During silver week, me and my wife spent four days in Okinawa. It was my first time there. It had been on the top of my list of places I wanted to visit in Japan for a long time. We stayed in Naha for two nights, then spent the final night in Miyakojima.
After arriving at Naha airport, we first got on a bus for about an hour and headed towards the east side of the island. We went to a place called The Valley of Gangala. The valley used to be a limestone cave hundreds of thousands of years ago, but it collapsed and now has become a nature reserve. A lot of fossils have been found throughout the valley, and they believe some of them may even be connected to the origins of the Japanese people. The valley is also home to many banyan trees, one giant one called the Gajumaru stands there. Banyan trees can spread their roots very slowly over time, and the trees sometimes look like they are slowly walking / moving over long periods of time. They were amazing to see. Later in the afternoon, we arrived in downtown Naha we spent a lot of time at the international street. I had heard a lot about it and enjoyed shopping there. I bought a lot of souvenirs and checked out a lot of shops.
The next day we planned to go to Churaumi aquarium, but it was going to take four hours of bus rides there and back and we decided to go somewhere else. There is another aquarium closer to downtown Naha called DMM Kariyushi Aquarium. It is a little small, though there are a lot of different kinds of animals to see there. It has many ways to interact more directly with animals, which I think makes it great for families and kids. For me, it was one of the more average aquariums I have been to in Japan, but it had its good points and some animals / fish I had never seen before. Near the aquarium was also a beach. It was still hot even in the late afternoon, so we decided to go for a swim. After, we took a short bus ride to a place called Senagajima Umijkaji Terrace. The terrace has more than forty shops overlooking the ocean and is a great place to enjoy the sunset. We arrived at the perfect time and were able to enjoy the beautiful sunset while enjoying ice cream.
The day after, we got on a plane in the morning and flew over to Miyako-jima. It was immediately a very different experience to Naha. We got on a bus and headed over to Shigira resort where we were staying. The resort was a large space of land with many different hotels, restaurants, shops and a beach. After arriving we had a few hours to take it easy and have lunch before our afternoon plans. During this time was the one period where we had bad weather, and there was a heavy squall of rain for about an hour. We managed to check into our room a little early and then went to the beach to go snorkeling. We had a snorkeling guide, and only two other people in our group. The snorkeling was one of the best experiences I had on the trip. We were able to snorkel with sea turtles and swim around a lot of coral. It was an amazing experience. Later that night we went to another part of the resort to a place called Paikaji Yataimura. It is an outdoor area with many places and types of food to eat. We were able to have a good dinner while watching a shamisen performance.
The day after was our last day. While we would have to spend a lot of time traveling back to Okayama later in the day, we had some time until around 2pm. In the morning we rented some electric bikes, and we rode them west towards Yonoha beach. The entire trip I was waiting to visit a beach with clear light blue water, and at this beach I finally got to experience it. It was a great way to end our trip. Overall, I had a great time. I got to see and experience many news things, try a lot of local food, and enjoy some beautiful natural spots. I hope to go again someday!
