Rules aren’t always convenient or logical for every situation. Sarah and I want to kayak to Japan from Russia across La Perouse Strait but we aren’t allowed to leave from the closest point on Sakhalin because we can’t be stamped out of the country there. So… we spent 2 days kayaking from the end of the road to the SW tip, Cape Krillion which was a lovely approx 80km paddle along a wild coast. Despite being no road, at almost every river outlet were some wooden shacks, or occasionally more permanent looking buildings, occupied by fisherman who drove there along the beach in a big jeep, or on some pretty dodgy roads inland. We expected to see no-one but were invited in for tea by one settlement, looked at with bewilderment by a few others, and finally invited to stay inside a house for a night by an elderly man who was living alone in an extensive set of buildings with a wonderful view of the sea. He gave us eggs from his hens, milk from his cow and otherwise pretty much ignored us as we got on with cooking in his cabin. He did try to talk to us sometimes and we tried to talk to him but with limited success. It would have been great to ask him more questions and find out if he lived there by himself all year, or what his story was.

Yesterday we and our kayaks got a ride back to civilization on 2 jeeps which was quite exciting on a beautiful and sometimes dubious ‘road’. Today we get stamped out of Russia and then go by yacht back to Cape Krillion where we will be lowered over the side in our kayaks to start paddling to Japan. A further complication is that we aren’t allowed to be dropped off within 12 miles of Krilion because once we have ‘left’ Russia we have to stay out of Russian waters which extend to 12 miles. So to allow for this, yesterday (before our jeep ride) we kayaked offshore from the Cape for a few hours to get as far away possible, but not so far that we couldn’t get back again. Tomorrow we will try to intersect that line so that we effectively kayak from Russia to Japan… even if we did it in 2 stages. Our 24 nautical mile crossing will be a bit longer than that because of the way we have to do it.

I’m excitedly nervous about the crossing. The forecast is good (thanks to Karel at kayakweather.com for sorting that out), although the strong current and tides in the area are a cause of some worry, especially as information about them is not verrified. What I expected to happen with the tides at the Cape yesterday didn’t happen so we will to some extent have to react to whatever we find. However, I’m looking forward to the challenge.

We now have 30mins to get packed and leave the hotel… lemon drizzle cake is in the oven, kit is all over the floor… better go.