Tropical no less !!! We took a two hour flight South East from Fukuoka to one of the Okinawan Islands called Ishigaki. Although not a tiny island we hoped it would give an opportunity to escape the hustle and bustle of cities and the possibility to travel to other islands.
We had loads of time before needing to return the hire car, so we decided to attempt transferring our wages to an international remit company. It went well, so we decided to do a second transfer. Big mistake – it took ages – they probably had to check us out for being international money launderers! So a dash to return the hire car – doh, why didn’t we change the sat navigation to use expressways? Feeling a bit pressed for time, I checked my phone and saw an email from the airline – phew, our plane was delayed by an hour. Good job as then the hire car shuttle dropped us off and we realised we were at an international terminal and we needed to be at domestic – eek! Then our luggage was overweight so I had to take out some warmer clothes. Finally, we got to the gate and chilled. Perhaps we chilled too much as we didn’t hear any gate change announcements (they were all in Japanese anyway) and suddenly I heard a last call in English for the last remaining passengers to Ishigaki 😳 We jumped up and started running towards the new gate as a little lady was running towards us – glad to find Mr Peter. After much apologies and bowing, we were boarding the plane.
Upon landing, I certainly didn’t need those warm clothes on! We had struggled to find a hire car so had to get a bus into Ishigaki Town and walk to our hire car place – unfortunately at the top of a hill 🥵
We stocked up at the supermarket, grabbed a bite to eat and drove 30 mins in the dark to our accommodation. Pete didn’t believe me when I said there were no convenience stores nearby. “Is this still Japan?” he asked.
Day 2: the weather was hot and sunny so we decided to stay local and enjoy our lovely beach villa.
We walked down to Nosoko beach, had a dip in the pool and then as the sun became less fierce headed up Nosoko Dake peak. It was pretty impressive and you could see 360 degrees. We headed back for a home cooked dinner – I’ve missed cooking!
Day 3: we borrowed snorkels and headed to the Blue Cave. Good job we hadn’t gone any later as the tide was only just deep enough to snorkel into the cave, then once you were in there the depth increased significantly. Unfortunately, it was a bit windy making it a bit choppy but we saw some big fish (parrot and maybe a tuna), some clown fish in an anenome, loads of small fish and sea cucumbers.
There is a Club Med on Ishigaki called Kabira, so we stopped by to collect something Emi, our Bulgarian colleague, had left there for us. We took the opportunity for a look around and it seemed very chilled at the moment. They said they’ll be full occupancy for Golden Week (starts 29th April). On the way home we stopped at Arakawa falls which was quite impressive among some huge boulders.
Day 4: we took a 15-minute ferry to a very small island called Taketomi Jima.
There are no cars on the island, so most people hire bicycles to get around. If you want to be real touristy, you can be pulled on a cart by a bull round the historic village.
We gave that a miss and took two lovely bikes for a spin. Visiting a few beaches, you were only allowed to swim on one (Kondai Beach) which was lovely and cooling. Kaiji-Hama is famous for star shaped grains of sand.
As we sat out on our balcony in the evening, it started to rain, so we headed indoors. Unfortunately, other creatures had the same idea, namely a huge spider, a flying cockroach (we managed to catch and evict him), and another huge cockroach that was evicted out the door.
Day 5: Today the weather was much cooler and a bit drizzly. We visited Ishigaki Uaima Village to see the Squirrel Monkey Park. They are so cute, especially when they wrap their tail around their head to sleep.
We also ventured back to the big smoke of Ishigaki Town to complete our last bank transfer. The joys of being paid local currency into an account that only had an ATM withdrawal card, not a debit card…. Not very handy!
So tomorrow morning we fly back to Tokyo for our last day in Japan. I think we will have a shock being back in a crazy, busy city!!
