Day 6 -- Kagoshima

We woke up to the sound of cheerful music and a view of cloud-shrouded volcano Sakurajima in front of our balcony. Kagoshima is said to be the Naples of Japan, mostly because the view of the volcano across the bay. We took the port shuttle bus to the center and walked 5 minutes to Dolphin Port to get the bus to famous gardens (Sengan-en gardens). The bus was already there filled to 100% capacity and 20 more people pushed themselves on. We met a couple from Adelaide who also wanted to go to the gardens so we shared a cab with them. The gardens were beautiful and beautifully located at the foot of the mountains with views of the bay. They were built in 1658 by an aristocratic Shimadzu family who had their summer palace there. Unfortunately 90 degree heat with 90% humidity was hard to take and prevented us from climbing to the top of the mountain to see the views. It was a tropical sauna. We endured as long as we could stopping in gift stores and in the museum to cool off. Then we took a bus back to town. We walked around downtown visiting many stores. We only had half a day in Kagoshima so we returned to ship by 1:30. Because the next stop is in Korea, every passenger on the ship had to go through immigration on board before departing Kagoshima. The line was very long, but went quickly so we were done in 15 minutes.