Bond English teacher Justin went to Okinawa from August 10th-13th, 3 nights and 4 days. Let’s hear about it!
On August 10th, he took an early morning flight from Itami to Ishigaki, about a 2.5-hour flight!
The typhoon had already left Okinawa, and was heading towards Osaka, so the weather was fine in Ishigaki!
After landing in Ishigaki, Justin took a ferry boat to Iriomote, about a 50-minute ride.
There were several cool boats at Ishigaki port:
And he saw Japanese Coast Guard ships:
And a shipwreck!
After arriving at Uehara port on Iriomote, Justin took a shuttle bus to the hotel, and went swimming off the small hotel’s private beach. It was beautiful and there were tropical fish swimming in the bay.
Iriomote has the BEST PINEAPPLES!! At the side of the road, there was a farmer’s box, he bought 5 pineapples and put the money in a small wooden box. There was no cashier! The pineapple farm was small, with beautiful pineapple flowers. But be careful, there are maybe some Habu snakes under the pineapple plants!
The next morning, Justin took a walk to a different beach, and saw clear turtle tracks, probably a Loggerhead turtle (アカウミガメ).
After the walk, he took a snorkeling tour with Yamamoto san. He went to 5-different snorkeling spots in 1 day. First, a turtle spot where he was face-to-face with 2 turtles. Then, amazing coral spots with lots of beautiful purple, pink, and red coral, and thousands of brightly colored tropical fish everywhere!
The boat went to 5 spots between Iriomote and Hatoma.
The water was beautiful deep blue!
Captain Yamamoto:
And he had lunch on Hatoma island, a very small island with only 50 inhabitants!
After the Yamamoto snorkeling tour, Justin took a boat back to Ishigaki:
And stayed in a cool villa on the North side of Ishigaki, called Kabira:
