Day 15: Snorkelling in Malibu bay and running out of money with no way to get home.

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Hello world,

The alarm went off several times this morning and it was me (Maddie) this time that didn't want to get out of the torture device that is also known as the bed in this apartment. Having not felt like much to eat after yesterdays massive lunch, the cheese, crackers and beers had been the only thing in my stomach the night before and i was also starting to feel a little upset in my stomach. While we have been drinking all the tap water on holiday in Tokyo and Osaka, the water in Okinawa seems to taste very strange to me and it has started to upset my sensitive tummy. Because Brad seemed so excited to go snorkelling and i knew once i got there i would also enjoy it, i tried to ignore the pains and emptiness in my abdomen, got quickly showered, dressed and we packed our backpack to set off for snorkelling.

We walked down to the bus stop and arrived at 8:15am Brad had checked the bus timetables and believed the bus would arrive at 8:22am... we waited, and waited, and waited a little more. It was now 9am and we were told by the tour company to be there at 9:30am for a 10:30am start.... Brad knew that we would be late so he emailed the company to inform them that we would not be able to make it there by 9:30am. We then just hoped that this would be okay as we had not received anything back from them and decided to go regardless of what time we would arrive and at least we could have a swim at a different beach. While we were waiting for the 120 bus, we decided to stop a number 20 and see if it may possibly go to the same location, we were delighted to find that it did.

We arrived at the tour companies shack around 9:45am and were pleased to discover that this was not a problem, and then the email reply came through from our tour guide telling us not to worry as we were his only booking for the day. Our tour guide was a lovely french man named David that had been living in Japan for 14 years and Okinawa specifically for a year. While Brad and I are both confident swimmers, we had to comply with the regulations of an organised snorkelling tour and wear full wetsuits, with life vests... Now i have not swam with a life vest ever in my adult life (i think i may have had to wear floats as a child but did not even like those) and we were both a little annoyed that this would prevent us from diving deeper into the water, when we wanted to get a better look at the marine life. David first seemed very reserved and a little aloof, until when assessing our shoes sizes he asked me "what size" and I said "An 8, oh sorry and Australian size 8" he seemed very surprise to learn that we were Australian. He then said, "you guys would know how to swim then?" we both a little confused "said yeah of course" i couldn't imagine why someone would go snorkelling if they couldn't swim but apparently they do. So while getting ready 4 other Chinese men from Hong Kong joined our tour group, 3 of which advised David that they could not swim. David informed them that this is not a problem and reassured them by telling them that he has had children as young as 6 snorkel with him before. Now while we had booked todo the "blue cave" tour, he informed us that the cave was closed today and i could see why, the ocean was choppy and while it probably wouldn't have been an issue for natural water babies like Brad and Myself, for the safety of those that could not swim we were only going to snorkel the reef within the bay. Once we had all suited, geared up and been given detailed instructions on how to use a snorkel and put on flippers the 6 of us plus David ventured into the water. I was hoping that he may take us to a different location and that we would actually get to swim out past the cliffs, but it was the safety of the bay that we stayed in. Now the fish were beautiful, seeing many of the tropical fish that you may have seen in aquariums, the sea slugs looked and felt like flaccid penises and the coral was detailed, brain like and varying in tones of brown through to light tan and even white. We saw most likely over 20 varying species of fish and many blue and black starfish, we saw eels and while i saw a red and white stripped sea snake, Brad had actually saw a black with blue ring sea snake. Brad attempted several dips down under the surface of the water but as i suspected his vest quickly pulled him back up. 3 of the Hong Kong men held tight to the floating ring device that David was holding and pulled them along behind him. I was kinda jealous that David didn't have to wear a vest, and upon reaching a location we could all stand we removed our flippers, and the second thing i did was unzip the stupid vest. We were probably snorkelling for 1hr and 1/2, with masks starting to get very comfortable between our noses and top lips, David pulled the group together to head back into shore. I was stoked that my goggles had not fogged up at all during the entire swim, as i have had this issue in the past and Brad also seemed to have this issue today. I had felt the way i always feel in the ocean, free. After 29 years i am still completely in amazement of the entire world that lives within the big blue that covers so much of our amazing planet. I can't express in words how much i love the silence of the ocean, with head underwater you only have your own thoughts and i find that completely relaxing.

Brad here!

After having showered and changed from our swimming apparel, the common sound and dance of our tummy warriors were calling for a feed. The seaside shack had a small eatery attached and we decided hell yes i will eat some taco rice and drink a beer! I had a tower of taco rice with salad and Maddie had pretty much the same thing with a salad and rice hidden underneath. Polishing off the grub like little gremlins we thought it about time to head back on the bus. I mis calculated the cost of lunch and realised that we did not have enough money for the two of us for the 40 minute journey home. One of the guides from the shop said he would help us out by driving us to the local post office and we would try and get cash out there but unfortunately this one was closed so we tried the family mart across the street to no avail. So the kind fella drove us further down the road to where there was a post office that was actually open and we managed to get cash out. He then drove us a few km's back up the road and dropped us off at the bus stop, in the nick of time too because the next bus came within 30 seconds of getting out of the van! Phew relief. We thanked him and were ever so grateful, jumped on the bus with a skip and settled in for the trip back. We sat at the back and with tunes pumping on our iPods both had a half hour nap. After the bus trip we strolled back and stopped at a few stores that Mads wanted to check out and hit the grocery store for the all important ice and grog and headed back up to the room and chill out.

Handy tip for would be travellers to Okinawa there are no 7/11 stores at all on the island and not all convenient stores accept cards issued in other countries. All the small post offices scattered around do have ATM's that accept visa and generally most large shopping complexes have several ATM's that take visa or master-card. So watch out for that if you ever come. For without the kindness of the guide from the snorkelling tour company, who waited for us at every atm stop, we would have been stuck there and would have had to walk over 5km's with our heads stuck in the sand and have looked like dumb tourists. He really saved the day and we don't even know his name. So a big thanks goes out to the young Korean gent who saved us a hell of a hassle and we would recommend Aruguide kayaking and snorkelling company to everyone for a great experience!

Sayonara for now lovely peeps. Peace out!! xo Bradaline

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