22th Seaport Chatan Carnival

While babysitting 2yr old Cayce for our friends & neighbors, the Nielsens, we were alerted to the sight & sound of fireworks in the night sky outside, going on just across the bay from us at Sunset Beach in Mihama of Chatan-cho, Okinawa, Japan. So we snapped some camera phone videos:

Wish I had started shooting this 2nd, longer video just a tad earlier because the light that is spread across the large expanse of water at the beginning was absolutely HUGE & awesome, but I missed most of it. Oh well!

The next morning we got curious as to what event was happening to warrant such impressive fireworks, so we checked our local listings. Turns out they were part of the festivities of the 1st night of 2 for the "22th Seaport Chatan Carnival" (yes, they printed caps & shirts with that name & that made our OkiEngrish.com blog) which also includes the usual vendor booths, live music, tug-of-war, Haarii (aka dragon boat races) & Eisa dances. So we went by & watched the morning boat races:

And then later that night we caught the 2nd night of fireworks:
Still shots from the fireworks show & boat races:

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More July Sunsets

Despite the record number that we took of the sunset on July 25, we do have the ability to capture beautiful sunsets in just a few shots.

Here's proof from July 26 (using a camera phone):

And now 3 from July 27 (using a real camera)...

1) From our 3rd floor balcony (lovely power lines):

2) From the roof of our 6 story building:

3) A software enhancement of a shot from our roof:

Rainbow

After an early morning rain, we were greeted by a very pretty rainbow where we normally photograph our sunsets (over the ocean, directly outside our living room balcony). As we gazed & photographed, it slowly faded away.

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Many Faces of a Sunset

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It's not normal to take this many photos of the same sunset, right? Josh started playing with settings on the camera (it's just a point & shoot, not a DSLR, so we're talking things like Exposure, ISO, contrasts, auto bracketing, etc) & got quite a few different versions of this one gorgeous sunset. This is the view from our balcony, right outside our living room, power lines & all. We probably had plenty of time to run up to the roof (4 floors up) but we didn't.

Here are some highlights:

Diving in the Keramas FINALLY!

And it lived up to the hype! That's right. At long last, we have fulfilled an ambition in our short dive careers, to dive in the Kerama Islands. After last summer's delights snorkeling with turtle in Tokashiku Bay & with stingrays in crystal clear Aharen Bay, we've been dreaming of how great the diving must be. And even though we didn't see all the big guys that we hoped to (reef sharks & more huggable turtles), we were thoroughly enamored with the beauty of the Keramas at up to 60 feet below sea level.

Via the Kadena Marina (for less than $70!!), we joined Dive Master Scott & Cap'n Bruce aboard the C-Falcon. The 50 km ride took us to Tokashiki Island, largest of the Kerama group, to delight in dives at 2 sites.

First, off the southwest coast (just south of Aharen Beach/Bay), our merry foursome (Aaron, new bud Ike, Betsy & myself) decided not to seek out the nearby boat wreck in 60-80 ft of water but delighted in corals & anemones.

But the highlight of the dive was coming across a nice-sized color-shifting octopus:

We also saw some a few gorgeous nudibranchs:

Not that we didn't see some cool fish too:

For the 2nd dive Cap'n Bruce took us around the southern tip & up to the northeast side of the island (just north of the ferry port) where we looked for sharks & turtles. We did see some some fabulous corals:

As well as an abundance of aquatic life:

But no mega fauna were seen this time out (at least not by us, a few other divers saw a turtle nearby). But the waters were comfortable, clear & cool, regardless of our disorientation (thanks for coming to pick us up, Bruce!).

The water was more still than a lake as we headed out.

And the fish were flying!

We had a great day of fun in the water & we hope to be back over there soon!

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Promising joy & delivering jellyfish!

We convinced our newly-arrived-in-beautiful-Okinawa friend Ana (a PT coworker of Betsy) to come & experience the majestic Okinawan waters via a snorkeling excursion with us, the vetted pros. But instead of the promised mirth & merriment, we actually delivered rather nasty & painful jellyfish stings.

No, not the small larvae drifting about that we've felt before. These were some large, long-tentacled but extremely-hard-to-see-since-they're-translucent "sea wasp" "Habu-kurage" jellyfish (probably Chiropsalmus quadrigatus, now being renamed Chironex yamaguchii)! That's right, the stinging, get-some-vinegar-or-urine-on-me-pronto kind! Fortunately, there at Sunabe south (aka Water Treatment Plant) dive instructor Scott was nearby with a gallon bottle of vinegar (that'd he'd never before had reason to use) to help ease some of the trauma, after having just warned us & showed us the drying & dying specimens that local boys had removed from the area.

Ana was resilient & willing to continue to pursue her first snorkeling excursion in Okinawa's waters. Despite a 2nd failed nearby attempt, in which only Josh got slightly stung (but NOTHING compared to Ana) & also got a couple of good photos of the evil doers:

We eventually found successful & largely-jellyfish-free waters for some nice snorkeling action a bit further north, from the steps of the Kadena sea wall. The visibility was a bit odd (something, maybe pollution, was floating in the topmost foot of water for some of the time), but Ana claims to have thoroughly enjoyed it (we did, as usual).

We're hoping she has a speedy recovery & joins us again & gets SCUBA certified soon!

Highlights:

Full photo set:

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