N Q, we used to use the hovercraft which was good fun, especially on a breezy day  when the craft would crash from wave to wave! Then they stopped the service so we used the ferry. When they opened the channel tunnel I was scared at the thought of going such a long journey under the sea but one windy day, on the way to the UK, I decided to give the tunnel a go. We never went on a ferry again.

That bridge sounds frightening. I'm sure I'd cross with my windows open. Thank goodness there will be a new bridge soon. Too often the authorities wait for a disaster to happen before they do anything.

MD the thought of riding a ferry has no appeal to me because of the Herald's sinking along with other ferry sinkings but then I also would never take a cruise in part for the same reason !

There's a city about 10 miles from me that has an old delapidated lift bridge where the concrete pilars actually crumble when you touch them. This bridge is used by around 30,000 cars a week and by me when my city bridge is shut down for maintenance. We all drive across that bridge with our windows open, just in case it collapses as we're going across it--we figure there's a better chance of escaping our cars that way ! For the last 30 years we have tried to get a new bridge built but the environmentalists kept shutting that effort down until 3 years ago when the President step in and ordered the building of a new bridge (one of those few things Obama did do right :) So the new bridge should be completed by next spring :)

N Q, Mira did most of the work. I've been on the ferries on this link many times, until The Herald sank. We still went to France by ferry after the sinking but I always carried a hammer in my bag in case I needed to break glass to escape. Rather took the fun out of it. Though I never thought I would, I began to go through the channel tunnel. Amazingly good crossing time and a minimum of fuss.

http://www.ferryfantastic.webs.com/spiritclass.htm

It reminds me a little of the MV Coho ferry which we take to go across to Victoria.

Good work MD and Mira for finding it.

This ship is nothing like our ferries so I would never of thought of it as a ferry but then our ferries only go across small rivers instead of large open expanses of water.

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e3756.html

I just knew that my 2 best agents would gather the info!  Thanks girls.  :D

It's marked on Google Maps as some kind of museum... the ship is called Hakkodamaru. There are also lots of photos on Google Maps.  :-)

well that boat definitely stands out so finding it would be easy. Besides possibly being a hotel it could also be a party boat for weddings or whatever.

We have a large ferry boat park on one of our docks that basically hosts parties on it.

That banana coloured boat is always there. I wondered if it was a floating hotel or something so I looked at Wikipedia. It's MUTSU Bay, not Mustu.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutsu_Bay

Lovely and sunny today.