July 11-16 Okinawa
PLEASE NOTE: I have not had the chance to watermark all of my photos, and it will take me a great deal of time, as I published this and my other blogs between 2010-2017. I ask you to respect my property. Feel free to use them as long as you credit me as follows: Photo by Jody McBrien, learningtheworld.org. Thank you.
We set off on our last trip in Japan on July 11 - Okinawa. My major goal was scuba diving, as I have read it is among the best in the world. Instead of going for research and history, we are primarily going to relax. Yes, Okinawa has major unfortunate history related to WWII, and we will no doubt come across some (I hope we do). But since I have taught through my summer, I also want a few days of laziness and rest and swimming.
We took the easy way to Narita - the airport express bus from Hachioji. Flying Vanilla Air (a discount airline like NZ's Jetstar), we were in Terminal C, more like a warehouse than a nice terminal. No chance to use my "priority pass" for an exec lounge to wait for the flight! Still, we were lucky to have emergency row seats, and so, more leg room and space. The plane itself was very nice. We arrived around 9pm, at another terminal far worse than the one at Narita and had to wait some time for Vanilla Air's shuttle bus to take us to a "real" terminal where we could catch a cab to our hotel.
On Wednesday, we ventured to the seacoast in Naha and a small shrine and garden. At the garden was a memorial to over 500 children and about 1,000 teachers who had been killed by US forces.
It was blistering hot and humid out. We decided to leave early for Chatan, a seaside town I chose for a nice beachfront hotel and for scuba. The Beach Tower Mihana was all we wished for. It was a condo-like studio apartment with a balcony overlooking the sea and fabulous sunsets.
The staff managers were terrific - one from France, and the other from Orlando. We were situated right between Araha Beach and American Village - a campy place for tourists with los of American stuff and plenty of shops. Because we could cook (and were determined to stick to our diets), we walked to a grocery store and bought enough meat and veggies for two dinners. We cooked, settled in, and enjoyed an amazing sunset.
Thursday: Early to rise, as this was a full day of diving for me. My dive master Dai came for me at 7:30am, and we reached our boat and departed around 8:30 for Tonaki Island, about a 90 minute trip. We had three dives there, each very different. The first was a reef with thousands of fish.
The second was a system of cave-like structures and a "blue hole."
The third included about five large sea turtles.
It was a wonderful day. The ocean felt like bath water, and the topside was like glass, no waves. On the third dive, we had a bit of a current to work agasint, but it was really the only work of the day. The set of dives were among the best I've ever had.
Friday was Dick's birthday. We took in a quiet morning, then walked over to Araha Beach for a swim. In spite of an umbrella and 50 SPF sunscreen, I got a bit of a burn. I took two long swims in the water and guess that is where I took in too much sun.
In the evening, we wandered over to American Village. First we had Dick's birthday dinner at a restaurant called "Four Seasons" that cooked up a grilled meal of pork, steak, lobster, and veggies for us (WAY more food than we've been eating! We were stuffed!).
After that, we wandered around all the souvenir shops and finally came to the large ferris wheel where we got tickets for one revolution (one time around took 15 minutes - it goes snail-like slow). Then we walked back to the condo for a good night's sleep.
from the ferris wheel
Saturday was our last day in Chatan, as we had to go back to Naha for the evening so that it would be easy to make our Sunday morning flight back to Tokyo. We had planned to leave our bags at the hotel and go for a swim before taking a bus back, but as I wasn't feeling great for more sun, we chose to hit the cinema in American Village and watch a new film on Arthur. It wasn't great, but it was entertaining. From there, we went back for our bags and grabbed a bus, then a monorail for our next hotel. Soon after we arrived, Dick realized he had dropped his phone in the Chatan cinema. UGH! He had to go all the way back. Meanwhile, I found a place to grab some dinner and worked on my computer. Over three hours later, he arrived back with his phone. As we figured, a worker found it on the floor and brought it to the office. You can count on Japanese to be honest - so nice!
Sunday was a long day, with travel beginning around 8am and our return to Soka at about 6pm. Just two more weeks before we leave Japan. The four months have flown by.
NOTE: May 2018 date on post is republish date, not date of the event.
We set off on our last trip in Japan on July 11 - Okinawa. My major goal was scuba diving, as I have read it is among the best in the world. Instead of going for research and history, we are primarily going to relax. Yes, Okinawa has major unfortunate history related to WWII, and we will no doubt come across some (I hope we do). But since I have taught through my summer, I also want a few days of laziness and rest and swimming.
We took the easy way to Narita - the airport express bus from Hachioji. Flying Vanilla Air (a discount airline like NZ's Jetstar), we were in Terminal C, more like a warehouse than a nice terminal. No chance to use my "priority pass" for an exec lounge to wait for the flight! Still, we were lucky to have emergency row seats, and so, more leg room and space. The plane itself was very nice. We arrived around 9pm, at another terminal far worse than the one at Narita and had to wait some time for Vanilla Air's shuttle bus to take us to a "real" terminal where we could catch a cab to our hotel.
On Wednesday, we ventured to the seacoast in Naha and a small shrine and garden. At the garden was a memorial to over 500 children and about 1,000 teachers who had been killed by US forces.
It was blistering hot and humid out. We decided to leave early for Chatan, a seaside town I chose for a nice beachfront hotel and for scuba. The Beach Tower Mihana was all we wished for. It was a condo-like studio apartment with a balcony overlooking the sea and fabulous sunsets.
The staff managers were terrific - one from France, and the other from Orlando. We were situated right between Araha Beach and American Village - a campy place for tourists with los of American stuff and plenty of shops. Because we could cook (and were determined to stick to our diets), we walked to a grocery store and bought enough meat and veggies for two dinners. We cooked, settled in, and enjoyed an amazing sunset.
Daytime view from our balcony
Sun just starting to go down
Setting sun
American Village from our balcony
Beautiful sunset
Thursday: Early to rise, as this was a full day of diving for me. My dive master Dai came for me at 7:30am, and we reached our boat and departed around 8:30 for Tonaki Island, about a 90 minute trip. We had three dives there, each very different. The first was a reef with thousands of fish.
So many butterfly fish!
Me, chillin'
One of Dai's photos (We saw a moray on this dive - it opened its mouth wide - wish my camera were better!)
Fish on the reef
The second was a system of cave-like structures and a "blue hole."
Between dives
At the Blue Hole
Fissure in the caves
Sunlight 60 feet under
Tonaki Island
The third included about five large sea turtles.
a nudie branch
It was a wonderful day. The ocean felt like bath water, and the topside was like glass, no waves. On the third dive, we had a bit of a current to work agasint, but it was really the only work of the day. The set of dives were among the best I've ever had.
Friday was Dick's birthday. We took in a quiet morning, then walked over to Araha Beach for a swim. In spite of an umbrella and 50 SPF sunscreen, I got a bit of a burn. I took two long swims in the water and guess that is where I took in too much sun.
Araha Beach
In the evening, we wandered over to American Village. First we had Dick's birthday dinner at a restaurant called "Four Seasons" that cooked up a grilled meal of pork, steak, lobster, and veggies for us (WAY more food than we've been eating! We were stuffed!).
After that, we wandered around all the souvenir shops and finally came to the large ferris wheel where we got tickets for one revolution (one time around took 15 minutes - it goes snail-like slow). Then we walked back to the condo for a good night's sleep.
from the ferris wheel
Sunday was a long day, with travel beginning around 8am and our return to Soka at about 6pm. Just two more weeks before we leave Japan. The four months have flown by.
NOTE: May 2018 date on post is republish date, not date of the event.
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