I've heard of people scuba diving in Japan and all I thought was Brrrrrr. In my mind, Japan was a small island way up north. It would be like diving in the north Atlantic. Cold water and no coral reefs, no colorful fish. No good. Then I started hearing about how it's great diving in Okinawa, where we were going. Warm water and coral reefs, how can that be?
Well, if you look at a map of Japan superimposed on the East Coast of the US, you see that it stretches from Maine to Miami. The island of Ishigaki, in the Okinawa section of southern islands, are about the same latitude as the Florida Keys!
This was our last stop in Japan, and I was beating myself up for not taking part in many activities since Nagasaki. We had to get in the water! And, apparently there was a great beach that a lot of fellow Odysseyans (our ship is the Odyssey!) were making plans to visit. So, we joined them.
About a half hour taxi ride took us to Yonehara Beach.
Its beauty rivaled any South Pacific or Caribbean beach I've ever seen and, yes, indeed there was coral and the water was warm! About 84 degrees. No wetsuit needed. We got in the water and swam out a ways over the interesting coral formations in only about 4-6 feet of water. Perfect for snorkeling. Then we came back to the beach and walked along with others who said there was a cave a bit further down the beach. At one point the beach stopped and we had to get in the water to go further. We swam and swam - feeling in heaven! We did find a cave. It wasn't THE cave, because others swam further and found that, but it was a nice cave. Then we swam back, used the wonderful beachside showers that were provided for free and got dressed.
Here's a lin to Jim's video of our snorkeling day.
After the snorkel, we sought out a local restaurant for lunch, it was a short walk and we met up with friends.
After lunch, walking back to the beach where the taxis would pick us up, we passed a crazy looking place that we just had to go in. Some kind of sculpture park. Free to walk in and wander around. Love it!
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