okinawa once more

At the end of March, I took my third trip to Okinawa! It was less than a year since I had been there last, but my friends were planning another trip and I couldn't resist joining them, haha. Because I was trying to save as much vacation time as possible (I've run quite low this year), I was the last one to arrive and also the first one to leave...but anyway I had a great time as usual!

I arrived late on Thursday night, when everybody was well into the night and already singing karaoke. Having missed out on most of the fun worked out well for me the next morning though, when we got up early to take the ferry to Zamami Island and everybody else was in a very...fragile state haha. The ferry ride was a couple of hours long and surprisingly choppy, and even I started to feel a bit seasick. But by and by we made it to the shore, so we trooped over to our hostel to check in and had some really tasty burgers there for lunch.

Next we ventured up a winding road to see the view from the top of the island, which was quite pretty even though it was cloudy. Then we wandered all the way back down again to see the beach! We only had one night in Zamami and we figured if we wanted to go into the water this was our only chance, so we did, even though actually it was cloudy pretty chilly outside (for Okinawa). The water was super clear and pretty though, and nice after we warmed up a bit (only to get cold again not too long after).

After the beach we went back to the hostel and showered before heading to a local izakaya, as recommended by our CIR friend who lives on the island. The food was very delicious! Afterwards we bought some drinks at the little shop nearby and went to hang out by the port and chat, until everybody got tired and sleepy and we went back.

The next morning we took a quick walk to the little park by the port, which included a giant whale sculpture, a tsubo foot therapy path, and a gazebo with a nice view of the ocean. And then it was back on the ferry, which was much more enjoyable the second time now that nobody was hungover. A few of us also went up to the top of the deck, where there was a great breeze and sometimes splashes of ocean water, plus a pretty much constant beautiful view.

After getting back to Naha we split into a going-home group and a Shuri Castle group, and even though I had been before I chose to go to the castle. This time we went along a path I hadn't been on before, and got to see some great views of the city from above. Then we went back and rejoined with everybody and went to a Turkish restaurant for dinner. It was very tasty but took a very long time because there was only one chef working to serve a whole (little) restaurant of people, and after dinner we took a walk along Kokusai Street to a bar, then walked back and went to another one nearby that had delicious french fries.

I had to get up early(ish) the next morning to catch my flight, so apparently I missed some more tasty food and good times, but I had managed to swim in the ocean, have Okinawan soba, and see everybody so I think it was a successful trip. :)