Labor Day Adventure: Day 1

We came up with a plan to explore the northern reaches of our fair island (not nearly as small as many people think) & camp out for at least 1 night with friends Ana & Robin. The van was basically loaded to capacity!

We began our Labor Day weekend adventures with Ana & Robin by driving north on Hwy 58 up the west side of the island & cutting across from Onna-son to Ishikawa & then continuing north on Hwy 329. In Kin Town, we explored a few beaches, got some bug spray & a water refill at Camp Hansen, visited the agriculture, paid a visit to a shrine & had a picnic Family Mart lunch at a park boasting a natural springs.

A huge banana spider on its web in the yard of the shrine:

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One of the day's highlights was a kayaking excursion through the Gesashi Mangrove Forest near Higashi Village. We took our inflatable kayaks but soon realized that the bike foot pump we borrowed wasn't going to be fun to use to pump them up. While Josh worked on one orally, a fellow inflatable raft owner in the parking lot offered us a space manual pump that he wasn't using. And much sooner than otherwise, we were on the water & enjoying the serene beauty!

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As the daylight waned on us, we began exploring beaches around Higashi Town in search of the best one for pitching a couple of tents.

Hermit crab witha really cool shell moseying along:

Eventually we found a gorgeous beach with soft sand & plenty of room for a van, 2 tents & 4 adults. We highly recommend this beach to anyone else out there that can handle a night without toilet facilities or running water!

Araha sunset & restaurant alley

After our day viewing the southern half of Okinawa from 1000 feet in the air, Ana just us at our apartment. And the 4 of us (Betsy, Josh, Ana & Tito) had a delicious dinner at Kastamandap (yummy Nepalese curry), among the strip of restaurants just off Araha Beach in Hamby Town of Chatan-cho. Then we had a nice stroll along the beach & watched the ultimate players frolic against the gorgeous sunset.

Slideshow of full photo set:

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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:

Kume-jima Days 2 & 3: A Ra Hama Beach

" Proceeding from Gima Village on Kume Island, you'll come to A Ra Hama Beach, a private beach surrounded by pine trees. From this spot, the sunsets are superb. The beach itself is a shoal and one can see many fish and shells among the algae, so snorkeling is recommended."

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True to the quote, we found A Ra Hama beach quite delightful, both for its evening sunset viewing (Hotto Motto dinners optional but recommended), as well as for its morning snorkeling (especially after you get past the grasses growing in shallower waters near the shore). Hence, we ended Day 2 & began Day 3 at this lovely beach.

Kume-jima Day 2: Hateno Hama (Faraway Beach)

We got up bright & early to try to hit the beach before the sun got going full force in the mid-day. Our destination was Hateno Hama, basically a large strip of sand peeking out of the ocean (technically, one of a group of atolls) just to the east of our accommodations on Ou-jima.

We arranged with the Guesthouse to have a glass-bottomed boat ferry us over for a few hours, where we did some fantastic snorkeling.

We were sure glad they had some shelters set up, because it was HOT!

On the way back, the boat captain went over some reef areas in spots where we spotted some turtles sleeping & feeding. And that was just the START of the day!

Slideshow of full photo set:

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4th of July Trip to Kume-jima

We spent our long 4th of July holiday weekend with Aaron & Masayo visiting Kume-jima, a well-inhabited island due east of Okinawa Island (about 100 km). After the ferry made a quick layover on Tonaki Island, we arrived only 4 hrs after departure at our destination. The first day consisted mostly of playing on the ferry & in the Kume port (waiting for a bus that never came before a port worker graciously gave us a lift):

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But after checking in at the guest house (we basically had a nice-sized apartment all to ourselves) on the little island of Oo-jima, connected by bridge to the west coast of Kume-jima, we did have time to snorkel & play at one of Japan's top-rated beaches, Ifu (aka Eef) Beach:

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We slept well that night!

Kayaking on a beautiful Chatan day

Remember us? Yep, we still live here! I know, I know, we're a little behind on updating the blog with recent adventures (including a long, fun trip to the US of A). But, first, an Okinawan adventure!

We had the pleasure of spending a hot, humid, sunny, beautiful Sunday (well-named) here in Chatan playing in our front yard (aka Araha Beach) with our inflatable kayaks (best thing we ever bought from Walmart... maybe, we don't come from money so we've been shopping at Wally World for a long time). Our playmates were Aaron, Masayo & Masayo's little brother (visiting from Nara in the Kansai region of Honshu - that's the main island of Japan). We remembered to take our dive camera in it's nifty waterproof case & snapped a few shots to prove we had fun (please forgive the moisture that blurs a few key parts of some of the pictures).

Come kayak with us!

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Sunset & powerlines

From Okinawa Sunsets

Taken from our apartment balcony overlooking Araha Beach with plenty of lovely powerlines in the way. A couple more follow this one in the album if you want to click thru & investigate.

House Party in Ginoza

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Betsy's coworker Chris & his family threw a fun bash at their new beach-side casa in Ginoza, a wonderful afternoon activity to complement our morning dive at Sunabe South. The food was delicious & the weather was superb! The kids & a few adults had a grand time playing with our inflatable kayaks & raft. While the sun was still bright, I snapped several shots of the house & beach area with my camera phone (despite our having brought along our real camera, I only took off a few minutes from playing with the multitude of kids present). So please witness that indeed the beach & ocean & house itself of the Cockrells' new residence is impressive. We've truly enjoyed getting to know their family (camping, biking & babysitting their energetic & intelligent children). Thanks for having us, Chris! Good times!!