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Welcome to Paradise!
Entrance to Furuzamami BeachOn Sunday, after learning our lesson the previous day about the ferry tickets, we were able to go to one of the small islands off the main island of Okinawa. We had called the day before and reserved our tickets for Zamami Island, which is part of the larger Kerama Islands. We were so proud of ourselves for planning ahead and were really excited about the island, but the funny thing is that we almost didn't make it to the port...
We had gone down to the lobby that morning to eat breakfast and planned to leave the hotel at 9:00 since our ferry left at 10:00. But after breakfast we realized that we accidentally left our key in the room! Since the doors automatically lock, we were locked out. We went to the front desk and told them what had happened, and the guy said he would come unlock it. So we were waiting outside of our room for about 15 minutes (it was about 9:25 by now) and still no one was coming. We were starting to panic because we still had to get our stuff together and take a taxi to the port. So we just asked
Ferry
Our ferry to Zamami Island one of the maids to unlock it, and she went and got the master key. Once we were in our room we rushed to get our bags together, literally ran out of the hotel, and took a taxi to the Tomarin Port. By the time we reached the port is was nearly 9:45 and we still had to go to the counter to pay and fill out forms to receive our actual tickets. Once we had the tickets we once again ran to the ferry and boarded just a few minutes before it departed!
The ferry ride was also quite an interesting experience...
First of all, it was extremely crowded! There were people everywhere and not nearly enough seats. Only about 50 people were lucky enough to get the nice cushioned seats, and all the other places weren't as luxurious. Some people had found places to lay down and others were sitting on the steps. Me and Lani managed to find 2 seats outside at the back of the boat, but it wasn't the most ideal spot because the motor was really loud and it was very windy. But at least we could sit!! And it was a
Boarding
In line to board the ferry. There were so many people on it! long ferry ride too...about 2 hours long. So the first hour I just kind of sat there, but then I noticed people getting up and looking out at something, so I went to check it out. Apparently we were getting close because I could see a bunch of tiny islands out in the ocean. They looked so beautiful out there in the middle of all the blue water. Most of them were deserted and had nice little beaches among all the trees. So I stood the rest of the time and looked at all the islands passing by. Finally our ferry pulled into a port and I was so excited because I thought we were there....but it turned out that we first had to stop at Aka Island and let the people off who were going there. Aka Island looked really nice, though, and I wondered for a moment if we should have gone there instead. But no, we still had another 15 minutes until we reached Zamami Island. And after seeing Aka, I had some high expectations!
But I definitely wasn't disappointed when the ferry finally pulled up to Zamami Island. It was absolutely gorgeous! The water was
On the Ferry
Me and Lani ready to go to the island! so blue...actually it was more like turquoise. It was so beautiful, I have never seen water that blue before and I couldn't believe it was really like that. The island also looked very nice! It was a lot smaller than Aka, but I liked it because there were less people and it felt more secluded and private. Once we got off of the ferry we didn't know what to do, so we went to the information center and asked them how to get to the beach. The lady said it was about 15 minutes by foot, so we figured that wasn't too bad and that we could walk instead of taking a taxi or bus.
So we started on our way towards Furuzamami Beach. At first it wasn't bad...the streets were pretty much empty and the scenery was really pretty, trees and bushes along the entire route. But then the road started to slope upwards and pretty soon we were climbing a really steep hill...and it seemed to go on
FOREVER. And it just kept getting steeper and steeper. Everytime we came to a turn we would hope that the downhill part of the journey would be right around
Ocean
View of the ocean during the ride the corner. But no, it just kept going up. Yeah so basically we had to climb a mountain, and in flip-flops I might add! But after at least 10 minutes we finally reached the top and saw a sign for the beach pointing downhill.
After going downhill for about 5 more minutes, we came to an opening among the trees, and there we saw our first glimpse of Furuzamami Beach...and it was
amazing! The trees opened up to show a white sand beach with clear, turquois-blue water! Words can't even describe how beautiful this beach was. And I'm not even exaggerating when I say it is the most beautiful place I have ever been in my life. There weren't very many people on the beach, which I liked. Of course, there's only one ferry to the island each day so that's how it's meant to be. Towards one end of the beach, past the part where most people had set up their stuff, there was a big cliff and then some rocks going into the water that were really pretty. And just past the rocky area was a whole other stretch of beach that was almost completely deserted. Me
Land!
My first glimpse of land from the ferry and Lani walked out there at one point and it was so breath-taking. The beach looked like one of those that you see only in movies or in advertisements, and I couldn't believe I was actually there! The sand was white and there was a lot of dried coral shells along the shore, since the island is one of the best for snorkeling and coral reefs. And not only was the water an amazing turqouise-blue, it was also really clear! You could see every single rock on the ground...it was incredible! I read that the water is completely visible up to 50 ft deep, but of course I didn't go out that far. I do believe it, though!
So me and Lani just relaxed on the beach all day, completely amazed by how beautiful this place was. We even bought ice cream from the little stand and got to eat ice cream right on the beach, something we had always wanted to do (haha don't ask). This is exactly how we had envisioned Okinawa would be and we were so happy that it met, and even exceeded our expectations!
Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end...we
Ferry Ride
On the ferry, it was really windy!! eventually had to start heading back to the port. But we wanted to go in the water just one last time, even though we didn't have a lot of time. So we stayed for about 10 more minutes just enjoying the nice, clear water before we finally got out and started packing up our things. And I guess we took a little longer than I had thought, because by the time we left the beach it was already 3:45 and our ferry left at 4...and it was the last ferry back to Naha for the day! AND we still had that huge mountain to climb...so we started walking up the hill really fast. We were so tired and the hill was so steep! Thankfully this side wasn't as long as the way coming, just slightly steeper, but by the time we reached the top we were completely exhausted. Then I looked at the time and it was almost 3:55. That's when we really started to panic. We nearly ran down the hill towards the port, but it was really difficult in our flip-flops. When we finally made it to the bottom, we went around the corner and saw the ferry...but
Islands
There were a bunch of these small islands all thoughout the ocean the back of it was starting to close! So we ran down the last road straight to the dock, waving our arms to the guys standing at the entrance and yelling "WAIT!!" It must have been a pretty funny sight to the other passengers. But the important thing is that we got on the ferry and weren't left on the island overnight...although I don't think that would have been such a horrible situation either! Once we were on the ferry safely and in our seats, we both just started laughing uncontrollably about what had just happened. I guess ferries are not our thing, considering we almost missed them both times! I'm so glad that people in Okinawa are more laid-back, and things are actually
NOT always on time like in most of Japan. That's definitely what saved us!
I was definitely sad to leave Zamami Island. I wished I could have stayed there longer because it was so beautiful! But I'm so thankful that I got to spend at least one day there, and it was an amazing experience!
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DantheMan
Dan
Wow!
Very beautiful.