Miyakojima

Note: these pictures are just large thumbnails.  Click on a photo to see more detail

We awaken Monday AM to have breakfast. We had breakfast at the Breeze Bay three years ago, and we were looking forward to them.  Typical Japanese breakfast fare which is served at many places. This year, our room came with breakfast all four nights.

Breakfast is always an eclectic mix of Western and Eastern cuisine.  Mix and match to your desire.  There is a lot of local food as well, like Goya (bitter melon). Lots of Goya. Connie loves it. 

We then head out to Nakanoshima Beach to do some snorkeling.  

Nakanoshima Beach is located on Shimoji Island, which, along with Irabu Island, is connected to Miyako by the longest toll free bridge in Japan. This bridge was completed just months after our last trip here, so obviously, we've never been here before.  Shimoji Island is known for having a very large airport which is not used for public transport, but is used to train airline pilots.  Nakanoshima Beach is very close to this airport.  Not sure how comforting it is to be near airline-pilots-in-training.  

Nakanoshima Beach is a very small beach, but is known for superb snorkeling.  However, on this day, the water clarity is lacking, so we are there for only a short time.  Above is Connie and a view of nearly the entire inlet.

Typical of a trip, this day, we forget a bag in the hotel room.  This bag held water bottles (we were thirsty later that morning), our passports and International Driving Permits (hope we don't get caught), my credit cards and money, and my "underwater" camera (stupid thing, but more on that later). This is the kind of thing that happens to me on a fishing trip.  The first day, I always forget something like my fly rod!  Anyway, all the pictures this day are from my phone (I didn't forget this since I needed it to navigate).

We then head to Toguchi no Hama Beach in Irabujima.

Irabu and Shimoji are nearly the same island -- they are so close together. They are connected by a "bridge." This bridge is literally a few meters across.

Toguchi no Hama is a beautiful fine-white-sand beach on Irabu Island, right next to Shimoji.  Quite large, and we are there early enough that it isn't crowded.  By the time we leave, it is more populated.  It is quite shallow, and one can walk quite far out into the surf.  Not quite like Taylor Bay in Providenciales, but close.  Em claims it is the "best."  I call it hot!  It is really hot there, and like 99% of beaches, there is no shade.

I can imagine that prior to the bridge, this beach was completely deserted.  Back then you had to take a ferry from Miyako.  Only the very adventurous would head that way.

It's early afternoon, and the natives are restless for food, so we head back to Miyako to Maxvalu for a quick lunch.

Next beach is Nagamahama on Kurima Island.  We get here by taking yet another bridge.  This beach is quite uncrowded, but the beach itself is narrow.  There is a reef, but we decide that we don't really want to expend the effort to snorkel there.

So, we return to our hotel and rest a bit.

Here are some mid-day pictures of the beautiful view from our balcony.

By the way, here is a view from our balcony later that night at 3:00 AM using a long exposure and high ISO.  I thought it was cool. And no, I didn't set my alarm to get the picture.  It's just very typical to awaken early when you first get to Japan.

After resting a bit, we all head to the pool.  Last time, three years ago, it was really crowded (it was July).  Now, it is really pleasant, and there were only a handful of people there.

We call it an afternoon, head to our room, get cleaned up, and then have dinner.  We got a few vouchers for resort discounts, so we eat at the dinner buffet.  We've never eaten there for dinner, but the buffet is in the same dining room, so we aren't really surprised at the faire.

 

My piece of beef was a bit tough, but very flavorful, and I eagerly have seconds. I also really like the Mozuku soba, made from buckwheat and Mozuku (a local seaweed).  Of course, there is Goya and delicious rice (grown up North in Miyagi). 

We wake up Tuesday, and head to Aragusuku Beach on the Eastern coast.  This beach is just north of Yoshino beach, where we went three years ago.  I tried to find Aragusuku last trip, but couldn't find it.  But I knew where it was this time.

The man we rented snorkel gear from the last trip retired.  I called him up in July to see if he could help us out, but he couldn't.  I didn't want to risk not having snorkel gear for use in out-of-the-way places, so we brought all our own.  One whole suitcase just for this.

Anyway, this was a really nice place to snorkel, but the beach lacked in esthetics.  There were a bunch of vendors renting this and that, like table/umbrellas, as well as snorkels and fins. Rude as they are, Sam and Em call this beach as well as Yoshino beach "Bimbo Beach."  Google translate it!

There was coral all over, and the "usual" tropical fish, but my underwater camera failed again.  The water seal just wouldn't hold.  The same thing happened in 2015 with this camera when were in Turks.  But after a week of drying out, it worked back then.  I'll see if works again, but I'm not counting on it.  So, no more beach/ocean pictures this trip.  Sorry.

We decide to leave and explore some more.  We had a voucher for a free ride on the Shigira Lift (like a two person ski lift).  

We headed to Shigira Beach, very close to the origin of the ski lift.  Said to be a nice snorkeling spot, it doesn't look good.  Sorry, no picture.  It was low tide, which made matters worse.  We decided to leave and find lunch.  Guess where???

Anyway, after we fuddle our way around, not one, but two Maxvalu's, we bring our food back to our hotel and eat lunch.  After resting a bit more, we head to the pool (again, no pictures because of the stupid camera), and the skies open up with a downpour.  It was a passing shower fortunately.  But we did get wet (but weren't we in the pool?).

We had made reservations at the Stardust Garden, about a Km from our hotel (but still part of the Resort).  We tried to eat there last trip, but they wouldn't take us since we had no reservations.  We learned this time that all restaurants in the resort required reservations...

This is an "Italian" place, with P and P.  Pizza and Pasta. We ate on the outdoor patio, and it was surprisingly pleasant, thanks to a large water misted fan.

The girls shared an Umi-budou and Tofu salad, a cold marinara pasta and a cheeseless pizza.

I had a four cheese pizza which was quite good! 

 We retired early, and I saw a nice full moon moonrise: