Friday 27 September 2013

gake.

I awoke after two hours sleep feeling as though I was in the fires of hell. Going back to sleep was impossible, so I took to wandering the island again in search of shade.





In the afternoon Jamestown and I checked out the other main beach on the island.




It is known for it’s snorkelling, which was pretty great. The coral was really close to shore, so it was easy for children and less confident swimmers to go out to see the fish. Unfortunately, the effect of tourism was fairly evident. A number of times I saw people stepping or jumping off the coral (many of whom were wearing heavy shoes such as runners). It was also very obvious from the behaviour of the fish that they were very used to being fed by people; they showed little fear of humans, and would even come and bite at your hands or feet. Although to an extent it was fun to swim in what felt more like an aquarium than an actual natural environment, I can’t deny that I found it fairly distressing to see how greatly destroyed this entire ecosystem was. I guess it is somewhat hypocritical for me to make these complaints, when (despite my attempts to do so as unobtrusively as possible) by participating in the invasion of this area I too was contributing to its damage. Perhaps it was best that I was doing so in an area already doomed, I don’t know.

Onto happier things! We had also rented bicycles at this stage.



We rode them up to a lookout that was supposed to be spectacular for an island sunset.







We were not disappointed.







I took far too many pictures, but it felt as though every time I blinked there was another colour, or shade that in my folly I attempted to capture.






After the traumatic lack of sleep the night before, we were unwilling to take the same risk, so abandoned our tents and dragged our mats onto the beach. Despite waking a couple of times in the night fearing attack from bears, it was a brilliant idea, not only providing a superior night’s sleep, but also allowing the pleasure of waking up to this.



After departing from Zamami we had one more (very odd) night in Naha, before leaving Okinawa. Thus ends my dose of the beach for the summer! Six more months!


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