Okinawa New Year

We had a wonderful trip to Okinawa over New Year. Got out of the cold and into the nice 70 degree weather (lows were in the upper 60s, highs in the lower 70s!) We went straight past the main island and landed on a tiny airstrip on Ishigaki Island, about 80 miles east of Taiwan in the East China Sea.

We headed to the docks first, where we found the "old bike pile."

There was a nice shopping area with lots of souvineer shops and a fruit and vegtable market. It was nice to see shopping without all the crazy fashion and obsession with clothes.

This old guy was making coral-covered statues of boars and lions (some kind of lion is kind of the Okinawa mascot).

The Okinawa specialty - Habu-shu. They make a local liquor (kind of like whiskey) called Awamori, and then dump a live Habu snake into the bottle. You supposedly get the energy of the snake by drinking it. Yes, they keep the snake in there permanently. Tasted kind of spicy like cinnamon.

We visited Kabira-wan on the first day - a nice bay where they raise black pearls. No snorkeling or diving allowed - but we took a glass bottom boat and got some great views of the coral and life underneath.

A nice shrine at Kabira-wan overlooking the beach.

Serenity had to have a picture of this hotel near the docks. It's called the East China Sea Hotel. Definitely not in America anymore.

This is the nice guest house we stayed in on Ishigaki. Nice lady ran it who spoke good English. Very old wooden house - you could hear everything that went on in every room.

Time to go diving. Seiki was the dive master/boat captain/cook. He did everything. Not entirely sure it was legal - but he was very nice and seemed safe.

After a long boat trip, this area seemed good to dive. Nice water, out of the wind.

Seiki on the left, another diver next to him, and Will and Serenity.

Will, the dive master and the other diver head down. Beautiful water. Lots of bright fish, a lionfish, sea snake, coral.

After three nights in Ishigaki, we took a 45-minute ferry ride to the nearby island of Iriomote. Almost empty - lots of jungle and a little agriculture.

This was our hotel (actually the dining area, our room was off to the right on the same ledge right on the beach.)

The view from our room - right over a coral reef and looking northwest towards China.

We took a boat up this river to go hiking in the jungle. No roads - we left this bridge behind.

Some of the mangroves on the trip upriver.

Everything is bigger in the jungle.


They had these funky trees with weird roots/trunks. Big and beautiful.

Hey! It's Indiana Will!


Yup, that's him alright!


The top of the waterfalls about a 40 minute hike in.

Serenity on the trail amidst the jungle. Kind of hot and humid here.

Serenity overlooking the waterfalls.

And Serenity looking cool at the top of the falls.

Tree Ferns galore.


Here's Will next to one of those trees with the crazy roots/trunk.

More jungle - pretty cool.

We missed the boat to go back and had to wait a half an hour.

Serenity wondering why Will made her rush to get back to the docks.

The sun setting on the beach below our hotel.

The next morning looking west out from our porch.

Looking east at the sunrise back over the island.

Will getting read to snorkel out in the reef by our hotel.

The coral on the beach. So many shells and coral!

Later, we explored our small section of the island by rented bicycles.
Here's Will, at the end of the trail.

We found an old abandoned hotel high overlooking the ocean.

There were some old houses also abandoned on the same point. Everthing was overgrown and ready to collapse - kind of sad. Weird thing was there was a putting green nearby that was well maintained. The red tile roof is a signature of the Okinawan islands.

We were sad to leave Iriomote, but back on Ishigaki, we wandered about the town and found this old shrine.

Shrines usually have some kind of small park area around them - this one had this neat stone wall and gateways that was being overgrown.

Here's the lions - people put two of them to guard their doorways.
These are on someone's "fence".

Here's one of the smaller cars we've ever seen.


Goodbye Ishigaki airport!

You can see plenty more photos on Serenity's Flickr site by clicking here. Do it!


We had a great time...but of course we wish we could have been home for the holidays. The weather was nice, and it was a great change from the fashion-crazed cities and cold rice fields back in Fukuoka. We didn't want to leave!

Anyway, hope everyone is doing well!