Sorry I'm actually flying into Memenbetsu at night and then spending the night at a place called Shari from where Utoro is supposed to be an hour drive.
Also I had the time of the cruise wrong... it's 10a-1p. If I have to be there 30min before departure, I'd better leave Shari by 8.30am.
The one I booked is supposed to go all the way to the tip. That sucks that yours got cancelled. I hadn't even considered such possibility. The cruise seems like the highlight of visiting Shiretoko. Was the shorter cruise nice, and do they convert the 3hr cruise to the shorter one so that guests aren't completely left high and dry in case the longer cruise needs to be cancelled by weather?
Thanks for letting me know about the bear season. Didn't know about this either, but I guess I am going during the bear season and I will just stick to the boardwalk as we don't have a lot of time and I don't have the attention span for listening to rangers.
Oshirukoshin Falls is apparently on the way from Shari to Utoro. My guidebook says allow 30min, but isn't this waterfall just on the side of the road? Wouldn't a few minutes suffice for stopping by and taking pics?
Based on your comments, I will probably not bother checking out Rausu. But I still want to head to Kushiro that way because Google Map says it's only 20min longer via Rausu and moreover I'd like to check out the views of Russian islands.