20 March 2010

Returning to the same restaurant where we had dined the night before, we enjoyed a great buffet breakfast of both Japanese and Western dishes. The fresh fruit was to die for: we pigged out on fresh lychees and I was surprised to see that Emily liked them. As we were going out of the resort for the day, it was my turn to drive the buggy down to where the car was parked. It was fun driving the cart, though a little frustrating as its top speed was only about 5mph. Once on our way, where the road passed along beside a tidal river we noticed lots of mangroves with their roots sunk into the salt water. We cut across to Nago over a hilltop road, which passed through beautiful virgin forest with hardly any sign of mankind to be seen.

Our plan was to take a 15 minute boat trip from Motobu to Minnajima, a small paradise isle ringed with white sand that we could see in the distance. Unfortunately as it was off-season there were only two sailings a day and we were too late (in the end it turned out that there weren't any boats that day anyway due to high wind). Emily was not impressed by being stuck in the car, even for half an hour, but luckily there was a playground close by to entertain her for a while.

The sun was very strong and it felt really hot out of the wind, so we didn't stay very long.

Nearby there was another island, Sesoko, which was accessible over a steeply-inclined bridge, so we decided to go and find a beach there instead. We hit upon a beach of very pale sand, backed by overhanging rocks that made a great place to shelter and set up camp. Due to an onshore reef the sea was very shallow for several hundred metres, beyond which the surf broke at the boundary with deeper water. After a quick paddle (when we discovered that the shallow sea was actually quite chilly) we sat out of the burning sun and scoffed our picnic lunch. Though a bit ginger, I eventually plucked up enough courage to fully immerse myself in the thigh-deep water.

We could see people standing in the shallow water further out and looking at something, so I began to wade out too. I was glad of my sandals as it was rough underfoot, and the first time I put on my goggles and peered underwater at a rocky outcrop just below the surface I saw a lot of spiky sea urchins that made me even more pleased I was not barefoot.

Young corals were clustered all over the sea floor and I hated treading on any, though it was impossible not to. Wherever there were any rocks there were small brain corals growing on them, and there were also urchins in every crevice. Best of all, small bright-blue fish darted around these havens. There was one nicely-marked fish about the size of my hand that I saw a few times and which watched me inquisitively from a safe distance as I peered at it under the surface. Foot-long black sea cucumbers were everywhere too, and it was hard not to step on their gross, squidgy bodies. Near the shore I found a large blue starfish and Emily was very excited to see it.

She was having a rare old time pottering along the shore picking up shells, sticks and leaves, though she was still scared of the little hermit crabs.

After my reef walk ,Nick went in too for a short while, then we packed up and moved on. Emily soon nodded off as we continued driving clockwise around the almost circular protrusion that is Motobu peninsula. On the north-east side is a string of small islands linked by bridges, and we drove up to the top one, Kouri. At the northern end of the isle we diverted off down a narrow dead-end road and found a beach. We weren't the only ones as there were a good dozen cars already there, not to mention a few military-looking Americans camping on the sand. The tide was out, revealing many large rockpools. We spent an hour or so nosing around these. They were full of urchins, sea cucumbers, sea stars and a few different types of small fish.

The sun was dropping quickly as we turned south, but we decided to stop one more time at the beach next to the long bridge.

Even in the fading light the sea still looked turquoise.

It was obviously a popular spot for sunset as there were dozens there, but the fiery ball disappointingly faded out behind cloud before it reached the horizon. In the dark, we joined the heavy traffic heading back into Nago, and it was already eight o'clock by the time we pulled in at Kanucha Bay again. We went straight to dinner, picking the Chinese restaurant this time. Faced with a very comprehensive menu and feeling ravenous, we ordered far too many dishes. Emily ate better than I expected, especially the vegetables. I ploughed through as much as I could but we could not manage to finish everything and I wished we hadn't let our enthusiasm carry us away.

It was 9.30 before we drove back up to the room in our buggy, and Emily was not asleep until 10.15. As soon as she went off, Nick and I walked down to the beach. Though the outdoor pool and minigolf weren't open for the season there were lots of lights blazing, annoyingly. The tide was up quite high so we took up a perch in the lifeguards' stand at the top of the sand and swigged red wine as we listened to the surf break and looked across the bay to the lights of Camp Schwab. We stayed longer than intended and it was midnight by the time we got back and flaked out.