Odyssee to Okinawa

On the 3rd of December, Anna-Maria and I wanted to travel further with the ferry ⛴️ to the other islands down south. That meant another short night as we had to get up early to get the ferry at 5.30 am 😴 Unfortunately, the walls in our hostel have been very thin so that we could clearly hear the noise from the guests in the bar below us at least until midnight. After only few hours of sleep, my alarm ⏰ was supposed to go off; but it didn’t. I don’t know how it was switched off. I definitely remember setting it up for 4.30 am. I somehow felt in my sleep that something wasn’t right and got up anyways - a couple of minutes late though. Now I had to rush 🏃‍♂️ packing my stuff and getting ready to leave. Anna-Maria was already waiting. Then we walked a couple of minutes to the ferry terminal and arrived there in time to comfortably get our tickets 🎟️ and wait for boarding to commence.
But there was another problem. In the night, a rather powerful earthquake has struck in front of the Philippine coast and triggered a tsunami warning ⚠️ for the Amami Islands and other southern parts of Japan. Obviously, this was bad for our plans to take the ferry as it was not leaving until the warning was lifted.
Initially, we had made a reservation to the ferry to Yoron 🏝️ and have already thought about changing that to Okinoerabujima in the days before - due to the worsening weather conditions it would have been the better choice. However , the tsunami 🌊 warning added a new level of uncertainty to our plans which eventually made us decide to take the ferry all the way to Okinawa - that’s a whole day (12 hours) on the ferry ⛴️ but then we would be done with this and won’t be potentially stuck on one of the islands. After adjusting our travel tickets to the changed conditions, I realised that I had forgotten my thermos flask in the hostel in my rush 🏃that morning. As it was clear that the ferry wasn’t leaving on time anyway, I went back to the hostel and picked it up. So, the whole situation had at least something good. 😅
The tsunami was supposed to be “only” up to 1 meter high but I learned through some research that the chances of surviving a tsunami 🌊 of that height (if you are not evacuated to a safe area) are almost zero! See https://jla-lifesaving.or.jp/en/watersafety/tsu… if you’re interested in the details. We were safe though as the port was on the northern coast of Amami-Oshima and the tsunami was going to hit on the southeastern coast. 😌
Nevertheless, it took more than 4 hours until the tsunami warning was lifted and the ferry was cleared for departure. That also meant we would arrive 4 hours later than expected on Okinawa. Time to slightly change our travel plans again within only a couple of hours. 😫 Luckily, the ferry stops at two ports on Okinawa - Motobu in the north and Naha in the south. So, we decided to leave the ferry already at the nothern port since this saved us approximately 2 hours. The next two days would not allow any prolonged outdoor activities due to heavy rainfall ⛈️ and the aquarium as well as some wellness resorts were in the northern part of Okinawa anyways. That’s why, I decided to make the following day a (pretty much needed) wellness day ☺️ and visit the Aquarium on the day after before I would take the bus to Naha. Anna-Maria was pressed for time since she was leaving Japan by the end of the week. So, she stayed closer to the harbour and went to Naha already on the next day. Maybe we see us there once again. 👋

On the next day, I deliberately slept in and skipped breakfast. As expected it was raining the whole day. ☔️ The hotel (where I stayed) was connected to the “Mahaina Wellness Resort” and due to that, I was allowed to use their indoor pool 🏊 as well as the Sento (public bath) and their extensive restaurant and cafe/bar area. It was nice to enjoy a relaxing day after all that stress from the day before. 😊

I was pleased to see that the next day was without any rain. Instead it was just windy and cloudy ⛅️ So, my plan to visit the „Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium“ was working out well. The many fish 🐠 of all shapes and sizes in the aquarium were well worth the visit - the main attraction in particular. It was the almost 10m long whale shark 🐋 that swam in a huge pool with many other big fish like manta rays and barracudas. This was probably the biggest fish I have ever seen. 😮
After visiting the the aquarium, I walked along the coast and enjoyed the surprisingly sunny weather. 🌤️The aquarium is located in the Ocean Expo Park and not far from “Emerald Beach“ where I made my first stop. Its white sand and turquoise waters looked inviting - at least for a less windy day - but then there are so many more beaches 🏖️ on Okinawa. I will certainly have the chance to visit one in the coming warmer days. From „Emerald Beach“ I walked through the densely packed „Bise-Fukugi Tree Road“ 🌴 to a place called „Bisezaki“. It offered yet another nice view of the sea and its crystal clear water.
In the afternoon I took the bus to Naha in the south of Okinawa where I arrived after approximately 2,5 hours. I plan to stay here for the next 7 nights. So, this will be my last destination in Japan 🇯🇵 before I leave to Mexico.Read more