Our couchsurfing friends, Jo & Brendan, returned to stay with us for a few more days, after a few weeks in mainland Japan & before heading back to Taiwan for several more weeks. And we were able to spend another lovely day showing them around our beautiful island home a bit more.
So we took them to a place we've been wanting to check out ourselves for quite some time, Ie Jima, a small island just west of Okinawa, off of Motobu Peninsula. After the short ferry ride over, we had a lovely time exploring by bicycle (which we rented for 1000 yen for the day). We were surprised to find that our 4.5 hrs (between ferries) did not afford enough time to see quite every sight that we wanted to.
We first found the Monument of Hokon & its adjacent park. It was a welcome first "catch-our-breath" break, being at the top of a rather steep hill. Then we made our way to the base of the prominent Mount Gusuku (shaped like a volcano), where we parked our bicycles & began climbing stairs. We first arrived at the mid observation deck & gift shop building. After a few minutes looking around, we made the hike to the top, which was only about 15 minutes of stair climbing. The views from atop the peak were wonderful. By the time we descended we were ready for some lunch, so we rode our bikes back into the town. Finding a COOP grocery store & a Hot Spar convenience store, we purchased some tasty food & settled down at a table in a little park nearby to enjoy it. Next, we decided to bike along the southern coast in search of the Niya-thiya Cave, where 1000 local people sought refuge during WWII bombings. We passed the Ernie Pyle Memorial park & inspected the monument to the US war correspondent who was killed there during WWII. Then we stopping along GI Beach, where we thought the cave should be. We explored several smaller caves & crevasses before deciding that we must not have gone quite far enough. And true to that suspicion, about 100 meters further on down the road, we found the very well-marked stairs leading down to the entrance of the large cave & it's legendary stone of power (which legend holds will assist a woman in becoming pregnant, if she lifts it; none in our group were allowed to attempt the lifting). Then, with only had a few minutes to play with before needing to be back at the port to return the bikes & board the ferry, we rode to Nishizaki fishing port nearby & stared down from the piers into the crystal clear waters at the sea life below. We did capture a few photos & video of some interesting fish out of water on a concrete pylon. And then it was a speedy bike ride back along the coast to Ie Port for the last returning ferry of the day at 4pm.
Once safely back on Okinawa around 4:30pm, we made our way to our favorite pizza joint, Cafe Kajinho (or "Pizza In The Sky," as the ex-pat community here fondly refers to it). There we had some wonderful views of the sunset skies & of course, some delicious pizza, salad & drinks.
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1 comment:
I love checking out your blog. You're both very adventurous (an admiring quality). What are some of the best places you've enjoyed here on Oki? We just moved here in July so our adventure has just begun! :)
Keep up the great work!
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