Kume-jima Day 2: Uegusuku-dake Castle Ruins

"A castle was built on top of Uegusuku-dake on Kume-jima Island and is the castle with the highest elevation in Okinawa Prefecture. During the reign of King Sho Shin the military of the Shuri royal government destroyed the castle. Within the castle Gusuku era earthenware pottery and Chinese celadon pottery have been discovered. The locals refer to it as Uigusuku. In 1974 it was designated a Historical Site by the Prefecture."

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We quite enjoyed the daytime views from this peak. We even returned after dark & were thrilled to spot quite a few fireflies (a tip mentioned by the proprietors of the Firefly Museum) as well as a wondeful night-time sky chock full of stars!

Kume-jima Day 2: Mi Fuga (& Female Rock)

"Mi Fuga is a seaside shoal seen from Gushikawa Castle. There is an odd rock called “Female Rock.” Tradition says that the infertile woman who prays there will have her prayers answered. Visitors have never stopped coming to see it."

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We had fun climbing & being silly around Mi Fuga on the NW coast. Fortunately, neither couple seems to have been jinxed by its fertility-enhancing powers as of yet.

Day 2: Circumnavigating Kume-jima

After a fantastic morning in the sun & sand on Hateno Hama, we were ready to jump in a rental car & see the rest of Kume-jima. We started with some soba at an outdoor restaurant on the east side of the island, before finding the Firefly Museum near the main town of Gima (SW coast), which actually turned out to have basically every OTHER animal found on Kume BUT fireflies (including snakes, frogs, fish, turtles, pigeons & a gorgeous owl that we got to pet).

After checking out Mi Fuga & Gushikawa Castle on the NW coast, we tried some yummy pineapple at a farm we drove past. We then found some great views from the Hiyajo Banta lookout on the north coast.

After checking out Uegusuku the first time (during the day), we drove past the large Churafukugi trees in the town of Maju in Nakazato village of NE Kume, before completing the circle back to Ou-jima.

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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!

June sunsets

Considering we weren't in Okinawa for a good portion of June (Betsy missed 9 days & I missed 16), we came away with photos of 3 gorgeous June sunsets from our building looking over Araha Beach & the East China Sea:

20 June 2008 - From Summer Sunsets

28 June 2008 - From Summer Sunsets

29 June 2008 - From Summer Sunsets

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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Betsy likey mango

Hear ye! Hear ye! Mangoes indeed do a very yummy pie maketh! "Mango Pie" by Dr. Amanda Nielsen (and again we say to her, "THANK YOU!")

Snorkeling in Chatan

Our friend Aaron came & spent a day & night with us to give some of his wife's visiting friends more room at their apartment & he had a wonderful wish to go snorkeling, so Josh jumped at the chance (only a couple of hours before our dive class) even still being a bit jet-lagged & even remembered to take the camera!

Here's the slideshow:

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Here are a few highlights:

Layover in Taipei Airport

While traveling back to Okinawa from our trip to the US, my final layover was several hours long in the Taipei Airport bright & early (first thing in the morning). So I decided to wander around & check it out.