Okinawa Adventures - Day 3 Agenashiki Island

We headed back towards the pier so that we could make our way to the smaller islands. The accommodation lady knew who to contact to take us to Agenshiki Island, which was only a few minutes away which meant we wouldn't need to spend so much time traveling since it was going to get dark in a few hours. The map of the island is below:

View Larger Map

We jumped on a boat from the wharf and literally lasted only minutes. It costed us JPY1,500 per person return which we thought was a little hefty for such a short boat ride, but considering it is our first trip there, it was well worth it. Here is a picture of the captain of the boat..

Ahoy matey

Here is a pic of what we saw as we approached Agenashiki Island. Apparently we were the only ones on the island along with a few wild goats. I wonder how they got there? Anyhow, this reminded me of the movie 'The Blue Lagoon'. This island was ours for 2 hrs until we were to be picked up at 5pm.

Island Paradise

The first thing we noticed was that there was plenty of shale scattered all over the place. I assume island was formed from volcanic activity millions of years ago. The entrance to the beach was alot rockier than the other beaches but the water was just as clear. Here are some of the coral formations we encountered..

Agenashiki Island Coral

Colony of blue green damselfish

I'm beginning to think I need to start learning the names of the main or the most common tropical fish so that I can identify it in my blog! Give me a fish that can be caught on a fishing line and I can name it in a blink of an eye, but for the tropical fish, I'm left clueless. Homework for me.

Table Coral

We also met a few table corals large enough to seat 6. Along the reef there were a few of those scientific research layered boxes which I believe was left to keep a track of marine life at this reef. Even though we saw some coral stunners, the majority of the reef had dead bleached coral which was depressing to see. The locals blamed it on El Nino where the change in balance of temperature have led to this.. truly sad..

A strange coral formation was the one below. I don't believe it was naturally formed as the underlying foundation seems man made. Maybe I am wrong but I still found this interested as it resembled a multi-layered flower.

3 layered cake

Agenashiki Island was home to many species of sea cucumbers. I took so many pictures of these that my partner struck me for each one I took. There weren't the common black sea cucumbers and the colours/textures were mesmirising.

Hyper coloured sea cucumber

Star struck

An unexpected encounter was with the black headed sea snake that was common in these areas. Like the turtle, I did not expect to see these up close but to tell you the truth, I wasn't too sure if I wanted to be too close as they are infamous for being extremely venemous. However, they just did their own thing strolling around and we went on with our business. We waved our farewell and departed in opposite directions..

Blacked headed sea snake

We did manage to bump into a few more of these sea snakes and felt more at ease with each one. 

Anyhow, before we knew it, our 2 hours were up and we needed to get out of the water. Here is a picture of my partner just relaxing from an exhausting snorkel. I think she was looking for some prawns/shrimp?

Where's the shrimp?

We were picked up at 5pm as promised and headed back to the main island. Once we returned, we washed up (as well as our gear) and made our way opposite the accommodation to fill our starving stomachs.

Maybe it was because of all the fish we saw but we felt like eating fish. Luckily for us, they had some seasoned grilled fish that was locally caught in the morning! Accompanying the fish was the fried karage chicken, sour seaweed dish of some sort, and the Okinawa soba which I missed taking a picture of. I must've been too hungry. This was all topped off with the local Okinawa Orion beer ;) 

Chicken Karage to die for.. went beautifully with the local beer

Freshly caught seasoned grilled fish

Mozuku

What a great end to a perfect day! Day 3 was a long day but one to remember. We encountered so many things that we did not expect and these will be forever cherished. I will go back to these places again but it is just a matter of when.

My next post will be about Day 4 with our trip to Aka Island which is about 15-20 minute boat ride from the main Island. Stayed posted for more pictures and our underwater adventures!

Chad

Okinawa Adventures - Day 3 Furu Zamami Beach @ Zamami Island

After our escapade with the sea turtles and devouring the hearty lunch in town, we decided it was time to visit the main beach, Furu Zamami Beach that we've heard so much about.The owner of our accommodation again offered to drive us to Furu Zamami Beach which only took 10 minutes. We have to remember that the locals only drive at 20km/h so really, it's much closer than described. 

View Larger Map

Thinking that we couldn't possibly be surprised by the beauty of Furu Zamami Beach due to our earlier visit to Ama Beach, our breaths were once again stolen away. The sand was almost pure white and I believe this is because of the white coral that has dissolved on the beach leaving white powdery residue which combined with the sand.

Our first breathtaking view of Furu Beach

This was our first view of Furu Zamami Beach from the wooden resting ledge/verandah and as we walked down the stairs closer to the water, we were filled with excitement. Walking on the dead coral on the beach, you can hear the sweet tinkling sounds of coral hitting against each other creating musical harmony. It reminded me of wind chimes..

View from the rocky ledge on the south side of Furu Zamami Beach

Another beach shot

The coral formations began almost immediately from the beach so you didn't need to swim far to get a glimpse of the abundant aquatic life. Below are some of the coral spectacles we encountered..

Standing out of from the crowd

The beach was also renowned for large colonies of clown fish that inhabit the coral reef and below was one of the larger species that approached me without fear. I wasn't sure if this was an aggressive standoff to intimidate me or if it thought my camera (Canon D10) was food because of the blue shade that could be mistaken for the scales of fish. Funny thing was, it was only this species that behaved this way. I must've stepped into their territory and it was telling me to back off.. well it worked!

Twoband anemonefish: What are you looking at!

Blue and brown striped slug

I saw this blue and brown striped slug on the sea bed.. actually there were hundred scattered all over the place. It was quite difficult to see from the surface and I only noticed it when I dove down to visit the sandy bottom. Another creature that caught my attention was this unique type of sea cucumber. It was fat as hell! I also recall it to be over 30cm. I was so tempted to hold it but of course I had to hold back.  

Sea cucumber

While I was on the ocean floor, I was hypnotised by the beauty of the deeper blue. The clarity of the water and the soft white sand must've done the trick as you can see below. This was a scene I only saw on TV and I took every opportunity I could to enjoy this view..

To infinity and beyond

Saw a huge sea cucumber

Simply had to take a pic with it

Some of you may know that I want to get into freediving and this was the perfect opportunity for me to test my knowledge of what I learnt from reading the 'Manual of Freediving'. Certainly have improved in technique and my awareness of my surroundings. Anyhow, back to my trip. 

We stayed at Furu Zamami Beach for a couple of hours but decided that we could explore some of the smaller islands that were close by since it was only about 3pm. It was going to get dark at 6pm so we had another 3 hours before we hit the sack. This post will have to be saved for another day since there are so many photos to choose from. 

Overall, I found Furu Zamami Beach to be my favourite beach from all the sites I have visited. I don't know if it is because of the white sand or the clarity of the water but from what you have seen from the photo's above, the deeper blue was just so mesmerising that it keeps drawing me in. I will definitely visit again! 

Chad

Pin It

Okinawa Adventures - Day 3 Sea Turtles at Ama Beach

Day 3 started early with us waking up by 7am to catch the Zamami Queen III to the Zamami Islands from the main port of Naha. Our previous boat experience from Port Douglas to the Great Barrier Reef had us concerned with sea sickness but it was a fairly smooth ride and was helped with some pills. Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of the cruiser but it was very comfortable. 

We arrived at the Zamami Island wharf prepared to take on the world. What we didn't expect was to be met immediately by crystal blue waters that it brought tears to our eyes. 

Can you imagine our faces when we saw this?

We were so eager to get going but first had to find our accommodation for the night. The weather was also perfect considering the fact that it rained all day the day before. This town had a population of 600 people so it wasn't too hard to find it. It was directly opposite a dive store and a half convenience store half souvenir store. It wasn't anything fancy but we couldn't expect more. The owner of our accommodation was nice enough to drive us around and gave us some local knowledge of the best places to snorkel. Our first stop was a Ama Beach renowned for it's local inhabitants, the sea turtle. Luckily for us, it was high tide which meant they would be feeding. The accommodation owner left us on our own to explore by ourselves and offered to take us to another beach when we were ready. So nice of her! This beach also only had 4 people (including us) so it was our own little private beach.

 

From the shore

Crystal Clear Waters..

I've added a map below if you ever have the chance to visit Ama Beach..

View Larger Map

By this stage, we were itching to get in. The shock of the water left me breathless but the neroprene wetsuit top warmed the water up quickly and kept me nice and cosy. Now it was time to find those turtles.... the first one popped up within a few minutes and it was quite small and it was intimidated by us. It didn't really swim away like it's life depended on it but it just went the other direction. You can see my partner tailgating the little one.. 

Get back here!

With the water being crystal clear, there was really nothing else to see except for some fish here and there. It was evident that coral existed here but have been eroded away due to unknown reasons. And then out of nowhere, out came this monster.. I believe it was a bit over a metre in length..

Cowabunga dude

My left side is better

 Should I or shouldn't I?

Don't leave me!

Going our separate ways..

This turtle was certainly not intimidated by us and why should it when it's not even scared of sharks or whales. It had a sense of calm and it was just swimming along patiently and letting us enjoy the experience. What a nice turtle!

I must admit I did not have any expectations of meeting wild turtles and this was truly a significant milestone of my snorkeling life/experience. What else could I possibly want?! We'll see :)

After this session, we took a leisurely stroll back to town which took about 20 minutes. I was still in awe over the "swimming with sea turtles" experience that I took a breather on the middle of the road. I swear there were no cars to be seen or heard.

No cars to be seen.. ZzzZzzzZZzZ...

We even found wild lilies growing on the side of the road.

What's the market price??

Hungry as hell, we decided to head to a local restaurant to get some grub before heading to our next snorkeling destination. I had the tuna carpacio on rice which apparently was caught locally. It was so fresh and tasty! Basically all the ingredients were grown locally and it just felt so so healthy and fresh. I absolutely devoured this meal.

A meal fit for a king

We were ready for round 2 after lunch but that post would have to be another time! I hope to post it soon!

Chad

Dry apnea

I was fooling around with iPhone applications and came across iApnea. I gave it a go and reached 4:12 even without any practice/training.

I'm looking forward to reaching 5 minutes!

Okinawa Adventures - Day 1 & 2

Been too long since my last underwater post but it seems to have exited from the dry spell with a bang to Okinawa. As you may have read/heard, Okinawa has a highly diverse aquatic ecosystem that can compete with the most beautiful dive sites in the world. Of course it is probably not as sparse as the Great Barrier Reef but it certainly meets its match. 

We arrived quite late on the first day so we did not see any underwater action. The weather was also not so accommodating and it looked as though the next few days were not promising either. Our fingers were kept cross!

Our first destination was to Churaumi Aquarium up north but since we arrived late, it would be our first tourist destination the next day. On the way up north, we took the scenic route and stopped by Sesoko Island which is renowned for it's sunset. It is also a popular destination for beginner snorkelers or children at a beach located west of the island. We arrived just in time for sunset as you can see from the pictures below. 

Postcard picture

Simply breath taking

What makes this site so calm is the coral/rocks that protects the shore. However, it was evident that this beach experienced coral bleaching due to the change in climate over the years. Even though we did not test the waters (except for our feet) the overall experience of this beach was exhilirating. The picture of the water below just emphasises the cleanliness and the clarity of the water we encountered.

Only knee deep but you can only imagine how clean it was

 My partner daring to be brave

You can also see the rock formations to what I believe were coral that shifted above ground due to earth crust displacement. Several small caves were discovered except they were pitch black and only for those brave enough like my partner (above). I don't think these small caves led to anywhere but I am sure it would be entertaining for anyone who dares to enter..  

Day 2 unfortunately was a wet day which ruined our plans to have an afternoon snorkel at the famous Maeda Blue Cave. But this was not going to ruin our day! We arrived at the aquarium at 9am and scoured through the wonderous maze of aquatic tanks. We were met with awe when we finally reached the tank that supported 4 whale sharks. 

The largest whale shark inhabiting this tank

These whale sharks were accompanied by manta rays, tuna (blue fin and yellow fin), giant trevally, and numerous other types of fish. Below is a closer view of the whale shark feeding on krill.

Big feeders! They even get vitamin tablets!

 View of the tank from the top

Apart from these sensational creatures, an external section of the aquarium had a few manatees as well as sea turtles. The sea turtles had their own little private beach (artificial) and it was detrimental for breeding purposes. They had about 15-20 odd turtles in the tank/pool and I was able to get a pretty good shot of one of them below:

Say cheese! 

 Manatee

The manatee feels like a seal mixed together with an elephant and whacked with a platypus tail. Was quite strange to see a tail/fin like that. I was expecting to see bi-fins like the dugong. These majestic creatures were entertaining to watch but I couldn't help but feel sorry for them as they were stuck in this boring and lifeless pool. I am sure the conservationists know what they are doing:) 

The next 2 days were spent on Zamami Island and Aka Island. I will have to wait another day to write a post as there is just so much to write about! 

Keep you posted!

Till then...

Chad