Yokosuka, Japan

I asked Dave to send me something to put in our blog after each one of their stops, here's his first post! :-)

I spent 4ish days in Yokosuka . The first few hours of the first day I sat next to a HUGE anchor looking at the base out one of the holes the lines go through to moor the ship to the pier. Once I was done with that my buddy and I went to the Exchange (store) and outdoor rec. place so we could get our gear for the Mount Fuji trip the next day. We had to come back to the ship to drop off the stuff and got stuck! They were having the change of command ceremony for the new Commanding Officer and the only way on or off the ship is where they were having it.

That finally got done around 3 so we headed out to meet some of the others that weren’t stuck on the ship to check out the town a little. After a little walk and a stop at a 7-11 we found one of my favorite types of restaurants I used to go to in Okinawa . You just order a bunch of any kind of meat you want and they bring it to you raw. Then you just throw it on a grill in the middle of the table. I wish there were more places like that in the states, hell I don’t think I’ve been to any.


From there we walked around a little more until we got to a Karaoke bar! Not exactly what I was looking to do, but it was private rooms, not a huge bar so it wasn’t quite as bad. I still mostly just listened and told everyone how bad they sounded. I did make an attempt at Bon Jovi, Blaze of Glory. Saying it didn’t go well would be an understatement! I think I was the only one that got “the hook”. Still had fun though!


A couple of us left at about 8 to head back to the ship though. We had to be on the bus to go to Fuji at 130 in the morning! I still didn’t get to bed until almost 12, since someone needed an X-Ray and I was the only one here that knew how to do it, and a new guy showed up and I had to show him around a little. I did get to sleep on the bus for 3 hours though. I even got lucky enough to be the only one on the bus with my own seat. That was nice!

On to conquer Mount Fuji !

We started off at about 6am, I had no clue what to expect really. The first ½ mile or so wasn’t bad at all. Then we got here.

That’s where it started to actually ascend, along with our heart rates and muscle fatigue. The next 30 minutes or so was having us wondering if we were going to make it at all. After a while I think we just got into a groove though. Little did we know we still had barely started. An hour and a half or so in we got to our first “hut”.

That’s where we get our stamps for the walking stick you buy at the bottom of the mountain. Other than the summit the huts are sort of what keep you going. Getting to the next one is what motivates you to keep going. Here’s the stick with the stamps flag and bell.


Every now and then they tease you with what looks like it could be the end.


I couldn’t resist when I had the opportunity to show of my Captain Morgan pose.


Another, this time contemplative…I think


And finally, after almost 6 ½ hours we made the summit! Don’t mind the gut, between the back pack pulling on me and basically being held up only by my skeleton, I don’t think I could have held it in if I tried.


Not done yet though! A short walk once on the summit you get to the heart of the volcano. They say technically it’s still considered active, but it hasn’t erupted in about 300 years.


So that’s it, my trip up Mount Fuji . I’ll never forget it and I’ll NEVER do it again! I wish I could say that was it. They don’t have some fancy ride for you to get down in though. You get down the way you got up, walk it. It’s a different route though. They bull dozed a series of switch backs to make it easier. It’s supposed to be 10 miles of walking round trip, the first 5 up took 6 ½ hours and the next 5 down took 4. We had a couple people with us that had trouble with the loose rocks, we eventually went ahead of them and started going a lot faster after that. It’s by far the longest 10 miles I’ve ever walked, evident by this last picture.


That look familiar? It’s the same sign we took a picture at just before the climb up really started. We were much happier than we looked to see it.

The next day I had duty so I stayed on the ship and the day after that I went out on base to do a little laundry, shopping and send some stuff home to Jamie & Dawson. I found some friends and crashed their BBQ for a few and had a couple beers and went to see G.I. Joe on base before heading back to the ship. The movie was better than what I expected but isn’t going to win any Oscars.

I spent the next morning the same way I started the first day, just watching the base get farther away instead of closer. The same way I’ll spend every morning we pull into or out of a port.

See you next time, I’d tell you where we’re going but then they might have to kill me!