a different story….

For the Oceans, with Sea Shepherd .. our little bit ….
Jackie