Been back in Tokyo since Tuesday, but wanted to follow up with a post on the last half of our trip to Okinawa.
Having spent a great couple of days in Iriomote we moved on to the Island of Hateruma, which is Japan’s most southern island. The only way to Hateruma is by small ferry / passenger boat.
Three boats travel to the Island each day, two of which had been cancelled due to rough seas (it had been unusually windy). Fortunately ours was set to depart, but we were told it would turn back if the conditions turned out to be too rough. The journey was pretty choppy all the way, but it wasn’t until roughly half way through that the swells really started to rise. It was at this point that the ship’s captain had to practically shut down the engines and try to gently maneuver the boat though the waves that were tossing us in all directions. I overheard the crew on the radio and could have sworn they were calling the coast guard to come and get us.. This went on for a good 30 minutes; slowing, accelerating, and slowing again.. It was pretty nerve wracking, to say the least.
We were only there for one one night, but Hateruma was fantastic. We stayed in a pension right on nishihama beach, with a fantastic view overlooking the ocean.
Some excellent views of the night sky can also be seen from Hateruma. We made an excursion out to the island’s observatory for one of its nightly stargazing sessions — fun and interesting.
After heading back to the pension we got together with some of the other guests and enjoyed some Awamori and some traditional Okinawan music, which the pension owner sang and played for us on Sanshin. Another really great day.
Later on the following day we boarded the boat back to Ishigaki, our final destination before heading back to Tokyo.
Ishigaki is far more populated / commercialized than Iriomote and Hateruma. Not a bad thing, as it meant that we were really spoiled for choice with restaurants and bars. We decided to go Izakaya hopping, hitting a number of spots for food and drinks. After some good food and lots more Awamori we stumbled home. I have only vague recollections of that.. :-)
We took it easy on our last day; got up a little later than the 7:30 or so that we’d been doing throughout the trip. We made one final excursion to “Ishigaki Syounyudou”, or Ishigaki stalactite cave. It was pretty cosmic, a good way to burn an hour or so, before heading to the airport. :-)
Took quite a few pics during the trip, posted a selection up here on flickr.
