Hokkaido: Cruising the Sea of Okhotsk on the Icebreaker Ship

Aurora II has left the Abashiri Port

North wind gusted and it felt freezing cold as the ship sped up. The observation deck had been teemed by tourists, especially at the edges of ship balcony. We were stunned by the endless panorama of the Sea of Okhotsk. The horizon separate off the sea and sky as I gazed toward to the north. Seagulls squawked while they were soaring up on the air. Some tourists were seen enjoying themselves by taking selfie with the sea landscape and also with floating drift ice. At the time, I was able to conclude that this would be the best moment during my trip in Abashiri.

Previously...

After about half hours riding, our van stopped in front of a long building. We directly walked toward the automatic sliding door to enter the main building. The other side of the building dominated by large scale glass, so we could see through the whole view of north sea. The building which is located adjacent to Sea of Okhotsk none other than the Abashiri Port. And we were about to take a ride on an icebreaker ship to join Abashiri Drift Ice Sightseeing.

Hembusan angin utara terasa begitu kencang dan sangat dingin ketika kapal mempercepat lajunya. Dek atas (observasi) telah dikerumuni para turis, terutama di bagian pinggir balkon kapal. Kami tercengang oleh panorama Laut Okhotsk yang seakan tak ada habisnya. Garis horizon terlihat membelah permukaan laut dan langit ketika saya melayangkan pandangan jauh ke utara. Burung-burung camar terdengar berkoak sambil melayang-layang tinggi di udara. Beberapa turis terlihat sangat menikmati pemandangan laut dan drift ice yang mengapung dengan ber-selfie ria. Pada saat itu pula, saya dapat berkesimpulan bahwa ini akan menjadi momen terbaik selama perjalanan saya di Abashiri.

Sebelumnya...

Setelah sekitar setengah jam berkendara, mobil kami pun berhenti di depan sebuah gedung panjang. Kami langsung berjalan menuju pintu geser otomatis untuk segera masuk ke gedung utamanya. Bagian belakang gedung tampak didominasi oleh kaca berukuran besar, sehingga kami dapat melihat pemandangan laut utara secara utuh lewat jendela kaca ini. Gedung yang berlokasi dekat dengan Laut Okhotsk ini tak lain lagi adalah Pelabuhan Abashiri. Dan sebentar lagi kami akan naik kapal pemecah es untuk mengikuti aktivitas Abashiri Drift Ice Sightseeing.

 Abashiri Port Entrance

(Source: http://en.visit-hokkaido.jp/)

Full view of Sea of Okhotsk

This place really has become one of tourists main destination since crowd of tourists packed the interior. Most of them were Asians, and others were "white people" that could be counted by single hand. Once again, I had a thought that I was such a lucky person from a few of Indonesian tourists who ever visited this place.

I decided to walk around the interior while we were waiting for the ship's embarkation. Just like another tourist sites, this port has some counters, small canteens, food court, etc. Which is quite different is a movie themed food court (Kinema-kan) on second floor-with some posters and scenes captured of old Japanese movies adorn the walls.

After a moment, Yoshie-san (our local guide) handed over the tickets for us and guided us to join into the line. It was not a long queue, tho.. A medium-size cruise ship bears a name Aurora II would be our companion in cruising along the Sea of Okhotsk this noon. We stepped into the spacious and elegant ship's interior. The generous amount of space let the tourists move around freely. This ship features coffee shop, souvenirs shop, rooms, and lounge with dozens of couches facing to the window view.

Tempat ini benar-benar sudah menjadi salah satu destinasi utama turis, sebab interior sudah dipenuhi oleh rombongan turis. Mayoritasnya adalah turis Asia, dan lainnya "orang bule" yang bisa dihitung jari dengan satu tangan saja. Sekali lagi, saya punya pikiran kalau saya adalah orang yang beruntung dari segelintir turis-turis Indonesia yang pernah berkunjung ke tempat ini.

Saya memutuskan untuk berkeliling dalam gedung selagi kami menunggu keberangkatan kapal. Sama seperti situs wisata lainnya, pelabuhan ini memiliki banyak counter, kantin kecil, food court, dll. Yang membuatnya agak berbeda ialah adanya food court bertemakan film (Kinema-kan) di lantai dua-dengan beberapa poster dan foto-foto adegan dari film jadul Jepang yang menghiasi dinding.

Setelah beberapa saat, Yoshie-san (local guide kami) memberikan tiket untuk kami dan memandu kami untuk bergabung dalam barisan. Antriannya juga tidak panjang, kok.. kapal pesiar berukuran sedang yang menyandang nama Aurora II akan menjadi teman perjalanan kami dalam mengarungi Laut Okhotsk siang ini. Kami pun masuk ke dalam interior kapal yang lapang dan elegan. Ruangan yang cukup banyak memberikan keleluasaan para turis untuk bergerak bebas. Kapal ini memiliki fitur seperti kedai kopi, toko suvenir, dan lounge dengan puluhan sofa menghadap jendela kaca.

Information counter inside the port

Kinema-kan Food Court

(Source: http://www.takahasi.co.jp/release/?page_id=2)

Our ride today, the icebreaker Aurora II

(©Reinhard Andersen)

Those Asian tourists (not including my group for this time) had invaded all the seats inside in no time. So, how about us? Well... this room is just for weaklings who hate cold weather. Yes, of course! Bumptious persons like us were prefer for more challenging place to find enjoyment to the fullest. It was up to the 3rd floor, the observation deck. It was freakingly cold actually, but our spirit and curiousness were greater.

Para turis Asia itu (tidak termasuk kami kali ini) telah menginvasi semua lahan duduk di dalam dengan cepat. Lalu, bagaimana dengan kami? Jujur saja... ruangan ini cuma untuk orang-orang lemah yang tak kuat dingin. Ya, tentu saja! Orang congkak kayak kami lebih memilih tempat yang lebih menantang demi mencari kenikmatan yang seutuhnya. Tempat itu berada di lantai 3, dek observasi. Kenyataannya memang benar-benar parah dinginnya, namun semangat dan rasa penasaran kami malah jauh lebih hebat.

Aurora II ship's guide

(Source: http://ms-aurora.com/abashiri/en/)

Pier view from observation deck

The Aurora II had embarked and left the pier slowly. Asians were still doing busy with the seagulls that perched onto sides of the ship, and... so did I. One to three seagulls squawked while they were waiting to be fed up by the tourists. Others flew around and accompanied us half of the trip. As the ship slowly moved further out to the Sea of Okhotsk, the sea turned to white gradually. Aurora II took us amid the stunning whiteness of tons drift ice that spread to south from Amur river in midwinter.

The Amur river traverses the borders of China and Russia before emptying into the Sea of Okhotsk. Frozen mass of freshwater and saltwater spread to south, passing through the Sakhalin island. This white mass can be seen from the Okhotsk shore around end of January. When the drift ice is driven together into a large single mass, it's called pack ice.

1 meter is the average thickness of the drift ice that is near the shore. This icebreaker with its medium size are a steady ride, even when breaking through the ice, a slight vibration is not worth at all. With the pack ice was surrounding us, the weather became colder and colder. The chill wind that gusted my face as the ship sped up was also felt so しばれる (shibareru)!

Aurora II telah berangkat dan perlahan meninggalkan dermaga. Turis-turis Asia masih saja sibuk dengan burung-burung camar yang hinggap di tepi kapal, dan... saya pun juga. Satu hingga tiga burung berkoak selagi mereka menunggu untuk diberi makan oleh para turis. Lainnya terbang kesana-kemari dan menemani kami setengah perjalanan. Di saat kapal bergerak perlahan menuju jauh ke Laut Okhotsk, permukaan laut pun turut berubah menjadi semakin putih secara bertahap. Aurora II membawa kami ke tengah-tengah putihnya ribuan drift ice nan menakjubkan yang tersebar ke selatan dari sungai Amur di pertengahan musim dingin.

Sungai Amur melintasi perbatasan China dan Russia sebelum bermuara di Laut Okhotsk. Air tawar dan air asin yang membeku dalam jumlah yang luar biasa tersebar ke arah selatan, melewati pulau Sakhalin. Gumpalan besar putih ini dapat terlihat dari tepi Laut Okhotsk sekitar akhir Januari. Ketika kumpulan drift ice mengapung bersama dalam jumlah yang sangat banyak, maka disebut sebagai pack ice. 

1 meter adalah ketebalan rata-rata drift ice yang dekat dengan tepi laut. Perjalanan dengan kapal pemecah es berukuran sedang ini terasa stabil, bahkan di saat menembus es sekalipun, sedikit getaran sama sekali tak berarti. Dengan jutaan es mengelilingi kami, hawa pun menjadi semakin dingin dan dingin. Angin dingin yang menerpa muka saya ketika kapal bergerak cepat juga terasa しばれる (shibareru)!

"They are invading our ship"

Waiting to be fed up

Friendly Enough

Observation deck had been swarmed by those tourists. Sometime, I wasn't be able to get even a space at the deck side to experience the intense appeal of the ice. So I started to walk and look randomly around the deck to feel the atmosphere. In one chance, I approached Nanamori-san (our travel companion) and whispered to him,

"Japanese girls are so kawaii, right?"
Yes, I talked about a group of girls among the tourists.

But Nanamori-san responded me with confused-look on his face, "Chotto... they are not Japanese people. They are Chinese."

Wait.. what?!
Well, my wrong statement, since those girls were wearing hoodie jackets, so I barely could see their faces clearly. So, this crowd of Asians were all tourists from China!

"Japanese tourists usually do not wearing such a colorful attire," he added.

Dek observasi telah dikerumuni oleh para turis itu. Terkadang saya tak mendapatkan satu pun ruang kosong di pinggiran dek untuk merasakan daya tarik kumpulan es tersebut. Apa boleh buat.. Saya pun mencoba untuk sekadar berkeliling dan melihat-lihat sekitaran dek untuk merasakan suasana. Di satu kesempatan, saya menghampiri Nanamori-san (teman seperjalanan kami) dan ngomong kepadanya dengan agak berbisik,

"Cewek-cewek Jepang emang beneran imut, ya?"
Ya, saya bicara tentang kumpulan gadis di antara para turis itu.

Namun Nanamori-san merespon dengan wajah yang terlihat bingung,
"Chotto... mereka bukan orang Jepang kali. Mereka orang China."

Wait.. what?!
Well, pernyataan saya salah, sebab gadis-gadis itu mengenakan jaket hoodie, jadi saya hampir tidak bisa melihat wajah mereka dengan jelas. Jadi, kumpulan para turis Asia ini adalah turis dari China!

"Turis Jepang biasanya nggak berpakaian warna-warni kayak gini," dia menambahkan.

"Come on! Give me some space!"

Experience the intense appeal of drift ice

Lovely Chinese girl "很好看!"

As I told before, Abashiri is not so widely known by foreigners, even for Japanese themselves. The other day, I had a chat via online with an acquaintance from Hokkaido whom I knew via social media. We discussed over his homeland in particular.

He told me in one chat, that there are still many Tokyo people who never visit Hokkaido. Even so, he had not met any person who spoke badly of Hokkaido. The impression is certainly good. But for them, Hokkaido seems too far from Tokyo, even they think that Hokkaido is like a "foreign country".

This kind of perception makes most of Tokyo people have a tendency to talk about South Korea or Taiwan. Therefore, he built a hypothesis: They may not want to visit Hokkaido because their knowledge of Hokkaido is lacking.

As Indonesian (Jakarta), I think most of us already familiar with very common situation like this. Let me put a simple explanation about this. All of us already knew that Wakatobi and Raja Ampat are really enchanting, but we choose Singapore or Thailand for vacation instead. That's the answer! Your neighbor's grass is always greener.

Seperti yang sudah saya katakan sebelumnya, Abashiri tidak begitu dikenal luas oleh orang asing, bahkan oleh orang Jepang sendiri. Beberapa waktu lalu, saya sempat mengobrol via online dengan seorang kenalan dari Hokkaido yang saya kenal lewat media sosial. Kami membahas tentang kampung halamannya sebagai topik obrolan.

Beliau menceritakan bahwa masih banyak warga Tokyo yang belum pernah berkunjung ke Hokkaido. Meskipun begitu, ia sendiri belum pernah bertemu orang yang berbicara buruk akan Hokkaido. Image tentang Hokkaido pun juga baik-baik saja. Namun bagi mereka, Hokkaido itu tampak begitu jauh dari Tokyo, bahkan mereka berpikir kalau Hokkaido itu seperti "negeri asing".

Persepsi semacam ini membuat sebagian besar warga Tokyo cenderung lebih membicarakan tentang Korea Selatan dan Taiwan. Oleh sebab itu, ia membuat sebuah hipotesis: Mereka mungkin tidak ingin berkunjung ke Hokkaido karena kurangnya pengetahuan mereka akan Hokkaido.

Sebagai orang Indonesia (Jakarta), saya rasa kita semua juga sudah cukup akrab dengan situasi umum seperti ini. Saya ambil penjelasan yang simpel untuk hal ini. Kita semua sudah tahu kalau Wakatobi dan Raja Ampat itu sangat teramat mempesona, namun kita malah lebih memilih liburan ke Singapur atau Thailand daripada ke dua tempat tadi. Itulah jawabannya! Rumput tetangga selalu lebih hijau.

Reinhard with ship's crew

Syelfie with crew-san

Syelfie & Sis Riri are reporting the condition 
(©Victor Ngamino)

If Abashiri is not widely known by foreigners as I said before, so why there were crowd of tourists swarmed the Aurora II? Yes, there were numerous group of tourists which are most of them (99%) were from China. So why Chinese can choose Hokkaido as their holiday destination? Actually, there's a compelling reason about why Chinese are so much into Hokkaido which I will explain on the next post.

Hokkaido's land was almost out of my eye reach as Aurora II kept moving further. Majestic mountain range on Shiretoko Peninsula could be seen from here. You might also have a chance to see variety of wild animals. As drift ice arrives, so do the seals, Steller's Sea Eagles, and big marine animals like whales can also be seen. Unfortunately, I didn't catch any presence of them, except the seagulls.

Jika Abashiri tidak dikenal luas oleh warga asing seperti yang saya bilang sebelumnya, lalu kenapa ada sekelompok besar turis mengerumuni Aurora II? Ya, ada grup turis dalam jumlah yang cukup banyak yang mayoritasnya (99%) berasal dari China. Lalu mengapa turis China bisa memilih Hokkaido sebagai destinasi liburan mereka? Sesungguhnya, ada satu alasan kuat yang menyebabkan mengapa turis China sangat-sangat menyukai Hokkaido yang akan saya bahas di posting-an selanjutnya.

Daratan Hokkaido hampir di luar jangkauan mata saya ketika Aurora II terus bergerak lebih jauh. Deretan pegunungan yang megah di semenanjung Shiretoko dapat terlihat dari sini. Kalian juga mungkin berkesempatan untuk melihat bermacam-macam hewan liar. Ketika drift ice datang, begitu juga dengan anjing laut, elang laut Steller, dan hewan laut berukuran besar seperti paus juga bisa terlihat. Sayangnya, saya sama sekali tidak melihat kehadiran mereka, selain burung camar.

"You again!"

"Watch out your gadget!"

 (©Victor Ngamino)

 

Amazing landscapes indulge my eyes

 (©Victor Ngamino)

Abashiri is not the only destination that you can enjoy the drift ice sightseeing on a cruise. A city of Monbetsu also has a beautiful red-colored icebreaker ship named Garinko-go II. A cruise ship with the same name Aurora (the first), also has a cruise sightseeing which is located almost on the northeastern tip of the island at Utoro Port, Shiretoko Peninsula.

Aurora's course offers more nature landscapes and variety of wild animals to see, since the peninsula surrounded by abundant natural forest and mountain range. If you're lucky, you might spot brown bear, Ezo red fox, Ezo deer, eagles, dolphins as you take in the magnificent scenery.

I really enjoyed every moment of the cruise sightseeing. A trip in Abashiri is more than a feast for the eyes. The environment is clean and the air is fresh yet very cold. Aurora II had taken me to a whole new experience to learn the nature's wealth of northern hemisphere.

Natures and humans are interdependent as we share the same planet and the same destiny. Only by getting closer and learn more about the nature can one gain such insight. The more understand people to a nature, the more they want to protect the environment.

Abashiri bukanlah satu-satunya destinasi di mana kalian dapat menikmati tamasya drift ice di atas kapal. Kota Monbetsu juga mempunyai kapal pemecah es berwarna merah yang indah bernama Garinko-go II. Kapal dengan nama yang sama Aurora (yang pertama), juga punya jalur pelayaran yang berlokasi hampir di ujung timur laut pulau di pelabuhan Utoro, Semenanjung Shiretoko.

Perjalanan Aurora menawarkan pemandangan alam dan hewan-hewan liar yang lebih beragam untuk dilihat, karena semenanjung dikelilingi oleh deretan pegunungan dan hutan alami yang melimpah. Jika beruntung, kalian mungkin dapat melihat beruang cokelat, rubah merah Ezo, rusa Ezo, elang laut Steller, lumba-lumba sambil menyaksikan pemandangan indah.

Saya sangat menikmati setiap momen dari tamasya kapal ini. Perjalanan di Abashiri lebih dari sekadar memanjakan mata. Lingkungannya bersih dan udaranya segar, namun sangat dingin. Aurora II telah membawa saya ke sebuah pengalaman baru untuk mempelajari kekayaan alam di belahan Bumi bagian utara.

Alam dan manusia saling bergantung satu sama lainnya, karena kita berbagi dalam planet dan masa depan yang sama. Hanya dengan semakin dekat dan mempelajarinya lebih lagi mampu menambah wawasan kita akan alam. Semakin dalam manusia memahami alam, maka semakin pula mereka berusaha untuk melindunginya.

Aurora II has completed its duty

Abashiri Drift Ice Sightseeing Icebreaker Ship Aurora Official Site:
http://ms-aurora.com/abashiri/en/

Abashiri Travel Official Site:
http://www.abakanko.jp/

http://abashiri.jp/tabinavi/en/index.html


Another stories in Hokkaido:
- Mission From Japan: WakuWaku Reporter 2015 (Hokkaido)
- Hokkaido: Asahiyama Zoo, The Northernmost & The Most Innovative Zoo in Japan
- Hokkaido: See How Japan Introduces Its Freezing World
- Hokkaido: The Famous Small Station of the North
- Hokkaido: Cruising the Sea of Okhotsk on the Icebreaker Ship
- [Road Less Traveled] Hokkaido: Soup of Freedom and the Prison Break of Japan 
- [Road Less Traveled] Hokkaido: Cute Little Monster and Drift Ice from Abashiri
- [Road Less Traveled]: Hokkaido Everything All White in Kushiro
- [VIDEO] Hokkaido Trip: Let's Report Japan!!
 
Photos of Hokkaido:
Hokkaido album on my Flickr


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Good! Hokkaido!

Hokkaido well-known for its vast farmland and stunning nature landscape. An island which is not only famous for skiing, but it has many special attractions that can be enjoyed in every seasons. I believe... everybody will be enchanted by Hokkaido's charm after recognize how amazing this island is.

This website introduces natures, hot springs, foods particularly to have a foreigner and people lived in outside of Hokkaido recognize that Hokkaido has surprise and splendor in the concept of "Nature, Onsen and Tasty" Why did I intend to do something like that? If you are interested, please do have a look.

Good! Hokkaido! Homepage

"It's not just about the destination, but the journey"

(January 2015)