LD Adventure, Day 2: Morning Snorkeling

As usual with camping out, we woke up fairly shortly after the sun had risen to a point that its light convinced us it was time to have some more fun. After a breakfast of leftovers, we geared up & enjoyed a little snorkeling for several minutes until the gals spotted a very cool jellyfish (that Josh chased to get some good video) & a very long sea snake. That was the end of the snorkeling at that beach.

The striped fish swimming along with the jellyfish seemed to be a protector of some kind, as he lunged at my camera a few times before returning to his spot beside the tentacles:

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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Get your own

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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Get your own

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!