July 22 and we arrive in Okinawa, there are three of us Andre, Heather and myself. Neither Heather nor I speak a word of Japanese, however to our great fortune Andre has studied a great deal of Japanese on his own and is able to have basic rudimentary conversations with the local people. After our arrival at the airport our next goal was to find our Hostel, Lohas Villa. We had taken with us the address of the hostel and thought that it would be sufficient to provide to a taxi driver. Well we weren’t quite right, even though the driver ushered us into his cab and took off as if he knew where he was going it took us quite  some time and a fair amount of driving around in order for our driver to find where  we were supposed to go. Once at the location of the Hostel it wasn’t quite as easy to identify as we would have liked it to be, being the upper stories of an otherwise unremarkable building that gave no indication that there was a hostel within its confines. Not really knowing to much about what we wanted to do or where we wanted to go, we set out on foot to find what the local area may have in store for us.

The next morning (23 July) we managed to get our hands on a map of the city, and being as we were on a tropical island, and it was tremendously hot day; finding a beach seemed like the ideal thing to do. Taking a look at our handy map we thought we had an idea of where to go and so headed in the direction of the beach. As we were drifting around from street to street going in the general direction of the beach we came upon a museum. The museum was rather new as far as museums go being just a few years old, and was built in memory of one of the Japanese ships sunken in World War II.

After the museum we eventual found our way to the beach. It turned out to be just a little less than were expecting. While it was a beach by the technical description, water, sand, etc. it somehow seemed a little less than we had been expecting. The beach was located along a stretch of land that was far more industrial than tropical. There were buildings and machinery all around and the view of the ocean was blocked off by some large metal structure that looked more like it was built for loading and unloading cargo from ships than for inducing peace and serenity to the beach goer. Heather and Andre figuring that it was a beach and that we had taken the time to walk all the way there decided that it would be worth swimming for a while. I on the other hand having not worn or brought with me a bathing suit, and being rather spoiled by both the beaches here on Diego Garcia and the beaches I had been to previously when I was on Okinawa decided that I would rather take a nap in the shade while they swam.

When they had finished swimming and had rinsed and toweled off, we decided that it was time to set off again and find something else to do. It somehow was decided that we were going to go to a wetlands bird sanctuary that was in the middle of the city. It wasn’t particularly close but we thought we would get to see quite a bit of the city on our walk there. It turned out we were quite correct about seeing a fair amount of the city, quite possibly more than we had really intended to. The wetlands preserve wasn’t quite as spectacular as we had been expecting it to be, it was more of a rundown city park that had more homeless people than birds, but at least something was living there.

By now we had walked quite a ways and thought it would be a good idea to catch the train that ran most of the length of the city as it ran within a couple blocks of our hostel. It was getting to be early evening and our next planed stop was Shuri Castle. Considering the amount of walking we had done to get to the bird sanctuary, and considering the time of day it was we began to think we may not have the time or energy needed to see the castle this day.

 As we boarded the train and sat down, we all began to notice just how nice it was to sit, and to be moving from one place to another without excessive use of our feet and in an air-conditioned environment. After not too trebly long on the train we came to  the idea that if we couldn’t go see the castle today perhaps it would be a good idea to ride the train from one end to the other, as we had already boarded at the far south end, and Shuri Castel was located near the North end, we might at least get a glimpse of it, and we would get a good tour of the city while we were at it. At the far end of the track as everyone else was disembarking we decided that it would be a good idea for us to disembark at the same time, and then re-embark along with all the new passengers and then ride back to our stop as we had passed on our way here.

We eventually, though not too much longer; got back to our own station and headed for our hostel to take a short break before heading out to get something to eat. Eating is another thing that can be interesting, particularly if you are in the company of a vegetarian and your Japanese language skills aren’t quite what you could wish them to be. The first restaurant we tried, didn’t seen quite as interested in serving us as they could have been, and after sitting there for 15 minutes waiting for service, the general consensus was that we should look elsewhere, so we gathered ourselves up and went looking for the next prospect. At our next attempt the service was much better; we were very cordially invited in and seated. As a traditional Japanese restaurant the tables are set so that you are seated on the floor which is made out of straw matting, and you remove your shoes before being seated. The waitress very politely provided us with our menus and then stepped back to await our orders. As we looked over the menus it very quickly became clear that this particular restaurant was well beyond what we intended to pay for any one particular meal. With that quick conclusion we got up with the intention of leaving, only to discover that our shoes had been removed and were nowhere in sight. Hmm well now this is somewhat embarrassing, it seems as though we won’t be able to make a graceful exit. Now that we are all standing the waitress takes notices of us and we have to find a way to get our shoes back and leave without too much more disruption. The waitress catching on to the idea that we were leaving, not asking for assistance kindly went and retrieved our footwear. We then made as hasty an exit as was proper. It took us a few more attempts to find a suitable place to eat, but after our first two places we had learned to ask to see a menu before we were seated. Once we had eaten we walked around the streets for a while looking through various shops and stores for anything that might catch our eye before heading back to our hostel for the night.

24 July. Due to all of our previous days walking we had come to a conclusion early that we would find another mode of transportation to get us around. We had contemplated a few bus tours, and had even been offered to rent a taxi for the day. After a bit of thought we decided to rent a car using Heather’s international drivers license, and I would drive being as I had lived and owned a vehicle there in former times. We also came up with rough sketch of what we thought we would like to do. As we had rented the car for two days and our plan for the first day was to drive up the East China Sea Coast as it was a nice scenic ride and would take us along all the major points of the island on that side. Our final goal for the day would be the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium at Ocean Expo Park. Home of the world’s largest acrylic fish tank window, and it houses neat fish creatures like whale sharks and gigantic manta rays among other smaller seafaring creatures.

Getting a later start than perhaps we should have and forgetting just how long it can take to drive relatively short distances in Asian countries, we arrived at the aquarium around 4 in the afternoon. Not before however making a couple stops on the way. One of the stops we made was to the only English speaking SDA church in Okinawa. I had attended the church while I was stationed Okinawa and wanted to see if it was still there, as we had attempted to contact the church a number of ways before we departed for the trip. As it turns out the church is indeed there though parts of is are under various stages of construction, though to be honest what impressed me most about the church  was the fact that I actually remembered how to get to it.

The aquarium itself was impressive enough, filled with large and small tanks containing myriads of creatures crawling and floating about their watery cages. They also had a couple of exhibits where you were allowed to poke and prod some of the native sea creatures to see if you couldn’t get them to react. We wondered about it for quite some time admiring the bespeckled urchins of the deep. Eventually we wound our way through to the end, wherein we decided by lack of further choice to go outside and see the animals that were in large outdoor tanks. We walked about from tank to tank admiring or making fun of each animal in its turn, as seemed most befitting until it was time for the dolphin show. By then we were all seeking shade from the sun and a place to sit as much as a show, and so we chose our seats accordingly. I wish I could say that I was impressed or inspired by they show they put on, but being as I cant I will say it is the best display of dolphindry that I have seen in a recent year.

By the end of the show it was approaching sunset and our next primary goal was to achieve a beach from which we could swim and watch the sun sink below the horizon. Nearby was Emerald Beach, which was a pay to use beach, and also mostly just a large patch of sand near the ocean. Being convinced that there were better beaches to be had, I managed to swindle Heather and Andre into letting me search for a beach for a little while; myself  knowing that on Okinawa, particularly on the northern half of the island all roads lead to a beach. In not too long of a order we found ourselves in a neighborhood on a small peninsula that according to the GPS in our car was not as charted as it could have been. Here in this neighborhood we found what we were looking for, a public beach, public showers, a place to park, and the sun setting in the background. Well it just doesn’t get much better.

After the sun had set and we had quenched our thirst for swimming in the warm waves of East China sea, we decided that it was time that we head back for the evening. Our return trip went much more quickly as there was less traffic we made fewer stops, and we actually knew where we were going this time. On our way back, needing something to eat, and feeling particularly ethnical as we were in Japan we thought it would be appropriate to have a traditional meal. So as we had seen a Mexican restaurant on our trip out to the aquarium we thought it only appropriate to stop and have a traditional Mexican meal. I do believe it was one of the most pleasing meals we had while in Okinawa, and I don’t know that I have ever made any claim to being the most ethnically diverse person, just the most ethnically inclined to have a satisfying meal.

July 25, and again we set out later than our intentions. Not as much our fault as it could be though. Yesterday we had found a nice little breakfast shop and thought we would frequent it again being as there aren’t that many breakfast shops tailored to western eating folk. So as we approached the dinner and noticed that it looked rather not open, we began to feel somewhat disquieted. Upon reaching the door, and to our everlasting until 8:00am dismay they were indeed closed. From then until the diner opened I must admit I don’t remember what we did, but eventually the diner opened and we were able to get our muchly necessary breakfast.

Not overly much later we retrieved our rental car from a nearby overnight parking lot, and were once again on our way to discover Okinawa. Knowing how long it had taken us to reach the aquarium the previous day, and that our goal today was twice as far away, we decided to use Okinawa’s one and only expressway. The Expressway only covered about half the distance we needed to travel, but it was the half that we had covered the previous day, and the half that would take the longest to travel. Getting on the expressway at the far southern end just outside of Naha we traveled the entire length of the highway all 36 miles of it getting off at its far north end just before the city of Nago. From there we continued to travel up the East China Sea coast headed for the most northern point of the island Hedo Point, site of one of the suicide cliffs of WWII and a memorial for peace.

Just as I had remembered the drive past Nago city to the northern point of the island is strewn with stunning views of cliffs, mountains, cerulean blue ocean-scapes, lined with the blue green of coral reefs that surrounding the Island. And just as I had remembered from before the driving proved to be a great distraction from looking around at all the beauty. It also preempted my ability to take many pictures while driving.

We arrived at Hedo Point sometime around noon and grazed around the cliffs for a while snapping pictures of the cliffy, ocean, coral, each other and whatever else caught out fancy. When we had grazed to our satisfaction, and were sufficiently hot and sweaty we piled back into our rental car for our trip back to Naha. And though we were headed back we had come to the conclusion that we wanted to see both sides of the island and so we would travel the Pacific Ocean coast back to Naha. The Pacific side of the island is much less densely populated and great expanses of it have nothing but jungle or ocean. The roads are much less used and few cars are encountered traveling this way.  This is partly due to the winding roads and mountainous terrain which takes much longer to traverse than the more formal highways on the East China Sea coast; and this part of the island has a much more wild beauty to it. Unfortunately we weren’t going to have time to explore it today as I had done many times while I had lived on the island. The roads had also changed since I had last been there and of course memory had faded a bit thus I was forced to rely on the map a bit more than I would have liked to.

We stopped at a few scenic spots on our way back, nothing in particular just places we felt like stopping to see. Our secondary goal for the day was to see a castle ruins that Heather had picked out on the Island of Ikei. Probably because I had mentioned that I had been to the island a couple of times while I had been there and found them interesting. I also mentioned that although I had been to the Islands I didn’t remember a castle ruins, but said that it would be interesting to see something I hadn’t seen before. It was once again approaching sunset as we arrived at the island of Ikei. Wanting to find the ruins before sunset and possibly watch the sunset from the ruins as it sounded like a marvelously wonderful idea we traversed the roads and bridges as quickly as we could.

As we approached the area on our map that the ruins were supposed to be we began to wonder if we were a bit mistaken as to their whereabouts. To double check we turned on the cars GPS unit that we had nicknamed Ono, due to it incessantly telling us we were going the wrong way. And by good faith and tradition Ono was still telling us that we were going the wrong way, on the upside her map confirmed that we were right where we were suppose to be for the castle ruins. No the fact that there was a distinct lack of castle ruins put a small hitch in our plans. Parking along a seawall we found a local gentleman whom Andre could speak with who guided up along a short dirt path to the site of a few graves. These graves were apparently now the only remains of what had once been a castle. The grave site while marked with a Tori was mostly unremarkable and in comparison to many Okinawan gravesites quite undramatic. With that said, I didn’t really care, it was something I hadn’t seen before, somewhere I hadn’t been before, in Okinawa.

Being as we were generally underwhelmed with the castle ruins we thought we would go look for a beach. I remembered from my previous visits that there had been a resort at the far end of the island, and near the resort had been a sugar cane field (there are lots of them on this island) behind which was dirt road, and on that dirt road their had been lot of parking space with foot paths leading to a rather nice beach that people used to use for swimming and scuba diving all the time. You used to also be able to find several cars parked out there all the time. Well I found the resort, found the sugar cane field, and found the Dirt road. I was unable to find any other people parked out there or any foot paths leading to the beach, and generally the area between the beach and the road seemed well overgrown and largely unused. If it had been just me I probably would have stopped, parked the car and forged a new path through the brush just to prove that I was at the right spot. But I wasn’t willing to subject Heather or Andre to that kind of adventurism, particularly when they seem more interested in finding something a little more easily accessible.

With only about 15 minutes before the sun sank below the horizon we decided to head back and try to find a nice place to watch the sun finish sinking below the ocean waves. Deciding to take Ono at her word, or per the lines and arrows on her map we followed what Ono said was the best way back to the main island, which took us along the opposite side of Ikei which faced the main island of Okinawa. As we went along the road it tended to progressively get narrower, less maintained, and more overgrown. But we concluded that Ono knew what she was doing, after all she is a GPS with a map and should be smarter than we are in these things. As the road came to a sudden weed chocked end we came to the not so dynamic conclusion that somehow our infallible Ono had led us astray.  Turning back we tried another road leading the same way, but it also came to a flora strangled end.

Being now certain that any further attempts to find a nice quiet beach type structure from which to watch what remained of the sunset was certain to fail. I decided to hop out  of the car where we were and take a few  pictures of the sun setting, as from out vantage point rather high upon a hill overlooking the ocean and an interesting petroleum processing plant, the scenery was actually rather picturesque. From there we watched what remained of the sinking sun dip out of sight and into a grey-blue haze that melded the ocean with the sky.

It being now edging towards darkness with the last pieces of light falling into shadow.  And with no further goals for the day, we packed our selves back into the car preceded to leave the island the way we had come, once again ignoring the directions from our precious GPS Ono. We eventually found our way back to the expressway, and from the expressway back to Naha, and with Heather now being an expert navigator we had little trouble finding our way back to the hostel.

The Next morning July 26 we returned our rental car, ate some breakfast at our new favorite local diner and prepared ourselves for the flight back to Taipei Taiwan. Later that day we flew back to Taiwan.