Okinawa trip!

So I delayed doing this blog post since I had trouble getting the pictures downloaded from the drives that we got from the scuba diving and parasailing businesses. Anyway, fall break gave the perfect opportunity to go on a short trip, so I went to Okinawa with some friends. Mary, Alizée, Tasi, and I all went from October 31st- November 3rd. It was the right time to go because it still had temps in the 70s ^_^

October 31st

The flight that Mary, Alizée and I were on arrived at Naha airport on Okinawa at 5:35pm. Unfortunately, we didn’t realize it takes 3 hours by bus to get to Motobu-Cho (where our air b&b was) from the airport and the next bus wasn’t until about 6:40pm. So, needless to say we missed a lot of time that night. Also, when we arrived at our place, which was late, we found out just how many cockroaches like to hang out on sidewalks in the dead of night. Lots of jump-scares were had & flashlights were our only weapons 👀’ still it was a beautiful walk from the hustle and bustle of the more city hub-like areas to the secluded cottage we stayed at. Or at least we noticed that in the daylight that morning 🙂

November 1st: Churaumi Aquarium and beach day

So Friday morning we headed out bright and early to walk to the Okinawa Churaumi aquarium from our air b&b. Tasi stayed a few roads down so he met us along the way. It was about a half an hour walk, but the greenery was nice so we didn’t mind taking the scenic route! The aquarium itself was really interesting. We saw lots of cool fish and sea creatures. The only downside is they had two whale sharks in a tank that definitely shouldn’t house two whale sharks… I’m no expert but I think they need to be able to swim in more than a tight circle >_>’ that part was uncomfortable, but the rest of the time was pleasant. After that we went to a beach that was right outside of the aquarium and I collected some shells, made a sand village with Tasi, and took a nap face down in the shade in some sand for about 2 hours XD then we got lunch (Taco rice! It’s exactly what is sounds like and is super tasty) and then bought smoothies and went back to the beach to drink them before doing some window shopping at souvenir shops. This was definitely my favorite day as I love the relaxing days most of all.

So you’ll note the black spot in the corner. I didn’t notice until later, but it’s the bent corner of my phone case and it messed up a lot of good photos >_<

We had two appetizers, one was a type of pickle-tasting seaweed (they gave it to us, we didn’t order it). It was pretty good. The other was a purple sweet potato pancake. I liked it a lot 🙂

November 2nd Scuba Diving

So this was the day we went scuba diving. The place was halfway between the airport we arrived at and where we stayed, so it cost a pretty penny in transportation to get there. The experience itself was once in a lifetime. Alizée is an experienced diver (usually French Polynesia) and said it was the most beautiful she’d seen. The instructor didn’t know any English but luckily Mary is very skilled in Japanese and translated all instructions as best she could. I wasn’t nervous at first, but I do have to say that it was very beautiful. I ended up being pretty scared while actually in the water though. I couldn’t deal well with the pressure in my ears and ended up getting sea water in them lol. Also, there won’t be any scuba videos for now because my phone still won’t let me download the go-pro videos. Still, I’ll upload lots of photos👍🏼.

November 3rd Parasailing -> Back to Osaka

The parasailing place was very near the Naha airport, so Tasi had a room ready to g nearby it but Mary, Alizée and I had to get up at 4:30am to make the expensive bus journey to the location on time (since it was for 9am and our flight was around 1). It was probably my favorite between that and the scuba diving, though both were great to have experienced. It went without a hitch, and was a lot of fun. According to the guides, we all went about 150meters into the air. I went up with Tasi, and as soon as I looked down there was a HAMMERHEAD SHARK right below us. Cool and freaky at the same time. I’ve never seen a shark so clearly like that in the wild. Especially from the air. Sadly I don’t have pics of that because I didn’t bring the camera up there with me, but it was beautiful. Mary and Alizée had the camera and I didn’t think to take it, but they took pics and vids of us and the ones that they have from their turn in the air are very pretty too!

After that, we headed for the airport, and headed back to Osaka. The flight was uncomfortable rt the water in my ears from scuba diving, but the trip was super fun so it was worth the pain 🙂

that’s all folks! I know it’s late, but I hope you all like it. Loves!